Build a life you don't need a vacation from!

Arjun Erigaisi is an Indian chess grandmaster. He was born in Telangana, where he attended the Shine High School. He is the 5th grandmaster from Telugu states and 54th overall from India.

Arjun earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 13 days which makes him the 32nd youngest person ever to achieve the title of grandmaster. He became a grandmaster in August 2018.

Chess career

When Arjun achieved his target in double the time he planned, he declared: “I am very happy to achieve the GM norm. When I started the year, my target was to achieve both IM and GM norms. However, I didn’t expect to achieve both in such a short span” 

After his title was won Arjun stated that he intended to earn as many points as possible. In order to achieve this, he played in Armenia, Serbia, Hungary and Switzerland tournaments. Erigaisi didn’t show his best in Armenia but compensated by performing well in Serbia,where Arjun achieved his second GM norm.

Erigaisi was more confident in achieving his third norm when he played in Hungary. In spite of his confidence, Arjun lost a crucial match. The same happened again during a tournament in Switzerland. He finally managed to qualify for the title in Abu Dhabi.

Arjun dedicated this achievement to his coach (Victor Michaelosky ) and family: “My family and my coach played a key role in my success. My coach is the one who motivates me along with my parents,” he said. Arjun trains online with Michaelosky with whom he plays twice or thrice a day.

Arjun honest words about the origins of his genius are a direct indication regarding the causes of it.

During his career as a chess player Erigaisi also won a silver medal in the 2015 Asian Youth Championship which took place in Korea.

On training

When asked about how he prepares to face strong opponents, who have more experience and are older than him, Erigaisi said, “My coach says age is just a number and advised me not to fear anyone. That’s how I prepare. There are many youngsters who are better ranked than me and there are many senior players who have low rating points than me. So it is the game that matters,” he stated.

According to Arjun, players can learn a lot by playing online thanks to the available technology. There is a lot of software to master. The best part is that he can train with anyone sitting at home. He admires young players such as Nihal Sarin and claims that he had learned much from them.