Arjun Erigaisi has packed a remarkable run of results into his early twenties. Because so much of his story is about which titles he won and who he beat to win them, we’ll walk through his most important games and matches in prose — the verified results and what made each one special — rather than reconstructing move-by-move scores we can’t confirm. If you want to replay the actual moves, the best sources are his Chess.com player page and public game databases.
1. Tata Steel Challengers 2022 — the breakout
The 2022 Tata Steel Challengers at Wijk aan Zee is where the wider chess world first realized how good Arjun had become. He didn’t just win the event — he ran away with it, finishing on 10.5/13 and taking the title by a full two points over a strong international field. Dominating the Challengers section at Tata Steel is a classic springboard for future elite players (the roll of honor is packed with names who went on to the Masters), and Arjun’s margin of victory announced him as far more than a fast-rising rating.
That result set the tone for a breakout 2022 that also included the Indian National Championship and a win in the Junior Speed Chess Championship, where he ended Nihal Sarin’s grip on that event.
2. Sharjah Masters 2023 — winning a shark tank
Open “super-swiss” tournaments like the Sharjah Masters are notoriously brutal: dozens of grandmasters, no soft games, and one bad day can end your title hopes. In 2023, Arjun came through that gauntlet as the outright winner on 6.5/9, closing with a powerful finishing kick. Winning a field that deep — where every round is effectively a knife fight against another GM — is a very different skill from scoring well in a small elite round-robin, and it showcased his stamina and his appetite for playing (and beating) anyone put in front of him.
3. The 2024 Chess Olympiad — a gold-medal masterclass
This is the crown jewel. At the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Arjun played board three for India and delivered one of the tournament’s individual performances of a lifetime: 10 points from 11 games, good for an individual gold medal on his board. Crucially, his scoring machine on board three was a huge engine behind India’s first-ever team gold in the open section — a watershed moment for Indian chess, coming alongside Gukesh’s board-one gold.
An Olympiad is a team event, but individual boards still carry personal glory, and a 10/11 score against national-team opposition is about as good as it gets. This fortnight, more than any single game, is why 2024 is remembered as Arjun’s breakthrough year.
4. Chennai Grand Masters 2024 — the win that made him world No. 2
Later in 2024, at the Chennai Grand Masters, Arjun scored a win over Russia’s Alexey Sarana that pushed his live classical rating high enough to reach world No. 2 — behind only Magnus Carlsen, and ahead of established elite stars. It was the moment the “future top-five player” projections officially became present tense.
For the record, he didn’t lift the trophy in Chennai — the event was won on tiebreak by his compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram after a three-way tie — but the individual milestone stands on its own. Very few players in the entire history of the game have ever been ranked world No. 2 in the live ratings, and Arjun got there before his 22nd birthday.
5. WR Chess Masters Cup 2024 — knockout king in London
If the Olympiad showed his round-robin stamina, the WR Chess Masters Cup in London showed his nerve in a knockout. Arjun won the event outright, and the path there was a murderers’ row of his own generation: he knocked out rising talent Bodhana Sivanandan, then Vidit Gujrathi, then Praggnanandhaa, before beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final — sealing it in an Armageddon tiebreak. Winning a bracket like that means beating a different strong opponent every round with no room to recover from a slip, and Arjun did it with the fearless, complications-first chess that’s become his signature.
6. Two-time medalist at the 2025 World Rapid & Blitz
Arjun’s fighting style and prolific practice make him especially dangerous at fast time controls, and the 2025 World Rapid & Blitz Championships proved it: he came away with double bronze, medaling in both the Rapid and the Blitz. That made him the first Indian since Viswanathan Anand in 2017 to reach the podium at both events in the same championship — elite company, and a reminder that his speed-chess results are no accident.
Why these games matter
Pull back and a pattern emerges. Arjun’s signature results aren’t cautious points against weaker players — they’re titles and milestones won by out-fighting strong opposition: dominating a deep open, running the table at an Olympiad, surviving a knockout bracket, and medaling at speed. He tends to win by keeping the position sharp and simply outplaying people in complications, which is exactly the profile of a player built for the very top.
Want to understand how he does it? See Arjun Erigaisi’s playing style for the strengths behind the scoreboard, or dig into his openings to see the lines he trusts under pressure. The numbers side of the story is in his rating history.
FAQ
What is Arjun Erigaisi’s most famous result? Most fans point to his 2024 Chess Olympiad performance — 10/11 for individual gold on board three, powering India to its first-ever team gold in the open section.
Has Arjun Erigaisi won a big knockout event? Yes — he won the 2024 WR Chess Masters Cup in London, beating Praggnanandhaa in the semis and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in an Armageddon final.
When did Arjun Erigaisi reach world No. 2? In November 2024, during the Chennai Grand Masters, a win over Alexey Sarana lifted his live classical rating to world No. 2, behind only Magnus Carlsen.
Is Arjun Erigaisi good at rapid and blitz? Very. He took double bronze at the 2025 World Rapid & Blitz Championships, the first Indian since Anand in 2017 to medal at both.
Keep exploring
Back to the Arjun Erigaisi profile · his playing style · his openings · his rating history · or browse all chess players.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, his FIDE profile, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.