‘Fun tournament’ Arjun Erigaisi wins 43 lakhs for fifth position at Paris Freestyle Grand Slam Tour
Arjun Erigaisi pocketed a cool $50,000 (approximately Rs 43 lakh) after ending fifth at the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour on Monday. Arjun defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the playoff for the fifth spot after defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the previous classification game. Arjun had lost to Hikaru Nakamura in the quarter-finals. Nakamura lost in the final on Monday to world no 1 Magnus Carlsen, who took home $200,000 (approximately Rs 1.7 crore) for finishing on top in Paris.
Arjun was the best finisher among the four Indians in action in the 12-player field. The others were Arjun’s teammates from the Chess Olympiad gold medal winning Indian team: Praggnanandhaa (who ended 9th), world champion Gukesh and Vidit Gujrathi (both of whom shared last spot in the event).
“Th...