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Arjun Erigaisi bushed Vidit Gujrathi aft 5 hours of enactment successful the opening circular of the Chennai Chess Grand Masters 2024 successful Chennai. (PHOTO: Chennai Grand Masters)
At 2.45PM connected Tuesday, Vidit Gujrathi was the archetypal 1 to participate the playing hallway astatine the Anna Centenary Library that is playing big to the Chennai Grand Masters event. With an ever-present smile, helium took his seat earlier wandering disconnected for 1 last walk. On returning, helium greeted his hostile for the time Arjun Erigaisi successful what was the lucifer of the opening circular with each the lensmen mobbing the board. A bully 5 hours later, Vidit Gujrathi would tempest retired of the hallway and adjacent the building, possibly inactive wondering wherever helium mislaid it.
Or alternatively however Arjun Erigaisi managed to win. Playing with achromatic astatine 1 signifier the 21-year-old Arjun Erigaisi thought helium ‘had nary accidental of winning arsenic Vidit Gujrathi had the precocious hand’. The valuation barroom adjacent showed Vidit Gujrathi having an precocious manus successful the mediate game. As the crippled progressed it would amusement they were connected adjacent footing. But settling for a gully isn’t successful Arjun Erigaisi’s DNA whose crippled is to propulsion for triumph astatine each costs. Tuesday was nary different. Perhaps it was the instincts that took over. A small aboriginal helium could consciousness Vidit Gujrathi feeling a spot of pressure. And disconnected his 87th move, Vidit Gujrathi would crumble.
“I didn’t spot a triumph for myself,” Arjun Erigaisi said. “In the end, it was astir a draw. He blundered with king e5 and I besides hadn’t seen king g6 earlier. But luckily I saw it determination and I took my chance. When I played king g6 I knew that I astatine slightest had a draw. And present I’m the lone 1 playing for the win. When I played h3, I calculated everything till the win. There I was definite of winning,” helium added.
When Arjun Erigaisi came to Chennai for the inaugural variation of the lawsuit past year, helium was conscionable opening to larn to detach from the results. He had ended up runners-up astatine the lawsuit with D Gukesh winning the rubric connected the last day. This clip Arjun Erigaisi has arrived successful Chennai not conscionable arsenic a favourite but arsenic India’s No 1 and World No 3. Thanks to the unthinkable 12 months helium has had, which has seen a immense leap successful his ratings isolated from being portion of the golden medal winning Olympiad side.
With the triumph connected Tuesday, Arjun Erigaisi’s unrecorded ranking crossed 2800 for the 2nd clip successful his career. Another triumph connected Wednesday volition spot him go World No 2 and overtake Fabiano Caruana’s (2805). It is for definite a infinitesimal of immense significance. It is what Arjun Erigaisi feverishly hoped for a portion agone but the 2024 mentation doesn’t fret astir specified stuff.
“This full twelvemonth has been large and I’m conscionable blessed that I survived and won the crippled successful the end. This year, I worked connected divesting myself from the results and ranking and conscionable playing. I realised it erstwhile I failed to marque it to the Candidates past year. Since past I person worked connected it. Earlier I utilized to fumble nether pressure. But present I’m detached from the results. I don’t consciousness overmuch pressure, lone moments. For present I americium conscionable relieved that I survived the game,” Arjun Erigaisi said.
There was a play successful his vocation wherever helium was technical, but immoderate of his games lacked dynamism. A speech with his past manager Srinath Narayanan would unfastened a caller satellite for him, wherever helium would not relent until helium recovered a mode to triumph games from improbable situations. It meant helium had to beryllium dynamic and make the benignant of chaos connected the committee that would unit his opponents to marque mistakes, similar it happened with Vidit Gujrathi connected Tuesday.
“From being a weakness, it became by strength,” Arjun Erigaisi said.
Tuesday’s results astatine Chennai Grand Masters:
Masters: Aravindh Chithambaram (0.5) drew with Amin Tabatabaei (Irn, 0.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 1) bt Parham Maghsoodloo (Irn, 0); Vidit Gujrathi (0) mislaid to Arjun Erigaisi (1); Levon Aronian (US, 0.5) drew with Alexey Sarana (Ser, 0.5).
Challengers: Vaishali Rameshbabu (0) mislaid to Leon Luke Mendonca (1); Raunak Sadhwani (1) bt Karthikeyan Murali (0); M. Pranesh (0) mislaid to Abhimanyu Puranik (1); V. Pranav (1) bt Harika Dronavalli (0).
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