Julius Baer Cup: Indian GM Erigaisi goes down to Carlsen in final

Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi went down against world no.1 Magnus Carlsen in the final of the Julius Baer Generation Cup online rapid chess tournament, losing the second match 0-2.

File Photo of Arjun Erigaisi | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ

World champion Magnus Carlsen reserved his best for the last as he raced away to an unsurpassable 2-0 lead in the second set of four-rapid games to claim the $150,000 Julius Baer Generation Cup online rapid chess tournament on Sunday.

Having won the first set 2.5-0.5, Carlsen has to ensure only two points in the second set to prevail without needing the tie-break blitz games.

On his part, World No. 24 Arjun tried his best but could not trouble the World No. 1.

Carlsen, who crossed the 2900-mark in rating, received $25,000 and another $8,500 in bonuses.

Having beaten Arjun in the first game of the league, Carlsen had a massive 5.5-0.5 score against the Indian teenager in this competition.

“The score was great,” said Carlsen and continued, “I sort of played very much throughout this match ‘anti-young-player chess’ in the sense that I tried to play a little bit older, less theoretical lines that have some serious strategic complexity, and it worked out pretty well.

“I would say that I’m happy with the opening choices that I made, the strategy I had from a psychological point of view… Now I’m playing younger and younger players and it makes sense to employ some different tricks as they catch up!”

Meanwhile, in the FIDE women’s Grand Prix in Astana, Kazakhstan, R. Vaishali (4 points) drew with Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kazakhstan) in the eighth round.