It was a transfer that made the jaws of elite grandmasters drop and Ian Nepomniachtchi’s coronary heart fee spike. With one flick of the wrist, Arjun Erigaisi had thrown a Hail Mary on the board that made his opponent ponder for 17 minutes a couple of response. And even after that extended interval of thought, the Russian ended up making a blunder together with his reply. 12 strikes later, Arjun was victorious, pushing the playoff for the fifth to eighth spot on the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour right into a tiebreaker. Within the tiebreakers afterward, performed with 10 minutes on clock for each gamers, Arjun gained the primary recreation with white earlier than defending out of his pores and skin with black items to salvage a draw and safe a spot within the fifth-place playoff on the Paris match.
The transfer itself — pushing his queen to the d8 sq. (12. Qd8), thus providing it up as a sacrifice for Nepo’s rook stationed at f8 — despatched the Russian’s coronary heart pumping blood at 125 beats per minute. Arjun’s coronary heart, in the meantime, appeared to be underneath the delusion that he was having fun with a seashore siesta as a result of it was trotting alongside at 58 beats per minute. By no means thoughts that he has simply performed one of many strikes of the day, that too in a scenario the place he wanted to win on demand after shedding the primary recreation of the playoffs towards Nepo on Friday.
“What a stunner we’ve seen. It’s loopy,” defined grandmaster Peter Leko within the commentary sales space for Freestyle Chess. “It has fully paralysed black’s development.”
Till that transfer from Arjun, Nepo’s king had been chilling on g8, flanked by rooks on both aspect and an entourage of three pawns stationed as sentries on the seventh rank.
How Arjun Erigaisi took down Ian Nepomniachtchi
What Arjun had achieved with the transfer was that it began a countdown to checkmate. Nepomniachtchi’s king was about to be compelled to flail about for survival on every transfer. Within the official commentary sales space, grandmasters like Leko, Judit Polgar and Anish Giri struggled to seek out even a single manner that the Russian would emerge from the scenario with out being worse than his Indian opponent.
When Nepo lastly moved, taking part in 12…g6, it was a blunder. The analysis bar shot as much as recommend that Arjun had an awesome benefit now. The engine appeared to recommend that the Russian ought to have moved his h pawn forwards quite than the g pawn. Even that finest transfer from the engine would have led to Nepo combating for survival all through. What made the sport even higher was the truth that whereas Arjun’s queen was residing as much as its full potential as probably the most highly effective piece on the board, Nepomniachtchi’s personal queen by no means obtained the prospect to maneuver out of its opening sq. on a8 (as per the place no 4 in Freestyle Chess).
Arjun Erigaisi’s twelfth transfer — pushing his queen to the d8 sq. (12. Qd8), thus providing it up as a sacrifice for Ian Nepomniachtchi’s rook stationed at f8 — despatched the Russian’s coronary heart pumping blood at 126 beats per minute whereas his personal was beating underneath 60 beats per minute. (Screenshot through Freestyle Chess YouTube)
“Nepo is a type of gamers who finds all types of good concepts for himself, however it’s the extra boastful varieties, they assume they’re the nice gamers and everyone else are nobodies… so he doesn’t anticipate Arjun can give you a transfer like this,” remarked Anish Giri.
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What made the sport even higher was that Arjun began to drive Nepo’s hand with much more gorgeous piece sacrifices: on transfer 17, he provided up a rook which Nepo was obliged to seize; on transfer 20, Arjun solid away his different rook into purgatory; on transfer 21, he casually provided up a knight; after transfer 24, the sport was over as Nepo surrendered.
The tiebreaks noticed extra drama. Arjun gained the primary recreation within the fast format in 39 strikes. Within the second recreation, Nepo raced to a profitable benefit with white items. By the twenty sixth transfer within the second tiebreak recreation, Arjun was in serious trouble. All of his pawns had been remoted and will have been simple for his opponent to choose off. However then Nepo performed three inaccurate strikes in a row, to permit Arjun a window of alternative. Arjun performed exceptionally nicely from that time to grind out a draw and safe a spot within the fifth place playoff towards native star Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Ought to Arjun defeat Vachier-Lagrave and end fifth, he’ll take house $50,000 (roughly Rs 43 lakh).
The day additionally noticed Praggnanandhaa defeat Richard Rapport to finish in ninth place on the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Tour, thus taking house $15,000 (roughly Rs 13 lakhs). The opposite two Indians, world champion Gukesh and newly-wed Vidit Gujrathi had been eradicated fairly early from the occasion, sharing the eleventh spot within the standings.
Whereas yet another spherical remains to be left within the occasion, Arjun has already confirmed that from India’s golden era, he has tailored to the calls for of Freestyle Chess the perfect. Coming into his first occasion of the Freestyle Chess Tour, Arjun had gained the Freestyle Friday on-line occasion thrice. And now could be poised to be the perfect finisher among the many Indian quartet in Paris.
