Chennai Grandmasters 2024: Arjun Erigaisi climbs to No. 2 in world rankings after round three win against Alexey Sarana

Arjun Erigaisi felt he got “lucky” once again as he secured his second win in the third round versus Serbia’s Alexey Sarana in the second edition of the Chennai Grandmasters classical chess tournament at the Anna Centenary Library here on Thursday.

In a game where either were grappling for an outright advantage till a point, Arjun made a move that he regretted after the match.

“It was a big blow for me and I spent a lot of time (trying to find a way out). I didn’t play the best move. And I played pretty poorly from there. I was also seriously down on time. I thought I was in a very bad shape,” Arjun said.

“I was very relieved when he, from being in a better position, played himself into a practically unpleasant situation. Maybe, he should have spent more time there and tried to find a way. But he played a couple of moves fast. Maybe, there still was a way for him. But it wasn’t easy,” he said after his win.

The win propelled Arjun to World No. 2 (2805.8) in the live ratings.

He said he wasn’t thinking about the rankings or the rating points before and after the game.

“I’m just happy that I’ve won the round,” he added.

ALSO READ | From adversity to ubiquity: The story of Arjun Erigaisi

After two straight defeats, Vidit Gujrathi would have felt better with his draw against Aravindh Chithambaram.

Levon Aronian claimed his first win as Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo got into time trouble and blundered.

“I think the opening phase worked well for me. I thought that his play was rather strange. Then, I managed to press him on time. And once he was down on time, I felt that if I didn’t do anything stupid, I should be slowly putting enough pressure on him to crack. At some point, he was so low on time and he blundered,” said Aronian.