How Arjun Erigaisi conquered pressure to succeed

Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi has revealed that he once felt bogged down by the weight of his own expectations, a phase that led to several lows, but by detaching himself from the outcome of his matches, he has finally discovered the path to success.

Erigaisi is enjoying a stellar year. Playing a vital role in the Indian men’s team’s historic gold at the Olympiad, he won nine of his 11 games to also secure an individual gold on the third board. His performance has elevated him to a career-best wold No. 3 in live FIDE rankings.

However, things didn’t seem so rosy a year ago, as Erigaisi found himself caught in a rut. “Back in 2021, I was clearly underrated (in ratings). I was about 2500 (rating). But my strength was clearly about 2600. So, it was all smooth sailing until a point,” he said. “And then in 2023, I was about 2700. And that period was tough. I was having ups and downs. And some of the downs were really harsh, like missing out on the Candidates,” he added.

“One conscious decision I made after that was to detach myself from the results. Because I was putting too much pressure on myself by desperately wanting to achieve something. I think detaching from the results really helped me,” he added.

By liberating himself from the suffocating pressure of achieving specific results, he discovered a newfound mental clarity and resilience. But how did he do it?

“It’s like giving my best in my efforts and accepting whatever comes out of it. And if you give your best, you most likely tend to get the best possible outcome. It wasn’t easy obviously,” he said.

The 21-year-old from Warangal, Telangana, is eager to maintain his winning momentum, with the long-term ambition of ultimately becoming the world champion.

“My long-term goal is to become world champion. And short-term goal, I mean, it’s just taking one tournament at a time. So whichever tournament that I play, I want to do well in that,” he said.

With Indian youngsters shining on the global stage, the nation is celebrating them as the golden generation of chess players and Erigaisi believes that the camaraderie between him, D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa fuels their collective success and elevates their game.

“We can certainly call this the golden generation of India. And I’m the oldest one in there. We all know each other for a pretty long time and have a healthy rivalry. So it’s like when someone does well, the others also get motivated and want to do well. And that just makes each and every one of us stronger, which is just good for Indian chess,” he said.