In the thrilling final of the WR Chess Masters Cup 2024 in London, Arjun Erigaisi beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. After two hard-fought classical games that ended in draws, a dramatic Armageddon decided the tournament. In addition to the title and prize money, the Indian secured a valuable 24.13 FIDE Circuit points, which can be useful for qualifying for the 2026 Candidates Tournament. Thanks to his triumph in one of the world's most star-studded tournaments of the year, Erigaisi now leads the FIDE Circuit.
The WR Chess Masters Cup, held at the Langham Hotel in London from October 14 to 18, 2024, was another high-profile tournament with an elite field, bringing together current world-class players, the two former world champions Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov, former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and exceptional talents.
Organizer Wadim Rosenstein had put together a special field and a special, demanding format as well: 16 participants, knockout system with two classical games per day and tiebreak/Armageddon in the event of a tie. The WR Chess Masters 2024 was covered live by ChessBase India. In addition, the German national coach Jan Gustafsson guided viewers through the games.
The classical games were played with 60 minutes for the first 30 moves, 30 minutes for the next 20 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, an innovative time control that had never been tried before. According to Wadim Rosenstein, fast classical time controls are the future in competitive chess.
Arjun Erigaisi marched through the competition undefeated. He kicked off by beating the exceptionally talented English player Bodhana Sivanandan. After that, the current hierarchy of Indian chess was confirmed when the world no. 4 defeated his fellow countrymen Vidit and Praggnanandhaa.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also had to prevail against several representatives of the elite of the mental sport before reaching the final against Erigaisi. After his opening victory over the Uzbek grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov, he faced Sindavrov’s compatriot Nodirbek Abudsattorov, ranked number six in the world. In the semi-finals, Vachier-Lagrave defeated his fellow Frenchman Alireza Firouzja, the world's eighth-ranked player.
The two opponents began the final cautiously. In an uneventful first game, they agreed to a draw in 30 moves. The second game was wild. Erigaisi and “MVL”, as he is known in the chess scene, went at each other with their guard down. The result was the same as in the first game: a draw.
In the decisive Armageddon, Erigaisi started with 6 minutes 38 seconds on the clock, the black pieces – and the certainty that a draw would be enough to win the tournament. From a Petroff opening, the action quickly intensified. Despite the time disadvantage, Arjun kept his nerve and skillfully took advantage of his opponent's mistakes. A key moment was Vachier-Lagrave's ill-fated 68th move, which ultimately cost him the game.
So was it a complete success for Erigaisi? Not quite. For weeks, the Indian no. 1 has been on the verge of becoming the 16th player in chess history to break through the 2800 Elo barrier, but so far he has always fallen just short. After his success in London, Erigaisi needs just one more victory against a strong grandmaster to clear the 2800 hurdle.