Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh dominate 2nd Terras de Trás-os-Montes Open

by Shahid Ahmed - 25/08/2021

Arjun Erigaisi scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 2nd Terras de Trás-os-Montes and finish a half point ahead of the competition. He performed at 2822, gained 18.7 Elo rating points, taking his live rating to 2626.6 which makes him the current India no.9. Gukesh's no-draw approach paid off as he scored eight wins and suffered only one loss against the eventual champion. He scored 8.0/9, performing at 2747, he gained 17.7 which takes his live rating to 2592.9. Gukesh finished a full point ahead of the field. They both have reached their career high ratings, and they have no plans of slowing down as they started playing their next event Guimarães Open in Guimarães, Portugal. Photo: Portuguese Chess Federation

Arjun Erigaisi enters India top 10

GM Arjun Erigaisi and GM D Gukesh both played fantastic in 2nd Terras de Trás-os-Montes in Braganca, Portugal. Both of them finished 1.5 and 1 point ahead of the competition. While Gukesh played very sharp chess and made zero draws, Arjun played steady and clinched the championship convincingly. Arjun won €1000 for his efforts and Gukesh received €600.

Champion - GM Arjun Erigaisi 7.0/9 | Photo:Portuguese Chess Federation

Arjun performed at 2822 and gained 18.7 Elo rating points

While Arjun scored eight wins and only one draw, his best win according to him was against IM Balazs Csonka (HUN) in the penultimate round.

Csonka - Erigaisi, Round 8

Position after 20.Rh3

It is evident that Black is the one who is in driver's seat, although White is trying to build an attack of his own on the kingside. Find out the correct plan for Black in the above position and see if it matches with Arjun.

Arjun Erigaisi wins Braganca Open with 2822 performance, moves to 2625 Elo! | Video: ChessBase India

Arjun is playing consecutive events since July, and he has already traveled over 11000 km

Runner-up GM D Gukesh 8.0/9 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

Gukesh also had a phenomenal tournament as he scored 8.0/9 and performed at 2747

Gukesh scored a lot of fantastic wins in this tournament. If we have to pick one, the best one would be against FM Hampus Sorensen in the third round.

Sorensen - Gukesh, Round 3

Position after 12.Qd2

Black is poised for a deadly attack but how to initiate it? Try to think like Gukesh and see if you can calculate like him.

Analysis

One of the variation in his game ends in a beautiful checkmate at the center of the board. Of course Gukesh saw this and his opponent managed to avert this but could not avoid a loss.

Replay all Arjun and Gukesh's games

Final Standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	K	rtg+/-
1	3	GM	Erigaisi Arjun Kumar	U20		IND	2597	8,5	0,0	49,0	53,0	50,00	4	10	18,7
2	4	GM	Gukesh D	U16		IND	2578	8,0	0,0	51,0	55,5	47,50	5	10	17,7
3	14	IM	Beerdsen Thomas			NED	2454	7,0	0,0	47,5	51,5	38,25	5	10	13,8
4	11	IM	Zwardon Vojtech			CZE	2466	7,0	0,0	45,5	50,0	36,50	4	10	6,1
5	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	U20		USA	2606	7,0	0,0	45,0	49,5	37,50	4	10	-3,2
6	5	GM	Warmerdam Max			NED	2562	6,5	0,0	49,5	54,0	37,75	4	10	-0,2
7	9	IM	Csonka Balazs			HUN	2490	6,5	0,0	49,0	53,5	32,75	4	10	5,6
8	13	IM	Martinez Ramirez Lennis			CUB	2458	6,5	0,0	47,5	50,5	33,50	4	10	6,4
9	16	IM	Rakotomaharo Fy Antenaina			MAD	2444	6,5	0,0	46,0	50,5	33,25	4	10	10,1
10	28	FM	Akhvlediani Irakli			GEO	2359	6,5	0,0	42,5	46,0	31,75	5	20	26,2
11	27	FM	Domingo Nunez Ruben			ESP	2365	6,5	0,0	41,5	45,5	33,00	4	20	17,6
12	32	FM	Jogstad Martin			SWE	2334	6,0	0,0	51,5	55,5	32,50	5	20	41,2
13	10	IM	Pulvett Marin Daniel Eduardo			ESP	2487	6,0	0,0	48,5	53,0	32,75	5	10	4,5
14	6	GM	Korpa Bence			HUN	2545	6,0	0,0	47,5	51,5	31,25	5	10	-4,5
15	24	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	U20		IND	2380	6,0	0,0	46,0	49,5	27,00	4	20	9,8