Arjun Erigaisi

Arjun Erigaisi (born 3 September 2003)[1] is an

Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned Arjun Erigaisi
the title of grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11
months, 13 days. In September 2024 he became India's
top rated player, and in December 2024 he achieved
his peak rating of 2801 which makes him the fifteenth-
highest rated player in history and second Indian ever
to cross the 2800 threshold after Viswanathan
Anand.[2]

Early life and background

He was born into a Telugu family in Warangal,
Telangana.[3] His father is a neurosurgeon and his
mother is a housewife.[4] He studied chess at the BS
Chess Academy in Hanamkonda.[4]
Erigaisi in 2025
He was studying data science until December 2021,
before deciding to drop out of college during the first Country India
year to focus on his chess career.[5][6] Born 3 September 2003
Warangal, Telangana, India
Title Grandmaster (2018)
Career FIDE rating 2801 (https://ratings.fide.com/pr
ofile/35009192) (February
2025)
2015–2018
Peak rating 2801 (December 2024)
In 2015, Arjun won a silver medal in the 2015 Asian Ranking No. 4 (http://ratings.fide.com/top
Youth Championship in Korea.[7] list.phtml) (February 2025)
Peak ranking No. 3 (October 2024)
2021
2021 was a strong year for Arjun Erigaisi, as he became the first Indian to qualify to the Goldmoney
Asian Rapid of the Champions Chess Tour 2021[8] ahead of Alireza Firouzja, Daniil Dubov, Peter Svidler
and Vidit Gujrathi, only losing to Levon Aronian in tie breaks in a hard-fought match.[9]

In October 2021, Arjun placed 2nd at the Junior U21 Round Table Open Chess Championship (Classical)
held in Bulgaria. He scored 7/9, along with Alexey Sarana.[10]
In November 2021, Arjun placed 3rd/82 in the Lindores Abbey Blitz Tournament at Riga ahead of players
such as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, David Navara, Daniil Dubov, Peter Svidler and many
others.[11] Later that month, Arjun won the Rapid section of the Tata Steel India Chess Tournament
(Rapid and Blitz). He scored 6.5/9, ahead of Vidit Gujrathi, Levon Aronian, Sam Shankland and Lê
Quang Liêm.[12] He clinched the win by holding Levon Aronian to a draw in a losing position.[13]

2022
In January 2022, Arjun won the Tata Steel Chess 2022 Challengers,[14] qualifying him to play in the
masters section in the next Tata Steel Chess tournament. His final score was 10.5/13 and his TPR in the
tournament was 2804, taking his rating to 2660, thereby breaking into the top 100.

In March 2022, he was crowned the Indian National Champion by winning the 58th MPL National
Championship of India 2022 with a score of 8.5/11. Furthermore, in March Arjun won the 19th Delhi
Open- edging out Gukesh D and Harsha Bharathakoti on tie-break after all scored 8.5/10.[15]

In August 2022, Arjun won the 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival with 7.5/9 and a performance
rating of 2893.[16]

In December 2022, Arjun won Tata Steel Chess India 2022 Blitz with 12.5/18, which was his third
victory in Tata Steel events to date.[17]

2024
In April 2024, Arjun won Menorca Open A on superior tie-break score after he tied with 2 others with a
score of 7.5/9.[18]

In June 2024, Arjun won the Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2024 with a round to spare.[19]

In September 2024, Arjun took part in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest as part of the Indian team. He
was the only player in the Open section to score six straight wins in the first six rounds.[20] He finished
the event with 10 points in 11 rounds. His performance rating of 2968 earned him an individual gold
medal on board three, and helped India to win their first ever team gold medal at the olympiad.[21]

In October 2024, Arjun won the 2024 WR Chess Masters Cup in London by defeating Maxime Vachier-
Lagrave in an armageddon tiebreak in the final.[22]

In December 2024, Arjun crossed 2800 on the FIDE Ratings list, making him the 16th player to cross the
mark.[23]

Awards and recognition

Others
Sportstar Emerging Hero Award: 2023[24]
TOISA Chess Player of the Year: 2021[25]
See also

