A crushing positional victory without giving any chance to a strong opponent hailing from the top-seeded US and with it, waltzing past the 2700 Elo mark. That’s how the last Chess Olympiad, held in Tamil Nadu’s Mamallapuram in 2022, ended for Warangal boy Arjun Erigaisi.
While Arjun bagged an individual silver medal on board 3, his India A team finished fourth, narrowly missing a medal.
A couple of years older and a much-improved chess player now, Arjun - currently the world No.4 and India’s No.1 chess player ahead of Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Viswanathan Anand - would hope to do even better in the Budapest Chess Olympiad that begins on Tuesday.
Speaking at TNIE’s latest edition of Hyderabad Dialogues before the event, the 20-year-old prodigy from Warangal spoke about how he loves team tournaments and the camaraderie that would help India in the upcoming Olympiad.
Unlike the last Olympiad where he set a target of 8.5/11 and went on to achieve it, this Arjun is more mature and realises that it would only increase the pressure on him. He’s not just better at chess, he has learnt meditation techniques now.
Asked how he ensures he is calm while playing an intense game, he tells TNIE, “It is like what Lord Krishna told Arjuna in the Mahabharata. You just give your best and whatever will happen … will happen.” Reflecting on his tough loss to Pragg in the 2023 World Cup quarterfinals, he says that a loss used to bother him for days and affect the next game too. “But now, when there is a bad outcome, I do feel bad for an hour but move on after that,” he notes. Excerpts:
On smooth victories since the 2022 Olympiad
There should be many but one I can recall is a game against [Vladislav] Kovalev in the 2023 Sharjah Masters. Not only was it smooth but it was also aggressive, that is one of my favourite games.
On 2018 U-16 C’ship
Back then, I was quite afraid of some players. I didn’t want to be on board No.1 and I thought it would give me better chances if I play on board 3. But he (Srinath Narayanan) insisted that I play on board 1 since I was clearly the strongest player in the team. Like he thought, it worked out quite well. I scored +5 on board 1 and the others managed to do well and we secured silver. I defeated Nordibek [Abdusattorov] and [Andrey] Esipenko.
On his next target
No, I do not set targets anymore. When you achieve the target it looks nice but the thing is, the target pushes one too much for a win and that leads to losses.
On role of captain
The players are at such a high level that there is not much to teach us. The captain is more of a manager and also takes care of the team camaraderie. We do have a good team camaraderie and that will help us play well as a team in the upcoming Olympiad.
On maintaining focus during intense games
This is one of the toughest things. It affected me last year, the World Cup quarterfinal against Pragg [where Arjun lost in a sudden death blitz game after being tied in the classical portion and three sets of rapid and blitz tiebreaks]. I so badly wanted to qualify and it affected my nerves.
After this, I have come to a realisation that it is best if I care less. I have done the inner engineering [course at Isha] for that. It has helped me greatly.
On what he tells himself games
It is a bit like what Lord Krishna told Arjuna in the Mahabharata. You just give your best and whatever will happen … will happen.
On how he practices detachment from the results
Ah, it is easier said than done. When I lost a game in a tournament in China, I was angry but recovered in an hour. When it came to the next game against Anish Giri, the loss had no effect on me and I won. In fact, another time when I lost in a tournament, I was so normal about it that it shocked my friends.
On any advice for chess parents
To all the parents out there, if there is pressure, it only makes the players worse. If the player is able to play freely, then that is when they can give their absolute best. Putting any pressure wouldn’t have any positive impact. If at all, it would have only a negative impact.
On if Gukesh is the favourite against Liren
Two-three months ago, I was very certain that Gukesh was going to win because Ding was playing at a very poor level. But now, in the Sinquefield Cup, although Ding is not doing great, his quality has been pretty good. If he continues in this direction and improves his quality, it will become a 50-50 match.
On his post-Olympiad plans
After the Olympiad, I am playing in the Global Chess League in London in October. Magnus, Hikaru, Pragg, Nihal are playing. It is one of the best events, it is a rapid team tournament. After that, I am playing in a knockout tournament in London, that’s a classical tournament. Then I am playing in a European club tournament.