Stepan Avagyan Memorial: Emphatic victory for Arjun Erigaisi

Arjun Erigaisi has been in sparking form of late. And at the Stepan Avagyan Memorial in Armenia, he dominated the field to pocket the title with a round to spare.

Playing with white pieces in the penultimate round, Arjun overhauled Volodar Murzin of Russia to attain a 1.5 points lead ahead of pack in the tournament.

The Indian currently stands in 1st position in the Stepan Avagyan Memorial with a 6/8 and despite one round still to be played, the unassailable lead hands him the title.

Early pressure

The game began with the Ruy Lopez opening and Erigaisi maneuvered his pieces in tandem during the middle game to pace his opponent under pressure.

The game continued to be equal but the Indian then had his opponent in a fix by taking his King out for a walk. Volodar had no answers to the move and blundered twice, resulting in Erigaisi being up with a full rook.

Volodar resigned soon after to had the Indian victory and the championship.

World No. 4

Erigaisi is the World No. 4 right now with a live rating of 2779.9 and the chess world is taking note of his rise.

Magnus Carlsen had previously heaped praise on the Indian - “ Arjun is just a complete madman at the board. He wants to kill you in every single game. Has crazy preparation and plays extremely ambitiously and that’s what makes him very dangerous”.

The Indian will now faces the Armenian Manuel Petrosyan with the black pieces in the last round of the tournament.

With the championship already in his pocket, Erigaisi will look to finish the tournament on a high.