INTERVIEW: ‘On the outside I look calm, but inside, I want to win all the time’ – Arjun Erigaisi | Chess News

Arjun Erigaisi (Photo: @chesscom on X)

Indian chess scripted not just one but two ‘famous five’ stories over 14 days in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, where young teams of men and women went on to win historic maiden gold medals for the country at the 45th Chess Olympiad.
The Indian men’s team of Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna remained unbeaten across 11 rounds and secured 21 out of a possible 22 points to boss the tournament with unprecedented dominance.
The women’s team of Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Tania Sachdev were not to be left behind even if they had to hold nerve till the end of the 11th round to clinch gold.
Besides the team gold medals, India also clinched four individual gold — won by Arjun, Gukesh, Vantika and Divya. And one of those star performers, Erigaisi, took time out to talk to Timesofindia.com and shared insights on his journey as well as how it all came together in Budapest for India to shine bright.

Celebrations started after you won the last game against the US team, but there was still confusion…
Basically we knew that the gold was in the bag, but didn’t want to be overconfident and play the last game (round 11 against Slovenia) in a too relaxed manner and not finish on a high. Although we felt the gold was with us, we still wanted to give our best. So we were trying to not think about all that and stay focused in the last game as well.
Many sent out their congratulations to India on social media after the win over the US, but FIDE put out a post on about China still being mathematically alive going into Round 11…
We had an idea that gold slipping away was an extremely unlikely possibility because even if we lost and China won, our tiebreak (score) was still better than theirs. For that (Chinese victory) to happen, all our and China’s previous opponents also needed to lose.
Talking about your background, your father is a neurosurgeon. So was there the usual parental pressure to focus on academics and give education the priority?
No. My dad, in fact, used to tell me ‘become anything but a doctor’. He knows how busy and how tough his job is. So he suggested against that for me and my sister. But she went into that out of her own interest. She is in her MBBS final year.

You could recite multiplication tables in reverse as a third-grader, and knew about currencies and capitals of almost every country. That’s almost a god-sent message that the 64 squares is where you should be headed…
My mother used to teach me a lot of things. One of them was like she bought a book of flags. It had names of countries, their capital, flags and currencies mentioned. I really liked it and used to go through the book all the time. Tables, I really used to enjoy math, and also I was quick at it. My teachers used to appreciate that. I was able to do tables in reverse also. My mother also told me and my sister many stories of Mahabharata. Whenever any guests came home, we used to tell them those stories. My name came from my grandmother who was a huge fan of Arjuna (one of the Pandavas).
Where did you get your calm demeanour from or were you always like that?
Actually, I have always been a lot of energy and competitive. The look of me wouldn’t show that. Even in my childhood, I used to look very calm. It’s just the inner feeling, being competitive and trying to win all the time. But on the outside, I have always been the same, looking calm.
You stayed unbeaten, so did Gukesh, and both of you also won the individual gold besides the team gold. Can you sum up India’s journey?
Going into the tournament, we knew that we were one of the favourites to win it. But we didn’t want to overthink and decided to take one game at a time and focus on that. It turned out that all of us were extremely motivated and in good shape. We were scoring and also had a lot of fun; we made good memories on and off the board. Having a good atmosphere also helped us play well.

Talking about good memories, the team’s dance inside a room on ‘We are the Champions’ is still not out…
Yeah, it’s not (smiles).
You have been called ‘Madman on the Chess Board’ from none other than Magnus Carlsen…
Basically he was referring to my style and me being ambitious in general, trying to play for a win from most positions and not caring who my opponent is. So it’s like a nice compliment.
Which match in this Olympiad do you reckon was the best or the toughest for you individually?
My win against Bardiya Daneshvar of Iran was a very strong one. Basically, it felt like he was making all the normal moves. Optically, his position looked nicer than mine. but it takes deep understanding to know that it only looks nice, but is actually not. Mine, maybe, didn’t look as good, but it was actually a position that was easier (to win from). Twelve minutes into the game, he was a bit worried seeing my position.
Srinath Narayana was your non-playing captain. What kind of role does a captain have in a sport like chess?
He had to make a lot of decisions, with respect to opening…and also picking the team of assistant coaches who will be helping us during the tournament…During the Asian Games, it wasn’t easy because I was in bad shape, Gukesh also was in not so good shape. So it wasn’t easy to decide whom to field and whom to rest. So he takes these decisions.

How is the form of a player decided in a sport like chess?
Fortunately, here we were all in good shape. I don’t know what exactly it depends on.
How do you define ‘being in good shape’?
Basically playing good quality moves and winning not just by playing bad but getting lucky, but also by outplaying the opponent from start to finish.
Do you follow any pre- and post-match routine and what’s an off-season like for you at home?
For me, when I am home, I generally tend to be strict with workout and diet. But when I am in tournaments, I give myself full liberty. So I don’t really follow any particular routine or diet anytime during a tournament. I just let myself do whatever I feel like.
Gukesh won the Candidates and will be playing Ding Liren for the World Championships in November, the team won the Chess Olympiad. What exactly has inspired Indian chess to shine so bright?
One of the things is for sure Vishy (Viswanathan) Anand sir’s influence. We all started playing chess seeing him as the world champion. When I started playing, he was the world champion. We were following his games. That is one thing. Also, each and every one of us is highly motivated and very hard-working. These are the factors.

Anything special Anand said to the team during or after the tournament?
He met us there and has guided us in the past as well. But actually during tournaments, most of the players prefer to be in the tournament zone and not go out of it. Him being a player, he obviously knew about it, so he was quite understanding. He didn’t talk during the tournament, but once it ended, we had a nice chat.
Can you share what he said?
It started with that moment in Chennai (last Olympiad). This was more like referring to Gukesh and Pragg because they were in the B team. They almost had gold and it just slipped away. (He said that) We showed it was by bad luck that it went away, now we have won with complete dominance.
We knew that, but coming from him made it more special.
Lastly, who planned that walk with the trophy that you guys had fun doing?
It was definitely inspired by Rohit Sharma and Lionel Messi. It was Vidit’s idea to recreate that. We thought it would be fun.