LONDON, Oct 18: Rapidly-rising Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi clinched the WR Chess masters title after defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the Armageddon game following two draws in Classical chess during the final here.
Arjun, who was a part of the gold-winning Indian team in the Chess Olympiad recently, displayed great form and precision throughout the event to bag the winner’s prize of 20,000 Euros.
With this, Arjun’s live Elo rating touched 2796, moving him closer to the coveted 2800 mark. He will look to cross that milestone at the European Cup which starts from October 20.
The 21-year-old defeated his friend R Praggnanandhaa in the semifinals of the knockout event before eventually getting past Vachier-Lagrave.
The 16-player tournament saw Arjun score a 2-0 victory over nine-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan of England, who was the youngest ever to play in the Chess Olympiad for her country.
Fellow Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi also fell to Arjun, who won the second game in the two-games mini-match by 1.5-0.5 margin.
Against Praggnanandhaa in the semis, Arjun took an early lead by winning the first game as white and did well to draw the second game to win the match 1.5-0.5.
In the final, Vachier-Lagrave put up stiff resistance against the World number four Indian but eventually crumbled in the Armageddon.
The first game ended in an easy draw for Arjun as black, while the second game featured wild complex play out of a Sicilian Najdorf opening where the Indian played white.
The dust subsided on the 21st move leading to a tricky endgame post the queen trade and the game was drawn.
Vachier-Lagrave had 10 minutes on his clock with white pieces in the finale against Arjun’s six minutes and 58 seconds. However, as is the law, the Frenchman needed a win.Arjun navigated the opening well despite less time out of a Petroff defense and reached a balanced position.
Vachier-Lagrave sacrificed two minor pieces for a rook to make some threats around Arjun’s King but the Indian remained on guard. The game could have been a draw through repetition but that would have won the match for Arjun anyway.The Queens were traded but Arjun was never in trouble as Vachier-Lagrave fought in vain for 69 moves before calling it a day. (PTI)
