Arjun Erigaisi's climb towards 2800 (queen sac alert!!!)

If you check the live elo rating, you'll find out something that, just one year ago, was unthinkable: Arjun Erigaisi is number 4 and he is also the top Indian player by elo, ahead of guys like Gukesh (world championship challanger), Pragg (his name is known since he was 12 or so), Vidit (he defeated Hikaru twice in the last Candidates) and so on.

We do not see him very often in the closed tournaments like Sinquefield Cup or Norway Chess, because to me it looks like he isn't in the "establishment" of the top players, as other players lower rated than him are (for instance, Nepo, So or Firouzja), maybe because he has the reputation of a "rating farmer" (someone who gain rating against a lot of lower rated players).

Nonetheless, I think he deserves far more credit than what he is given right now in the chess world, becuase he is incredibly strong and a "fighting player" too.

At the 2024 Chess Olympiad he is one of the few players with a score of 4/4. After a big scary in round 1 (he was losing because of a very risky sacrifice out of the opening, but then he managed to win), he won very convincingly the next three games, in particular with a queen sacrifice in round 3.

Very nice combination also in today's game: basically his opponent could only choose which piece to lose (his rook or an exchange)

See you in the next article about Chess Olympiad.

Bye, take care and remember... to play chess!