New Delhi: India’s Arjun Erigaisi rose to second spot in the world chess rankings courtesy of his victory over Alexey Sarana in the Chennai Grand Masters 2024. The Indian Grand Master scripted history by reaching a remarkable haul of 2805.8 points, overtaking American grandmasters Fabiano Caruana (2805.0) and Hikaru Nakamura (2802.0). Arjun is only behind Norwegian legend Magnus Carlsen who boasts an impressive 2831.0 points.
Arjun is jointly leading the Masters category alongside Amin Tabatabaei after three rounds.
Last month Arjun became only the second India after Viswanathan Anand to achieve the landmark 2800 ELO ratings.
Arjun, starting with the black pieces, answered Sarana’s Queen’s Pawn Opening with an East Indian Defense.
Both players lost their kings early in the tie while remaining locked in an epic battle before the Indian GM gained the upper hand and eventually registered his second win of the competition.
Courtesy of the win, the 21-year-old GM reclaimed his 2,800 ELO rating, surpassing Fabiano Caruana to take second place in the world rankings.
Arjun’s success and achievements highlight his individual brilliance but more than that marks a new chapter for Indian chess on the global stage.
How yoga and Inner Engineering helped Arjun reach the top
While 2024 has been a fruitful year for Arjun thus far, it was a totally different scenario last year. Arjun endured several challenging moments in 2023, including missing out on the Candidates Tournament. However, Arjun didn’t let the setbacks take control of his life and overcame all the obstacles with resilience and determination.
In an interview with Sagar Shah, a chess player, journalist, commentator and co-founder of ChessBase India, Arjun revealed how detaching himself from ratings and results, helped him transform his mental game. The Indian ace also revealed that by incorporating practices like Yoga and Inner Engineering, he developed a unique perspective on success and failure, a finding that has proved to be pivotal in his recent achievements.
Meanwhile, Vidit Gujrathi played out a gritty draw against Chithambaram while Pranav V continued his outstanding run in the Challengers category, registering his third straight success by beating Karthikeyan Murali.
Pranav is sitting pretty at the top of the Challengers category, with 3.0 points, after winning all three of his contests so far.
Arjun Erigaisi’s success and achievements highlight his individual brilliance but more than that marks a golden chapter for Indian chess on the world stage. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
