NAGPUR: Hope. Heartbreak. Repeat. That has long defined Arjun Erigaisi’s relationship with world championships. For eight years, the script barely changed: promise gave way to disappointment and near-misses piled up into a quiet burden. Until Sunday night, when Arjun finally caught a break, secured a podium finish in the Open section of the World Rapid Championship and became only the second Indian, after Viswanathan Anand, to do so.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!In 2017 — the year Anand won his last world rapid title — Arjun finished runner-up in the U-14 World Youth Championship. Since then, a world-championship podium had remained a so-near-yet-so-far affair.
The wonder boy from Warangal has collected records across a 14-year journey: titles in international rated events, an Olympiad gold and a rise to India’s No. 1 in ratings. Despite having the strength of a Super GM, luck often played hide-andseek with him — in world titles as well as Candidates qualification. In Oct last year, Arjun became the 16th player in history to cross the 2800 mark in live ratings, only the second Indian to do so after Anand.In Doha, Arjun began brightly at the World Rapid Championship, sharing the lead with world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. In the last round on Day One, he held Carlsen — who had two extra pawns — to a draw in a marathon 101-move game to stay in touch with the lead.
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Day Two brought his first defeat, followed by a couple of draws against lower-ranked opponents. Still, Arjun stayed joint 2nd. On the final day, just when was going great guns, he was stunned by 14-year-old and 156th-ranked Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and nearly slipped out of medal contention. He kept fighting, however, and won the last two rounds.As it turned out, Carlsen took a clear one-point lead and was just a draw away from regaining the title. The joint second-placed players drew and Arjun sneaked onto the podium — by half a point on tie-breaks. In the previous three World Rapid C’ships, he had missed bronze by the same margin.Overshadowed by Gukesh, Pragg’s world titlesIn 2018, Arjun became a GM as a 14-year-old, within four months. Post-pandemic, from 2021 onwards, he played nonstop and registered his first Elo surge, climbing 230 places from 359th to 129th in the world. By 2022, he made a jump from 134th to 21st, placing himself firmly among the new generation of Indian stars alongside Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa.Between Nov 2023 and July 2024, Arjun outpaced the global elite to add 66 points for a rating of 2778, rising from 30th to fourth in the world. Yet, despite his consistency, he was often overshadowed by world champion Gukesh and Pragg, a twice Candidates winner and World Cup finalist. When he was eliminated in the Goa World Cup, Arjun was heartbroken. But he came back stronger in Doha.
