Indian failures have collected the awards to put hard sites by nourishing its next generation of superstars, with D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa being among the elite of sport with their incredible exploits in the past two years.
However, although the Golden Generation of India has certainly made its presence in the classic format with the names aforementioned among the first 10 of the last faithful notes, it cannot be said for the failures of Freestyle, alias Fischer Random or Chess960, which, according to some, is the future of sport.
The inaugural tour of the Grand Chelem of the Freestyle chess, after all, successfully organized two events – in Weissenhaus and in Paris with the second conclusion on Monday. First -rate names such as Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana and the relatively elegant Vincent Keymer are among those who have taken the distance in the two events with Keymer and Carlsen emerging respectively the winners of Weissenhaus and Paris respectively.
The Indians, on the other hand, have largely disappointed despite the weight of expectations on their shoulders. The fact that they remain a strength with which it is necessary to count in the classic format was there so that the world could see them in tata steel chess to Wijk Aan Zee in the Netherlands, where Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh finished first and second. A month later, Aravindh Chithambaram announced before the world by winning the Masters of Prague ahead of Pragg and other leading names such as Anish Giri and Wei Yi.
GUKESH again to master Freestyle failures like the Indians largely overwhelming in Paris
Gukesh had almost won the Tata Steel chess event just over a month after having become the youngest world champion in the history of chess, and had arrived in Weissenhaus with the spotlight as much on him as on Carlsen, Nakamura, Caruana and others. The 18 -year -old, however, ended up finishing 8th of the 10 competitors, not having won a single match throughout the event.
Quick advance two months later, and while Gukesh finally opened his account in the Victories Chronicle in the Paris leg, beating the compatriots Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa as well as Keymer – who was part of his team in the world championship in Singapore.
And yet, things went from bad to worse for the adolescence superstar because he failed to qualify for the quarter-finals and lost his 9th-12th classification match against the Hungarian GM Richard report to finish the 11th row with his compatriot Indian Vidit Gujrathi, who spent a forgetable moment in the city of the city ” a few days after being stopped.
Praggnanandhaa has only a slightly better than Gukesh and Gujrathi, when he managed to end things on a happy note by beating relationships during their ninth place eliminations on Saturday. However, the fact that four Indians participate in the Paris leg had raised the hope of at least one of them reaching the semi-finals, and perhaps in the final. The fact that three of them have finished among the last four is certainly not a good overview at all.
Gukesh went so far as to admit that he had a problem of confidence in the format – in which the coins of the back of the back are assembled at random and were known to the players 10 minutes before the start of a match.
“I am very happy that he is doing very well in freestyle.
Erigaisi offers Hope on its beginnings
However, it was not all misfortune for the Indian contingent in Paris. While Gukesh has had its difficulties in other formats, standard failures being its comfort zone, Erigaisi – which is a place below Gukesh in the fid aid ranges – has shown much more adaptability with regard to rapid and faster Blitz formats.
And in its first appearance in the Grand Slam tour of freestyle chess in the French capital, Erigaisi took the unpredictable format almost as Duck to Water. The 21 -year -old was the only Indian to finish among the first four at the end of the round scene, finishing in fourth place with 6.5 points, winning five victories along the way, notably against the possible champion Carlsen and the finalists of Weissenhaus Caruana and Keymer.
What has also stood out in the performance of Erigaisi in Paris is his constantly die attitude as well as his remarkable coat. The Grand Chelem Freestyle chess tour, after all, monitors the players’ cardiaries during the games and Arjun, was constantly among the quietest players in action with a BPM in the 70s for the most part and even in the 60s occasionally.
Chess position 🔥🔥🔥
Heart rate 🧊🧊🧊@Arjunerigaisi ^^^ pic.twitter.com/w3Ahcrl65g– Chess.com – India (@Chesscom_in) April 9, 2025
And just like Gukesh in his memorable triumph on Ding, Erigaisi showed the kind of steel resolution that stressed why he is among the best players in the world today. After having undergone a heartbreaking defeat in match 2 of his quarter-final against Nakamura, the Indian GM found himself 0-1 against Ian Nepomniachtchi during his playoffs in the 5th-8th place on Friday.
Erigaisi, however, rebounded in style the next day, winning the second standard match in just 24 movements to level the scores before taking the lead in the first quick bliss match before sealing his victory over the Russian GM with a draw.
He would then won a third victory in four games by upgrading Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in match 1 of their qualifying series from fifth place before withdrawing a fiery challenge from French to collect a dead end on the last day of the event.
Erigaisi was the only one to wear the Indian flag in the last two days of the event, and its performances in Paris suggest that even if its compatriots could take their time to catch up with the curve which is Fischer Random, he is someone who constitutes a major threat to the remaining events of the Grand Slam tour, from Las Vegas in July.
