Telangana’s Arjun hopes to make right moves

Hyderabad: Excited to play his maiden Chess Olympiad, Grandmaster from Telangana Arjun Erigaisi is hoping to make it a memorable one. The 18-year-old from Warangal is in super form this year winning a few prestigious tournaments, including the Junior Speed Chess Champion, recently. He also won the Challengers section of the Tata Steel chess tournament […]

Hyderabad: Excited to play his maiden Chess Olympiad, Grandmaster from Telangana Arjun Erigaisi is hoping to make it a memorable one. The 18-year-old from Warangal is in super form this year winning a few prestigious tournaments, including the Junior Speed Chess Champion, recently. He also won the Challengers section of the Tata Steel chess tournament in the Netherlands that earned him a chance to compete in Masters next year.

He is now eager to make a mark in the 44th Chess Olympiad that will be held in India for the first time, from July 28 to August 10 in Chennai. Arjun, who is currently ranked No.1 in India in blitz event with rating points of 2745, hopes to break the 2700 barrier in classical event. He said, “I am playing this event for the first time. My goal is to win it for the country. Playing in India will only have a positive effect on us than pressure. Winning a medal in the Olympiad will be a big thing. I want to perform well. The World Championships is there but it is a two-player event. The Olympiad will have over 2,000 in competition. It is the biggest team event in the world.”

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Arjun, who is part of India’s A team, is upbeat about teams’ chances saying that both A and B teams sport pretty good looks. “Both the teams are strong. We have good experienced players in our team. (K) Sasikiran, Vidit Gujarati, P Harikrishna, SL Narayan, K Sasikiran, all are good players. I feel the US is the strongest team. India are seeded fourth after the US, China and Azerbaijan. Ukraine has also registered for the event and it is a very good team.”

The Indian team had a camp with Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand in tune up to the event and he said the camp was very helpful. “Gelfand, with his experience, taught us a few things. His insights are very helpful, not just for Olympiad but for our career in general as well,” he added.

He, however, was a bit disappointed with Viswanathan Anand choosing not to play in the event. “It is a pity that he is not in the team but the good thing is he is going to be our mentor. It will be helpful. It would have been very nice had he been in the team.”

Speaking on his preparations for the event, Arun said, “I received a few invitations from various tournaments. But I decided to cut down on a few of them to focus on the Olympiad. I plan to play some tournaments online,” he revealed.