Arjun Erigaisi Wins WR Chess Masters Cup But Misses Out On 2800
GM Arjun Erigaisi defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in armageddon to win the 2024 WR Chess Masters Cup, picking up the €20,000 top prize and 27.84 FIDE Circuit points. The one thing he missed out on was crossing 2800 for the first time, after his French opponent thwarted that goal by making two draws in the classical games.
WR Chess Masters Cup Bracket
GM Vidit Gujrathi quipped when Arjun turned down eating a desert after his victory: "He doesn’t feel hunger—he’s only hungry for rating points!"
He doesn't feel hunger—he's only hungry for rating points!
Vidit Gujrathi on Arjun Erigaisi
Arjun went into the final day in London knowing that a win in classical chess would take him over 2800 for the first time, but he also had another motivation. Noting that Vachier-Lagrave had drawn all his classical games but won three out of three armageddons, Arjun summed up his strategy as, "Basically I thought I should finish it off in classical!"
The first game, however, was a non-event. Arjun's French Defense promised action, but instead the game fizzled out into a careful 30-move draw.
The second game would also ultimately be drawn, but the 6.Be2 Najdorf soon got wildly complicated. Both players were in their element—chaos—but they also kept admirable control, so that the peaceful outcome felt entirely justified.
With the classical chess over, Arjun had again stopped just short of 2800 on the live rating list.
The action switched to armageddon, with the players bidding the lowest amount of time they were willing to offer to play with Black and only need a draw. Arjun explained his bid of six minutes, 58 seconds: "I thought 10 vs. seven would be decent, and in case he chooses seven I wanted to be a bit less. And then he chose 7:48... So did I go a bit too low?"
Arjun could have gone higher and still won, but it was hard to criticize his judgment given what followed. His choice of the rock-solid Petroff Defense worked to perfection, with Vachier-Lagrave keeping his advantage on the clock but never making headway on the board. A final blunder into a fork extinguished any remaining hopes of a swindle and the Frenchman resigned.
The armageddon can be rewatched with Vidit joining IM Sagar Shah for commentary, before Arjun joins the stream after his victory.
Arjun pointed out he hadn't won a knockout before and called his win "a special one."
The winner of WR Chess Masters Cup is GM Arjun Erigaisi! Congratulations for India no. 1! 👏
— WR_Chess_Masters (@wr_chess) October 17, 2024
It was a pleasure to host you @ArjunErigaisi!
📷 Tao Bhokanandh pic.twitter.com/aE7pdWivxH
He claimed, not only because of who was in the room, that his victory over Vidit had been the toughest, since he'd thought he was going to lose the first game before finding 46...Rc8!:
"In the game with Pragg, although I was lost at one point, I didn’t see that, so I never felt any danger. And even today, I didn’t feel as much danger. But that one, I had one to two minutes, and I had this only move which I hadn’t foreseen, so I was lucky to have it!"
The win is a major boost to Arjun's chances of qualifying for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament via the FIDE Circuit, since the 27.84 points he earned (based on the average rating of the top-eight players and taking clear first) is more than anyone has earned for an event in 2024 except for GM Alireza Firouzja's 28.67 for winning the Sinquefield Cup (GM Gukesh Dommaraju earned 26.94 for winning the Candidates).
Arjun is the first player to have racked up the maximum seven events and will now leapfrog GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (92.02 points) into top place on 105.23, but Firouzja and Caruana remain well within striking distance after playing fewer events. Not that Arjun will stop his marathon, however, since he's now heading to Vrnjacka Banja in Serbia for the European Club Cup that starts on Sunday. Just time for a little bughouse!
Want some fun after serious chess competition? Why not, let’s play a bughouse! Top Indians Chess Players at the @wr_chess @WadimRosenstein pic.twitter.com/XfJ4dF62tJ
— Agnieszka Milewska (@AgaMilewska123) October 18, 2024
The 2024 WR Chess Masters Cup was a 16-player knockout held in the Langham Hotel, London, that ran October 14-18. Each match featured two games using the shortest possible classical time control: 60 minutes for 30 moves, 30 minutes for 20 moves, then 30 minutes to the end of the game, with no increment. A 1-1 tie was decided by bidding armageddon, with 10 minutes for White. The prize fund was €58,000, with €20,000 for top place.
Previous Coverage
- Arjun, Vachier-Lagrave In Final After Thrilling Wins Vs. Praggnanandhaa, Firouzja
- Quarterfinals: Firouzja Accepts Gift As MVL, Arjun, Praggnanandhaa Join Him In Semifinals
- Round Of 16: 5 Indian Grandmasters In WR Chess Masters Cup Quarterfinals
- Anand, Ju Wenjun In Action As WR Masters Returns In London, Dubai, Dusseldorf
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
