 "Chess Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi is only the second Indian to cross 2800 Elo rating points. Image: Michal Walusza/FIDE")
Indian chess Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi was forced on Friday to take to social media and appeal to the United States Embassy to expedite the process of granting him the visa to compete in the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship, which will take place in New York from 26 to 31 December. Erigaisi also requested External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, and the All India Chess Federation (AICF) to help him get the visa.
“@USAndIndia Last week I submitted my passport to you for visa stamping and it still has not been returned. I request you to please expedite the process and return my passport as soon as possible as I need it for my travel to New York for World Rapid & Blitz Championship,” wrote Erigaisi, 21, on ‘X’.
“If anyone can help me with this please DM,” added Erigaisi, who recently became the second Indian after legendary Viswanathan Anand, and 16th worldwide, to reach the gold-standard ELO rating of 2800 .
Around 300 chess players, including the world’s top-rated player and former world champion in classical chess, Magnus Carlsen, and three former World Championship challengers, Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Boris Gelfand, among others will be in action in the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship. However, new chess world champion D Gukesh has decided to sit out.
Erigaisi: A favourite for World Rapid & Blitz Championship
Erigaisi has been in sensational form this year, having won an individual gold as well as team title in India’s recent historic performance in the Chess Olympiad.
Erigaisi, who currently occupies the fourth spot in the latest rankings, had missed out on qualifying for the Candidates in Toronto earlier this year but a win at the Rapid & Blitz Championship will be a shot in the arm for the 21-year-old from Warangal in Telangana.
The other leading players competing in the championship include, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Jeffrey Xiong, Leinier Domignuez Perez, Hans Niemann and Sam Shankland.
With agency inputs