Arjun Erigaisi in must-medal situation at World Cup

Indian star is yet to secure a spot in The Candidates 2026Make or another heartbreak. Arjun Erigaisi finds himself in a delicate situation once again as he prepares his bid for the knockout World Cup chess that starts in Goa on Nov 1. Despite being world No.

4 and India No. 1, the 22-year old from Warangal, Telangana, has not clinched a place in the eightplayer Candidates tournament of 2026.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Hikaru Nakamura, Classically almost inactive, is ahead of Arjun in the spot available through Elo rating. World No. 7 Anish Giri and No. 41 Matthias Blubaum won the two slots via FIDE Grand Swiss (Arjun finished sixth). Fabiano Caruana sealed the Candidates spot available via the 2024 FIDE circuit points and Pragg is leading FIDE circuit points race comfortably this year.That leaves Arjun in a must-medal situation at the 206-player World Cup. If he fails to do that, he would miss the Candidates for the second cycle in a row despite being in the elite zone. Arjun was beaten by best friend Pragg in the 2023 World Cup quarterfinals to lose out on the 2024 Candidates. D Gukesh then won the Chennai Masters to pip Arjun in the FIDE Circuit points race and Alireza Firouzja got the rating spot as Arjun was lowly 17th then.

Since then Arjun has touched Elo 2800 but the Candidates slot eluded him.This time he is dealing with the emotion of losing his friend Daniel Naroditsky and has added the pressure on himself by openly criticizing Vladimir Kramnik for the unsubstantiated cheating allegations against the American. The other Indian aspirants are not in the same boat as Arjun. Vidit Gujrathi, Aravindh Chithambaram and Nihal Sarin are seeded 18th and below and won't have that big a burden of expectations.With so many global-level titles on offer, is it that important to qualify for the Candidates tournament and have a shot at the World crown against Gukesh, especially with the chess boom and money on offer outside the main cycle? No, if you are Firouzja, as he has declined to participate in Goa knowing fully well that he will be out of the World title race. He had not played the preceding World Cup too, as it is a month-long gruelling tournament seen as punishment by some players.However, Firouzja had been there — in the 2024 Candidates — which is not the case with Arjun. The other big names skipping the Goa World Cup are Magnus Carlsen, Ca ruana and Nakamura. The world No. 1 is not interested, Caruna has clinched the Candidates spot and Nakamura is almost assured to make the grade through ‘doctored’ rating. And though Gukesh and Pragg are playing, the stakes for Arjun are the highest.ARJUN’S CHIEF RIVALS ON CHESS CIRCUIT VIS-A-VIS CANDIDATES 2026 SPOT