Chess portal

Chess in India
List of Indian chess players
List of chess grandmasters

References
1. "Erigaisi Arjun" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160806102636/http://chess-db.com/public/pi
nfo.jsp?id=35009192). Chess-DB.com. Archived from the original (https://chess-db.com/publ
ic/pinfo.jsp?id=35009192) on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
2. "Arjun Erigaisi Officially Joins Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura In 2800 Club" (https://www.ches
s.com/news/view/december-2024-fide-ratings-arjun-erigaisi). Chess.com. Retrieved
3 December 2024.
3. "Arjun Erigaisi's fast-track to GM title" (https://web.archive.org/web/20181021111411/https://
telanganatoday.com/arjun-erigaisis-fast-track-gm-title). telanganatoday.com. Archived from
the original (https://telanganatoday.com/arjun-erigaisis-fast-track-gm-title) on 21 October
2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
4. "Hanamkonda boy set to create ripples in chess world" (https://www.thehindu.com/news/citi
es/Hyderabad/Hanamkonda-boy-set-to-create-ripples-in-chess-world/article14546841.ece).
The Hindu. 1 August 2016. ISSN 0971-751X (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0971-751X).
Retrieved 18 May 2023.
5. Chakravorty, Reshmi (27 July 2022). "Beyond Checkmate!" (https://www.newindianexpress.
com/cities/hyderabad/2022/Jul/27/beyond-checkmate-2480948.html). The New Indian
Express. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
6. Nair, Abhijit (7 June 2022). " "Chess over studies" — How quitting college took Arjun Erigiasi
to Indian Olympiad team" (https://thebridge.in/chess/studies-quit-college-arjun-erigiasi-olym
piad-team-32152). thebridge.in. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
7. Subrahmanyam, V. V. (2 August 2016). "Hanamkonda boy set to create ripples in chess
world" (https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/Hanamkonda-boy-set-to-create-rip
ples-in-chess-world/article14546841.ece). The Hindu. Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20210625203325/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/Hanamkonda-boy-set-
to-create-ripples-in-chess-world/article14546841.ece) from the original on 25 June 2021.
Retrieved 20 October 2018 – via thehindu.com. "Erigaisi Arjun, a Class VIII student,
qualifies for World Youth Chess championship, and the Asian championship"
8. "Goldmoney Asian Rapid Chess: Arjun Erigaisi makes history, first Indian in quarterfinals" (ht
tps://sportstar.thehindu.com/chess/goldmoney-asian-rapid-chess-arjun-erigaisi-in-quarterfin
als-d-gukesh-vidit-gujrathi/article35026471.ece). 28 June 2021. Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20210711102755/https://sportstar.thehindu.com/chess/goldmoney-asian-rapid-ch
ess-arjun-erigaisi-in-quarterfinals-d-gukesh-vidit-gujrathi/article35026471.ece) from the
original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021. "Arjun Erigaisi, the lowest-rated player
who now plays league topper Levon Aronian, came up with a display on the final day of the
preliminaries"
 9. Rao, Rakesh (30 June 2021). "Arjun falls to Aronian in tiebreaker" (https://www.thehindu.co
m/sport/other-sports/arjun-falls-to-aronian-in-tiebreaker/article35065939.ece). The Hindu.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210711195628/https://www.thehindu.com/sport/oth
er-sports/arjun-falls-to-aronian-in-tiebreaker/article35065939.ece) from the original on 11
July 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021. "Arjun Erigiasi's gallant show against Levon Aronian
ended in the blitz tiebreaker"
10. "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Junior U21 Round Table Open Chess
Championship" (https://chess-results.com/tnr571844.aspx?lan=1&art=4&flag=30). chess-
results.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
11. Doggers (PeterDoggers), Peter (8 November 2021). "Kirill Shevchenko Surprise Winner at
Lindores Abbey Blitz" (https://www.chess.com/news/view/kirill-shevchenko-wins-lindores-ab
bey-blitz). Chess.com. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
12. "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - TATA STEEL CHESS INDIA RAPID 2021" (http
