Olympiad gold or World No.3 ranking? Arjun Erigaisi reveals his favourite

India’s star at the Chess Olympiad Arjun Erigaisi claimed that he values the gold medal at the event for the team more than his new World No.3 ranking.

Erigaisi was one of the stars of the show as India completed a historic double as both the men’s and women’s team clinched gold medals. Erigaisi is now behind Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura in the latest rankings after the chess Olympiad.

“I feel great. Firstly there are many Indians in World No.3 and we have two gold medals. The women’s team also won gold medal. I wouldn’t rank World No.3 as high as the gold medal,” said Erigaisi.

Playing all 11 rounds wasn’t pre-planned

Erigaisi was the only player from the men’s team to have played all the 11 rounds at the Olympiad. The 20-year-old said he had no issues with fatigue as his energy levels are quite high all the time. Erigaisi revealed that the decision to play all 11 rounds wasn’t pre-planned.

“My energy levels are quite high in general. I don’t get tired so easily. And I love playing chess. If the team captain wanted me to play all the rounds, I would be more than happy. It wasn’t pre-planned. It started out and I was in good shape,” said Erigaisi.

The Vishy Anand impact

Erigaisi said that Vishwanathan Anand was one of the main reasons why many members of the team started to play chess as they wanted to be like the former world champion. Speaking about the Olympiad, the 20-year-old said Anand did have an indirect influence on their performances.

“He is one of the main reasons why most of us started playing chess. When we started playing chess, we wanted to be like Anand. It was like an inspiration. So he is the reason why we started and reached the level we are. This Olympiad, he didn’t have a direct influence. But definitely, there was a lot of indirect influence,” said Erigaisi.

Erigaisi currently has rating points of 2797.2.