Arjun Erigaisi (Image credit: X) NAGPUR: Hope. Sorrow. Repeat. This has long defined Arjun Erigaisi’s relationship with the World Cup. Eight years on, the script has hardly changed: promise has given way to disappointment, and near misses have piled up into a silent burden. Until Sunday evening, when Arjun finally took a breather, he secured a podium finish in the open section of the World Rapid Championship, becoming only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to do so.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!In 2017 – the year Anand won his last world rapid title – Arjun finished second in the Under-14 World Championship. Since then, placing on the World Championship podium has remained a near-yet-so-far affair.
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The prodigy from Warangal has racked up records in a 14-year journey: titles in international ranked events, an Olympic gold and a rise to India’s number one ranking. Despite his Super GM strength, luck often played hide-and-seek with him – in world titles and in candidate qualification. In October last year, Arjun became the 16th player in history to cross the 2800 mark in the live rankings, only the second Indian to do so after Anand.In Doha, Arjun got off to a great start in the World Rapid Championship, sharing the lead with world number one Magnus Carlsen. In the final round of day one, he held Carlsen – who had two extra pawns – to a draw in a marathon game of 101 moves to stay in touch with the lead.
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The second day brought his first defeat, followed by several draws against lesser-ranked opponents. Still, Arjun remained in second place. On the final day, when the great guns went, he was stunned by 14-year-old and 156th-ranked Ayazem Kaan Erdogm and nearly slipped out of medal contention. However, he fought on and won the last two rounds.As it turned out, Carlsen took a clear one-point lead and was only a draw away from winning the title. The joint runners-up tied for second and Arjun snuck onto the podium – by half a point on the tie-breaks. In the previous three World Rapid C’ships, he had missed out on bronze by the same margin.Overshadowed by Gukesh, world titles PraggIn 2018, Arjun became GM as a 14-year-old, within four months. After the pandemic, from 2021 he played non-stop and registered his first Elo increase, climbing 230 places from 359th to 129th in the world. By 2022, he had jumped from 134th to 21st, placing himself firmly among the new generation of Indian stars alongside Gukesh and Praggnanandha.Between November 2023 and July 2024, Arjun overtook the global elite, adding 66 points to a rating of 2778, rising from 30th to fourth in the world. Despite his consistency, he was often overshadowed by world champions Gukesh and Pragg, a two-time Candidates winner and World Cup finalist. Arjun was heartbroken when he was eliminated at the World Cup in Goa. But he came back stronger in Doha.
