Mumbai: A fleeting glance from across the chess board and the seasoned Levon Aronian offered a draw. It put Arjun Erigaisi in a dilemma.
If the draw was accepted, it would take their fifth-round tie in the Chess World Cup in Goa into Sunday’s tiebreakers. Erigaisi, the tournament second seed and India No.1, sat calmly, calculating. However, for a player who simply does not play defensive chess, the draw offer from Aronian made one thing clear.
“At some point I wasn’t sure if I was on the better side or worse side of equality, but when he offered a draw, that gave me some confidence that he’s happy with a draw. That gave me some edge,” Erigaisi said in comments to FIDE shortly after becoming the first Indian to enter the quarter-finals in this edition.
Pentala Harikrishna, the only other Indian player still in contention, played out a second consecutive draw in classical against Mexican GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara. Harikrishna played with white pieces, but the duo played a rather accurate game before agreeing a draw in 35 moves. It goes into Sunday’s tiebreaks.
Persistent Erigaisi
Having declined the draw offer, Erigaisi, playing with black pieces, continued to look for an opening, just as he had in the drawn first classical game.
On Friday, no matter how much pressure Erigaisi applied, two-time World Cup winner Aronian made the right decisions. That sharpness remained, until the 38th move on Saturday. While rook from d1 to f1 would have been the best move, Aronian moved it to e1.
Erigaisi immediately looked up in disbelief. He took a few seconds, focusing with hand pressed to the head, double-checking his calculations. There was the option of making a rook move, but he knew that moving the knight to h3 would mean certain victory.
He moved the knight. Aronian immediately grimaced, looking at the board. He was trapped and Erigaisi knew it.
The 22-year-old from Warangal got up from his chair and walked around the hall. When he returned, Aronian, 43, greeted him with a smile and handshake. Erigaisi had won the fifth round and entered the last eight.
“It definitely feels good. It was a close match,” Erigaisi said. “I think I played pretty well in both the games. I was exerting pressure. In the first one he defended really well, in this one he cracked.”
Through the 79 moves played over the two classical games, Aronian had extricated himself from tight situations, but as it so happens in chess it took one bad move to undo all the good work.
After being on the offensive throughout the Round of 16 tie, Erigaisi was hoping Aronian would slip up. “I was hoping for (Aronian to make the rook error), but I thought most likely he won’t do it,” said Erigaisi with a smile. “For a second, I couldn’t believe it.”
The win takes Erigaisi back into the quarter-final, matching his 2023 performance.
That campaign had ended in heartbreak as Erigaisi had failed to earn a spot in the 2024 Candidates tournament – qualifying event for the World Championship match. That defeat in Baku, Azerbaijan took a lot out of him.
Since then, he has trained his mind to focus on the process over the outcome. It’s a strategy that has taken the world No.6 to the top of the Indian rankings, and it is a method he will stick to.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Erigaisi said when asked about being in the spotlight in Goa. “I’m just happy I’m still there. I’ll take it one match at a time and focus on that.”
The World Cup is his last shot at earning a spot in next year’s Candidates. For that he needs to finish in the top 3. There is a playoff for the third and fourth places, besides the final.
Up next for Erigaisi is Wei Yi, China’s 2018 Asian champion.
