 "Arjun Erigaisi explains what makes him click in Freestyle Chess: 'I spent quite some time on it'")
Arjun Erigaisi, the 21-year-old Grandmaster, is the lone Indian putting up a fight at the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025. The Warangal boy defeated Magnus Carlsen in the round-robin phase, finishing fourth in the standings and becoming the only Indian to qualify for the knockouts while world champion D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi’s challenges petered out.
This is the first time Erigaisi is taking part in the inaugural Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after missing out on the Weissenhaus leg where Gukesh was the only Indian participant and finished eighth.
On Wednesday, Erigaisi held world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura to a draw in a thrilling first game of the quarter-finals after 77 moves. Both players had chances but none of them managed to close out the match. They will compete in the second quarter-0final game on Thursday followed by tiebreakers if needed.
Erigaisi on what makes him click in Freestyle Chess
Erigaisi entered the Freestyle Chess competition in blistering form, having won the Freestyle Friday thrice in a row in March 2025 . Reflecting on his rise in the unusual chess format that is taking over the sport by storm, Erigaisi said that the work done before the tournament played a big role in his qualification to the quarter-finals while other Indian GMs failed.
“It was very intense and exciting. I am happy that I made it to the knockout rounds,” Erigaisi told Freestyle Chess YouTube channel.
“I was analysing possible starting freestyle positions and I was trying to make some principle out of it and I did spend quite some time on it,” he said while talking about preparation for the Paris event.
World No.4 Erigaisi is known for his creative style and attacking game and he feels it has helped him do well in the Freestyle Chess format where back positions are arranged randomly.
“Probably a little bit. Sometimes in Classical, I have to go out of my way and accept some worst positions to make it complicated but here most of the time on Move 1, Move 2 itself it’s already complicated so maybe that does help a little bit,” he shared.
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
