Arjun Erigaisi lone Indian to make knockout stage in Paris leg of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour

Indian chess grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi emerged as the lone Indian to advance to the eight-man knockout stage of the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after two days and eleven rounds of rapid games. Erigaisi, ranked world No 4, finished fourth with 6.5/11 points, while Ian Nepomniachtchi topped the round robin standings with 8.5/11 points.

In an earlier interview with HT, Arjun mentioned closely following the Freestyle event in Weissenhaus earlier this year and learning a lot by just watching the games. Unfortunately, the other three Indian players – Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, and reigning world champion Gukesh – are out of contention for the $2,00,000 top prize and will now compete for the 9th-12th spot in classical matches starting on Wednesday.

Vidit, who recently got married and flew to Paris for the tournament, struggled with just two wins out of 11 games, finishing at the bottom of the round robin standings. Gukesh, with three wins, finished just above Vidit. Round 9 saw all four Indian players losing their respective games, with Magnus Carlsen showcasing his brilliance with a stunning Queen sacrifice to secure a win.

The classical format knockout stage, starting on Wednesday, will see players ranked 1-4 in the round robin choosing their opponents from players ranked 5 through 8. The time control will be 90 minutes + 30-second increment per move.

The top 8 players advancing to the knockout stage are Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Arjun, Abdusattorov, Nakamura, Keymer, and Caruana. The competition promises to be intense as the players battle it out for the coveted title and prize money.