Mumbai, Sep 25
Winning six games in a row in chess is akin to hitting six sixes in an over in cricket -- easy to think of difficult to achieve.
In chess, the most famous six-wins-in-row streak was achieved in the 1971 World Championship cycle when Bobby Fischer demolished Mark Taimanov 6-0 in the Candidates Quarterfinals.
Five decades later, India's Arjun Erigaisi achieved a 6-0 result in his first six games in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, as he played a big role in India's maiden triumph in the most prestigious team tournament in chess.
Though Arjun Erigaisi's results came against six different opponents, some of whom were not very highly ranked, it has enhanced his reputation as the biggest young star in World chess, who is likely to climb up to the top ranking if he continues on the same trajectory.
The Grandmaster from Telangana eventually finished with 10 points from 11 games, winning nine and drawing two games as he remained undefeated in the tournament. He won an individual gold medal on the third board. The highest-rated player he defeated in this streak was Dominguez Perez Leinier of the USA at 2740.
The 21-year-old Arjun Erigaisi is the highest-rated Indian chess player in the world, ranked fourth before the Olympiad, and is likely to climb one place to third in the updated rankings with a live rating of 2792, gaining 14 Elo points in one tournament.
Born on September 3, 2003, in Warangal in Andhra Pradesh (now Telengana), Arjun started playing chess with his friends and for fun. It was his kindergarten teacher in the temple town of Tirupathi who advised Arjun's parents that playing chess would be good for him as Arjun had great grasping power and could recite the multiplication tables in the reverse and knew the capitals of 70 countries and their currencies.
Seeing his interest, his neurosurgeon father decided to get him training at the age of 11, getting him admitted to BS Chess Academy in Hanamkonda and later at Race Academy in Kothapet in his hometown Warangal.
The youngster had a meteoric rise after 2017, becoming a Grandmaster within six months at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 13 days. In the next six years, Arjun emerged as the strongest young player in India, becoming a part of the golden generation of Indian chess in the company of D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, and Nihal Sarin. A player with great positional sense, Arjun fights for every inch on the chess board, at times not bothering about the final result. It is this uncompromising pursuit of victory that led to Magnus Carlsen christening Arjun Erigaisi as the "Mad man on the chess board".
Arjun is a quick learner and has worked with many coaches so far, prominent being GM Victor Mikhalevski of Isreal, compatriot Srinath Narayanan and is currently coached by former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who has been associated with Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana and Sergey Karjakin in the past. He is also a big fan of learning online and most of the time interacts with his coaches online. Adept in playing complicated positions, Arjun is a fighter and quick thinker and most often ends a game with more time on the clock than his opponent.
In 2021, he became the first Indian to qualify for the Goldmoney Asian Rapid section of the Champions Chess Tour and also won the Rapid section of the Tata Steel India Chess Tournament (Rapid and Blitz).
In January 2022, Arjun won the Tata Steel Chess 2022 Challenger and in the process broke into the Top-100 in the World Rankings in Classical format. In March of that year, he bagged the Indian National Championship and followed it up by lifting the crown in Delhi Open edging out D Gukesh and Harsha Bharathakoti in tiebreaker. In August 2022, he won the 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival and the next month, he crossed the rating of 2700 Elo.
In December 2022, Arjun won the Tata Steel Chess India 2022 Blitz, his third title in Tata Steel events so far.
He continued his title-winning spree in 2024 claiming the Menorca Open A in April and the Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2024, his sensational performance culminating in a memorable display of no-hold-barred chess in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
While the focus has been on the likes of Nihal Sarin, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa in the last few years, Arjun Erigaisi has quietly raced up the rating and ranking ladder, surging from 100 to No. 4 in just over just over two years, en route surpassing former world champion Viswanathan Anand to become the top-ranked player in India.
His mesmerizing performance in Budapest has added more luster to his aura, enhancing his reputation as the brightest star on the chess firmament.
A fan of the legendary Garry Kasparov, Arjun Erigaisi wants to emulate his idol and Indian legend Viswanathan Anand in becoming the classical World Champion. He may have missed the chance in this cycle in which India's Gukesh will challenge China's Ding Liren for the title, but Arjun does not seem very far from challenging for the crown shortly.
Arjun's sensational performances in the last couple of years mark him as the best candidate to become the second Indian to cross the 2800. He also looks destined to become the World Champion one day if he continues on the trajectory his career has taken so far.
The Mad Man of the chessboard will continue to make magic.
