Chess: Indian teen Arjun Erigaisi stuns world champ Magnus Carlsen

Chennai, October 16

Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi today hogged the spotlight after beating world champion Magnus Carlsen in Round 7 of the preliminaries of the Aimchess Rapid online chess tournament.

The 19-year-old Erigaisi is currently in fifth place after eight rounds. The win over Carlsen was the Indian’s first over the Norwegian. Erigaisi had lost to Carlsen in the final of the Julius Baer Generation Cup online tournament last month. His 54-move win enabled him to bounce back after a slow start to the event.

Erigaisi won three straight games, beating Nils Grandelius (Sweden), Daniel Naroditsky (USA) and Carlsen, before settling for a draw against Jan-Krzyszstof Duda (Poland).

He has 15 points and is placed behind Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov (17 points), Azerbaijan’s Shahkriyar Mamedyarov (16), Carlsen (16) and Duda (15).

India’s D Gukesh is in sixth place with 12 points after mixed fortunes on the second day of the preliminaries. After beating compatriot P Harikrishna in Round 5, he lost to Abdusattorov and Naroditsky in the sixth and eighth rounds, respectively. In between, he beat Grandelius in the seventh.

Vidit Gujrathi, who had earlier beaten Erigaisi, is 10th after eight rounds of the 15-round preliminary phase. Gujrathi had an impressive win over world rapid champion Abdusattorov but draws against Grandelius and Naroditsky and a defeat at the hands of Carlsen pegged him back.

Carlsen has not been at his best so far, having suffered defeats to Mamedyarov and Erigaisi. He also escaped with a draw against young Indian GM Aditya Mittal in Round 4. He faces Gukesh in the ninth round. Mittal and Harikrishna are 11th and 15th, respectively.