World Championships Rapid and Blitz: Erigaisi looks to qualify for Candidates

Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi will have to tackle obstacles to retain his chances of becoming the first Indian to enter the 2026 Candidates’ tournament when he opens his campaign at the World Rapid and Blitz chess tournament here. Erigaisi, who currently trails Fabiano Caruana of the United States in the list of players slated to qualify from 2024, will have a tall order to win the World Rapid chess championship that gets underway.

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It may be noted here that the last time an Indian won the crown here was in 2019 when Koneru Humpy triumphed and in 2017 Viswanathan Anand had defied all odds to win the title.

World’s top-rated Magnus Carlsen will be back to defend his title in the faster version of the game as the top seed in both rapid and blitz.

For Erigaisi to eclipse Carlsen as well as Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States is easier said than done.