Viswanathan Anand is the only Indian chess player to cross the 2800 rating points and Arjun Erigaisi is vying to become the second Indian to achieve this feat. read more
Indian chess Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi is one win away from a historic 2800 Elo rating points. Image: Michal Walusza/FIDE
Arjun Erigaisi was made to wait in his bid to create history by crossing 2800 points as he played out a draw against Serbian chess grandmaster Alexandr Predke in Round 4 of the ongoing 39th European Club Chess Cup 2024 on Wednesday. Arjun Erigaisi was on 2797 points in live ratings after winning his first three matches at the European Club Chess Cup and a win against Predke would have allowed him to cross the 2800 mark for the first time, but a draw means he’s now on 2798 points.
Viswanathan Anand is the only Indian chess player to cross the 2800 rating points and Arjun Erigaisi is vying to become the second Indian to achieve this feat.
Arjun Erigaisi: The Indian chess sensation close to equalling Viswanathan Anand’s historic feat
This is the second time in this month that Arjun Erigaisi has missed out on the historic 2800 Elo points mark. He won the WR Chess Masters final 2024 last week and could have achieved the feat had he beaten Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the two classical games final, but he eventually won via Armageddon and moved to 2796.1 points.
Nonetheless, Arjun Erigaisi will have another chance to create history in Round 5.
The 21-year-old Arjun Erigaisi who hails from Warangal has been in sensational form recently and fired India to a historic gold medal win in the Open section at the 45th Chess Olympiad earlier this year. With nine wins and two draws, Arjun Erigaisi scored 10 out of 11 and won the individual gold on Board 3 as India won their first gold medal at the Chess Olympiad.
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Ranking record by Erigaisi and Gukesh
Arjun Erigaisi is also the highest-rated Indian chess player in live ratings at fourth, just a spot above fellow compatriot and 18-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh (2788.5). Earlier this month both Arjun Erigaisi and D Gukesh made history as India for the first time had two players in the top 5 rankings.
Gukesh is also having a brilliant 2024, having won the FIDE Candidates at 17, and is scheduled to take on Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship in November-December.