A Rough Start for India No. 1 at Wijk
World No. 4 and India No. 1 GM Arjun Erigaisi has endured a tough start at the Tata Steel Masters 2025, collecting only half a point in 4 games. While the reigning World Champion and India #2 Gukesh Dommaraju has begun with a solid +1 score, he is only 2 points away from dethroning Arjun from the No. 1 spot.
It is shocking for the fans to see Arjun, the second seed of the tournament and a player who had a dreamy run in 2024, losing three games out of four to players who sit about 80 elo points below him on average. With 5 Indians contesting for the glory in Wijk this edition, two of them have managed to vanquish Erigaisi in their battles. It should be noted that one of those two Indians is an in-form Praggnanandhaa, who is in sole lead with 3.5/4. After a shaky start against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Pragg has looked stable and dangerous while the same cannot be said for Arjun.
Arjun Erigaisi’s play has looked rather meagre so far. In his first round against Pentala Harikrishna, Arjun had absolutely no chance. While the 21-year-old has stuck to his approach of playing ambitiously like he is known to do in Open tournaments; the same has not worked for the Madman at Wijk. Harikrishna tamed Arjun’s Sicilian Dragon with textbook conversion of an unequal Queen-bishop vs 2 rooks-knight endgame.
Even though Erigaisi is known for pouncing on the smallest of mistakes his opponents commit and not faltering, the story has not been the same for him at Tata Steel. Against the home crowd favourite Anish Giri, Arjun let a +2.5 advantage claimed by the chess gods slip. Arjun was unable to make use of the passed d-pawn in the following position:
After becoming prey to Praggnanadhaa’s Catalan masterclass and conceding another full point, Arjun looked strong against Fedoseev in the first half of the game. He managed to create yet another dominating position himself, only before he lost the whole thread with this atrocious blunder.
Arjun went from winning to completely losing the game in a single move. But what did Arjun miss? After Qxf5 Rxf5 Rxg3 hxg3 black has Ne3!, not only forking the rooks but winning one for nothing – an absolute heartbreak for the youngster!
After four rounds, Arjun is losing about 20 Elo points, jeopardizing his India No. 1 position, which he is still maintaining by a hair. In Round 5, Arjun is up against another countryman, Leon Mendonca (2639), who is currently sharing the last spot with him. Does he go down to another comrade, or does he strike back with a win?
The tournament remains wide open with 9 more rounds to go and every Erigaisi fan hopes for the Madman to turn it on and make a fairy-tale comeback.
Photo credits: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess
