On Thursday, Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi opened his account in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship in New York City with four victories and one defeat, finishing tied sixth. The World No. 4, who was part of the Indian contingent that completed a historic golden sweep at the Chess Olympiad in September, lost his only match on Day 1 of the competition to 24-year-old American GM Samuel Sevian. Erigaisi’s performance on Thursday was overshadowed by compatriot Raunak Sadhwani, who defeated Iranian-French GM Alireza Firouzja, a pre-tournament favourite.
It was, however, a dismal day for world number one Magnus Carlsen, who managed only one victory. The Norwegian chess legend, a five-time world champion, struggled to get started, drawing three games and losing late against Russia’s Denis Lazavik.
Arjun and Sadhwani are now tied for fifth place with nine other players, all of whom have four points. This features World No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, and Dutch GM Anish Giri. Harika Dronavalli of India, meanwhile, finished second in the ‘Women’ segment with four other competitors after scoring 3.5 points on the first day. Alice Lee of the United States leads following a four-game winning streak on Day 1, while world champion Wenjun Ju and fellow Chinese Grandmaster Zhongyi Tan, Azerbaijan’s Gunay Mammadzada, and Georgia’s Nino Batsiashvili are tied for second place with Harika. Other Indian competitors include R Vaishali and previous champion Koneru Humpy, who have collected 3 and 2.5 points respectively.