Arjun has landed in Qatar
The newly minted 2800+ player from India, Arjun Erigaisi is currently leading the FIDE Circuit Leaderboard with a significant margin over Fabiano Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Until today, there was no confirmation of Arjun playing another classical tournament till the end of this year. Fabiano and Nodirbek on the other hand seemed ready to make a final push in an attempt to overtake the Indian, claiming that Candidates spot. We have got the rare sight of 2770+ Super Grandmasters competing in an Open Tournament in the form of Fabi playing the US Masters followed by the Saint Louis Masters, and Nodirbek toiling at the 3rd International President Cup ‘A’, which was seemingly organized by the Uzbekistan Chess Federation in an attempt to aid their National star to get his first Candidates entry!
The “Mad-man” – Arjun, seems to have taken note and has landed himself into the starting Line-Up of the 2024 Qatar Masters Open, starting on Dec 3.
Arjun Erigaisi currently sits on 114.77 circuit points, with 7 tournament performances being taken into account. However, two of Arjun’s events have given him only 5.24 (7th Sharjah Masters) and 6.99 (Grenke Chess Open 2024) points.
The starting line-up at the Qatar Masters is getting stronger with Nodirbek Abdusattorov already being there and now Erigaisi signing up as well. A sole winner will take away at least 16 FIDE Circuit points (approx.) which would be invaluable to both of these players.
Parallel to Qatar, Fabiano Caruana will be trying his luck at the Saint Louis Masters Open tournament. The race between these players for the Candidates spot is only getting more exciting!