s://chess-results.com/tnr591702.aspx?lan=1). chess-results.com. Retrieved 19 November
2021.
13. Arjun Erigaisi on winning the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and training with Kasimdzhanov
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYDY8Caikbc), 19 November 2021, retrieved
20 November 2021
14. "Tata Steel Chess 2022: Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi wins Challengers event with a round to
spare" (https://www.firstpost.com/sports/tata-steel-chess-2022-indian-gm-arjun-erigaisi-wins
-challengers-event-with-a-round-to-spare-10332951.html). www.firstpost.com. 30 January
2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
15. "The Week in Chess 1430" (https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic1430.html#13).
theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
16. "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival -
Masters" (https://chess-results.com/tnr644717.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&turdet=YES&flag=3
0). chess-results.com. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
17. "Arjun Erigaisi wins Tata Steel Chess India 2022 Blitz with a round to spare, now World
no.10 TATA STEEL CHESS INDIA, RAPID & BLITZ, 2022" (https://tatasteelchess.in/arjun-eri
gaisi-wins-tata-steel-chess-india-2022-blitz-round-spare-now-world-no10). tatasteelchess.in.
Retrieved 10 December 2022.
18. "Arjun Erigaisi Briefly World #5 As Menorca Open Winner" (https://www.chess.com/news/vie
w/arjun-erigaisi-wins-2024-menorca-open). www.chess.com. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 29 April
2024.
19. "Arjun Erigaisi wins Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2024 with a round to spare; Achieves 2779.9
live rating" (https://sportstar.thehindu.com/chess/arjun-erigaisi-wins-stepan-avagyan-memria
l-2024-chess-tournament-aremenia-result-report-fide-live-rating-list-news/article68301458.e
ce). sportstar.thehindu.com. 17 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
20. "Chess Olympiad Arjun Erigaisi scores his sixth straight win Indian women beat Armenia" (ht
tps://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/sports/2024/09/16/spf28-spo-chess-ld-olympiad.html).
The Week. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
21. "Chess Olympiad 2024 Round 11 Live Updates: Arjun and Gukesh win as India clinch
historic Open GOLD; Divya gives India crucial lead against AZE" (https://indianexpress.com/
article/sports/chess/45th-fide-chess-olympiad-2024-round-11-live-updates-open-section-guk
esh-praggnanandhaa-vidit-gujrathi-closing-ceremony-9578514/). 22 September 2024.
Retrieved 22 September 2024.
22. "Arjun crushes Maxime to win WR Chess Masters" (https://www.thehindu.com/sport/arjun-cr
ushes-maxime-to-win-wr-chess-masters/article68768706.ece). 22 September 2024.
Retrieved 19 October 2024.
23. "FIDE ratings - December 2024" (https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-ratings-december-202
5). Chess News. 2 December 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
24. "Arjun Erigaisi wins Sportstar Emerging Hero award at Focus Telangana" (https://sportstar.th
ehindu.com/sportstar-conclave/arjun-erigaisi-wins-sportstar-emerging-hero-award-focus-tela
ngana-2023/article67254429.ece). Sportstar. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
25. "TOISA 2021: Arjun Erigaisi wins Chess Player of the Year Award" (https://timesofindia.indiat
imes.com/featured/toisa-2021-arjun-erigaisi-wins-chess-player-of-the-year-award/articlesho
w/94838474.cms). The Times of India. Retrieved 14 October 2022.

External links
Erigaisi Arjun (https://ratings.fide.com/profile/35009192) rating card at FIDE
Arjun Erigaisi (https://prs.aicf.in/players/2714) ID card at the All India Chess Federation
Arjun Erigaisi (https://www.chess.com/players/arjun-erigaisi) player profile at Chess.com
Arjun Erigaisi (https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=154314) player profile
and games at Chessgames.com
Arjun Erigaisi (https://lichess.org/@/Inventing_Invention) player profile at Lichess
Erigaisi Arjun (https://www.365chess.com/players/Erigaisi_Arjun) chess games at
365Chess.com
Arjun Erigaisi (https://x.com/ArjunErigaisi) on Twitter

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