Freestyle Chess Finals: Arjun Erigaisi Downs Magnus Carlsen To Continue Resurgence

Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi registered a massive win on Monday with his triumph over Magnus Carlsen in the fifth round of the Rapid Round-robin stage of the Freestyle Chess Finals.

The 22-year-old Indian bettered Carlsen with the White pieces as he took advantage of the Norwegians’ errors midway through the game.

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The win was Arjun’s second on the bounce following his victory over Vincent Keymer, after the Indian had to endure a slow start to the event with 2 draws and defeat in his opening three fixtures.

Earlier in the day, Praggnanandhaa R clinched the FIDE Circuit 2025, securing his place in the 2026 Candidates Tournament

following a stellar season. His achievements included victories at the Tata Steel Masters, Superbet Chess Classic Romania, UzChess Cup Masters, and London Chess Classic Open. He also finished second in the Stepan Avagyan Memorial and 12th at the Sinquefield Cup.

The strong eight-man field for the headline event will feature notable players such as Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi, Andrey Esipenko, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Matthias Blubaum, and Hikaru Nakamura.

The Indian prodigy took the lead in May by surpassing Ding Liren and confidently maintained it throughout the season. By the end of November, his main rivals – Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, Matthias Bluebaum, and Javokhir Sindarov – had already qualified for the 2026 Candidates through other routes, while Vincent Keymer had no classical events scheduled for the rest of the year. Only Nodirbek Abdusattorov, competing in the points-heavy London Chess Classic Elite, had a theoretical chance to catch up.

Despite Abdusattorov’s impressive performance in the London Chess Classic Elite, which resulted in one of the highest TPRs in chess history and earned him 19.62 circuit points, Praggnanandhaa’s results made him unreachable, securing his spot in the 2026 Candidates.