Magnus Carlsen speaks on Arjun Erigaisi's worrying form at Tata Steel Chess: 'We shouldn't read much into it'

Arjun Erigaisi has had an underwhelming start to the 2025 Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, with the Indian grandmaster not being able to secure a single victory so far. Erigaisi has managed just 1.5 points out a possible six, drawing three games while losing another three.

Not long ago, Arjun had made history by becoming only the second Indian after the legendary Viswanathan Anand to surpass 2800 Elo rating points, but has lost 21 points during the six games at Tata Steel Chess tat have been played till now.

‘Not sure if we should read all that much’: Carlsen on Erigaisi’s form 

His latest setback was a draw against Fabiano Caruana in the sixth round on Friday. World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, however, feels that Erigaisi’s form is not something to worry about at the moment. “I’m not sure we should read all that much into it (Erigaisi’s results),” he told Chess.com while on commentary during round six.

“We’ve seen Caruana before the Candidates having a nightmare of a tournament and then winning the event. So I’m not sure if we need to read all that much into it. I guess it becomes a little bit of a mental (issue) at some point if you’re struggling at the very same tournament that you were struggling at before," he added.

Carlsen recalled Erigaisi’s incontinences during the 2023 Tata Steel Chess tournament. “I think a lot of things have just gone wrong at the same time (for Arjun Erigaisi). I’ve heard from other people that if you do poorly at Tata Steel, then it can be a very long tournament," he added.

Magnus Carlsen noted Arjun Erigaisi’s loss against Vladimir Fedoseev, where he looked to take advantage in the opening to put himself in a winning position. “He sort of does everything correctly, then he makes a little bit of a random blunder.”

“The loss to Harikrishna was harder to explain. He was taking chances… almost like he was playing for a win while creating risks only for himself. He went for a line where I had no idea what his idea was, besides not wanting to take a draw. That game was a strange one," commented Carlsen.