Freestyle chess, the new flavour of elite players, including World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and World Champion D Gukesh, remains a mystery due to its relatively unexplored opening theory. But India's Arjun Erigaisi seems to have found a cheat code.

In an interview with freestyle-chess.com, India No. 2 Erigaisi opened up about what he has explored about the variant that is gaining popularity rapidly. Freestyle chess, also known as Chess960 or Fischer random chess, differs from conventional chess, which has been studied for centuries, leading to predictable lines.

In the Freestyle version, which was initially popularised by the late world champion Bobby Fischer, pieces are randomized on the back rank, with 960 possible starting positions available. The opening position is revealed to the players via a draw of lot shortly before the game, making preparations near impossible.

Despite that, the 21-year-old Erigaisi has been one of the most consistent freestyle players in recent months. He won a hat-trick of Freestyle Friday online events on chessdotcom, the most popular chess website, which features almost all top grandmasters, including Carlsen.

"Something I recently discovered is this: Initially, I thought in Freestyle you often need to quickly open diagonals for bishops or queens," Erigaisi told freestyle-chess.com. "But I have noticed centre control—like playing e4 or d4—still matters greatly, even if these moves don’t immediately open lines. More often than not, having strong centre control turns out to be critical. So, yes, controlling the centre still matters in Freestyle."

The chess world will eagerly await how Erigaisi's strategy plays out in longer time control during the second leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, which will be held in Paris from April 7 to 14. Erigaisi is one of the four Indians among the 12 participants.

India No. 1 Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and qualifier Vidit Gujrathi are the other Indians, who will play against Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Hans Niemann, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the upcoming freestyle event. Gukesh was the only Indian in the opening leg of the Grand Slam Tour held at Weissenhaus in Germany, which local favourite Vincent Keymer won.

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