Arjun Erigaisi: Magnus Carlsen is the strongest player I’ve played in my entire life

Arjun Erigaisi on Thursday said that playing against Armenia-born chess great Levon Aronian in the knockouts of the Champions Chess Tour in 2021 was his “breakthrough” experience that boosted his self-belief.

“He’s one of the best players in the history. I used to watch a lot of his games when I was young and the first time I got to play against him was in 2021. It was actually my breakthrough year. I made it to the Champions Chess Tour knockouts, and I got to play against him. It was like two sets of four-game matches. And it went to tiebreak. So, in total I got to play ten games with him.

“I think that match helped me improve my game as well as my confidence. Because, after that, I was really confident since I was able to match him in such a close match. My next few tournaments went really well,” he said a day before the commencement of the Chennai Grand Masters Chess Championship at The Leela Palace hotel.

The 20-year-old said that the legendary Magnus Carlsen is his inspiration and shared his experience of playing against him.

“I could just feel that he’s the strongest player I have played in my entire life. Psychologically, it’s not easy to play against him, because you know him as this player who’s very strong and all. So, it’s important to believe in yourself that you can beat him.

“One thing is that his resilience is so good! He just never gives up! Like, I got into a completely winning position once, and thought I was going to win. I think against, like, 99 out of 100 players, I would have won that. But he just kept playing, playing, playing… And I just got frustrated that it is so winnable yet I couldn’t win, and in the end he managed to make a draw!”