Arjun Joins Exclusive 2800 Club Thanks To Stellar Performance In Serbia
Indian star GM Arjun Erigaisi achieved a 2800+ rating for the first time on Thursday, joining a celebrated group of players to break the barrier.
We knew it was just a matter of time, but on Thursday the moment finally arrived. Arjun joined the exclusive 2800 club, as only the 16th player in chess history to break the barrier by live rating.
The Indian 21-year-old has been cruising for the North Macedonian team Alkaloid in the European Club Cup, that takes place in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia this week. The final round of the tournament is on Saturday.
Arjun is on 5/6 and has posted a 2852 performance on board one.
While all eyes will be on whether he can remain above 2800 after the final round on Saturday, his win against GM Dmitry Andreikin in round five was significant as he reached 2802.1 by live rating. He followed up with a draw against compatriot GM Vidit Gujrathi on Friday.
🇮🇳 Arjun Erigaisi is now a 2800-rated player! He defeated Andreikin in Round 5 of the European Club Cup, raising his live rating to 2802.1 and reclaiming the World #3 spot. His current score in the tournament is 4.5/5 with a TPR of 2915 https://t.co/XaQ86QwoAp
— 2700chess (@2700chess) October 24, 2024
📸 via @ECUonline pic.twitter.com/II2bNSz7Zx
Speaking to Chess.com, Arjun said: "It feels good because I won the game against a strong opponent and 2800 is just an added bonus."
It feels good because I won the game against a strong opponent and 2800 is just an added bonus.
The 21-year-old follows in the footsteps of five-time World Champion GM Viswanathan Anand as only the second Indian to break 2800.
"I am just not thinking about all that now, my current focus is only on the remaining games here," Arjun said.
Arjun has had an extraordinary past 12 months that has seen him climb 84 points from 2713 and ranked 30th in November 2023 to 2797 and 3rd on the October list. If he maintains a rating of 2800 by the end of the European Club Cup, he will be the third youngest player to reach the milestone, behind GMs Alireza Firouzja and Magnus Carlsen.
While his meteoric rise has seen him break into the top-five, he told Chess.com after winning a strong event in June that he doesn't pay much attention to these things.
"To be honest, I stopped caring about the ratings and rankings. I don’t really care that much about being in the top-five either."
Chess.com will publish a full recap of the European Chess Club Cup this weekend.
Tarjei J. Svensen is a Norwegian chess journalist who worked for some of the country's biggest media outlets and appeared on several national TV broadcasts. Between 2015 and 2019, he ran his chess website mattogpatt.no, covering chess news in Norwegian and partly in English.
In 2020, he was hired by Chess24 to cover chess news, eventually moving to Chess.com as a full-time chess journalist in 2023. He is also known for his extensive coverage of chess news on his X/Twitter account.
