Back-to-Back Wins For Arjun In Freestyle Tournament
Freestyle Friday is still a relatively new event, with its seventh-ever rendition being held on March 7. In it, GM Arjun Erigaisi set two firsts: he became the first player to win any two Freestyle Fridays and the first player to win two in a row. After needing only 9.5 points to win last week, this week, Arjun scored 10 points, beating out countryman GM M Pranesh by half a point.
Arjun lost in the sixth round to GM Sam Sevian but was otherwise perfect. That included a game against Pranesh in the ninth round, despite having Black for the game in a relatively advantageous starting position for White. Still, Arjun was able to both promote and checkmate on just the 26th move of the game after his early kingside attack paid off.
That put Arjun into a three-way tie for first place, and he was the only one of the three to advance to nine points. This time, he needed even fewer moves, just 19, to defeat GM Jules Moussard. The opening looks like a King's Gambit but, of course, is not one at all, thanks to the random starting position.
While only Arjun got to 9/10 with a round left, only Pranesh got 8.5/10, leaving them as pretty much the only players with a chance at first. Arjun's win over GM Grigoriy Oparin put the tournament out of Pranesh's reach, but the 18-year-old secured runner-up status with a win over GM Jose Martinez. Both players navigated the opening successfully, but then Martinez made a dubious exchange sacrifice and was punished.
Despite his short loss to Arjun in the 10th round, Moussard recovered to finish fourth, albeit still behind GM Matthias Bluebaum on tiebreaks. IM Karina Ambartsumova finished in 15th place with eight points to earn the women's prize.
March 7 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 13 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 2664 | 10 | 72 | |
| 2 | 10 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 2701 | 9.5 | 74 | |
| 3 | 19 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2570 | 9 | 70 | |
| 4 | 28 | GM | @Annawel | Jules Moussard | 2518 | 9 | 61 | |
| 5 | 23 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2543 | 9 | 59.5 | |
| 6 | 2 | GM | @Konavets | Sam Sevian | 2807 | 8.5 | 76 | |
| 7 | 7 | GM | @Sargsyan_Shant | Shant Sargsyan | 2730 | 8 | 77.5 | |
| 8 | 223 | FM | @Suleyman_Chess06 | Suleyman Suleymanlı | 1624 | 8 | 76.5 | |
| 9 | 136 | GM | @Grandelicious | Nils Grandelius | 1835 | 8 | 65 | |
| 10 | 89 | GM | @Javokhir_Sindarov05 | Javokhir Sindarov | 1999 | 8 | 63.5 | |
| 11 | 15 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2588 | 8 | 61.5 | |
| 12 | 96 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 2546 | 8 | 60.5 | |
| 13 | 29 | GM | @fireheart92 | Adhiban Baskaran | 2492 | 8 | 60.5 | |
| 14 | 48 | IM | @ukchessbomber | Aaravamudhan Balaji | 2221 | 8 | 58.5 | |
| 15 | 75 | IM | @karinachess1 | Karina Ambartsumova | 2028 | 8 | 48 | |
| 16 | 1 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 2796 | 7.5 | 74 | |
| 17 | 17 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 2577 | 7.5 | 69.5 | |
| 18 | 169 | GM | @DavidGavrilescu18 | David Gavrilescu | 1715 | 7.5 | 60.5 | |
| 19 | 26 | GM | @ChessWarrior7197 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2491 | 7.5 | 60.5 | |
| 20 | 115 | IM | @FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 1874 | 7.5 | 55 |
Prizes: Arjun $400, Pranesh $250, Bluebaum $150, Moussard $100, Ambartsumova $100.
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com's weekly tournament dedicated to Freestyle Chess for titled players. The tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.
