Arjun Erigaisi exits in Paris Freestyle Chess quarterfinals, ending India’s chances

India's chances in the star-studded Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Paris ended at the quarterfinal stage with Arjun Erigaisi losing to Hikaru Nakamura.

Indians made up more than 33% of the starting field, with World Champion D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, and Vidit Gujrathi joining Erigaisi. But after the round-robin Rapid event, the other three Indians finished outside the top eight and crashed out. Gukesh lost against seven of the 11 competitors, while Gujrathi lost against nine.

Erigaisi had qualified in fourth place by scoring some impressive wins, including against World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. But the experienced American Nakamura outsmarted Erigaisi in the second game of their quarterfinals. Their first game had ended in a draw, and Nakamura advanced with a 1.5-0.5 win.

Carlsen, who made a great escape against Uzbek star Nodirbek Abdusattorov, walked away with a draw in game two and progressed with a score of 1.5-0.5. Carlsen will play Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals. The American had knocked out Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 1.5-0.5 in their quarterfinal tie.

Meanwhile, the tournament got worse for Gukesh and Gujrathi after they lost their 9th to 12th classification rounds to Richard Rapport and Praggnanandhaa respectively. Gukesh could only win three games out of the 13 games he played in Paris.