Arjun Erigaisi
India’s second player ever to cross 2800, after Viswanathan Anand, reaching a peak of 2801 in December 2024. Erigaisi is known for a bold, unpredictable style that has earned him a ‘madman’ label over the board.
He had a strong 2025. He won all three of Chess.com’s Freestyle Friday events, helped Team MGD1 win the World Rapid Team Championship, and took bronze in both the World Rapid and World Blitz, the first Indian to medal in both since Anand in 2017.
In 2026 he tied for first with Magnus Carlsen at the TePe Sigeman tournament before losing the blitz playoff, and won individual silver on board one at the World Rapid Team Championship.
Career highlights
- Peak rating 2801 (December 2024), the second Indian over 2800 after Anand
- Double bronze at the 2025 World Rapid and Blitz
- Won all three Chess.com Freestyle Friday events
- Runner-up at the 2026 TePe Sigeman, after a playoff with Carlsen
- Grandmaster at 14
Titles
- Open Chess Menorca: 2024
From the winners lists on our event pages.
Arjun Erigaisi in The Chess Herald
- Novy Bor and SuperChess Meet in Round 6 With 10/10 Each
- Murzin's Swindle Keeps Bayegan Pendik Clear After a Top-Board Loss
- Total Chess Rating Puts Carlsen at 2830, 51 Points Clear
- Favourites Sweep as Grandelius Falls on Day One of the European Club Cup
- Sindarov Within Two Points of Caruana After Samarkand
Show all 17 articles
- The Anti-Motivator and the Silent Killer: Inside Uzbekistan's Gold-Medal Team
- Madaminov's Unbeaten 5.5/7 Seals Uzbekistan's Second Gold
- Total Chess Fills Its 24-Player Field With Six More Signings
- Germany Stuns Top-Seeded USA as Uzbekistan Routs Hungary
- Eight Teams Still Perfect After Four Rounds in Samarkand
- Weekly Recap: Samarkand's Double Olympiad and FIDE's Newest World Title Backer
- Argentina's 28th Seed Shocks Ukraine at Samarkand
- Erigaisi Falls, but India's Bench Holds at Samarkand
- A Second's Difference: GCL's Prodigy Board Controversy
- GCL's Wild Day 3: Gambits Fall, Pipers Seize the Lead
- Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi Meet Again, but This Time Board Six Matters More Than They Do
- India Used To Have One World-Class Player. Now It Has A Bench.
FIDE profile · Wikipedia
Profile last reviewed September 29, 2026. Ratings update monthly from FIDE.