FTX Road to Miami R5-8: Arjun Erigaisi ascends to the second place

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/07/2022

Arjun Erigaisi bounced back well from a previous round loss. He defeated Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Sam Shankland in consecutive games before a draw against Wei Yi. He finished the second day of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour FTX Road to Miami with a win over Leinier Dominguez Perez to climb to the second place 17/24. Samuel Sevian increased his win streak to four games to move up to the top of the points table 20/24. Teimour Radjabov had to withdraw from the event after losing his fifth round game against Anish Giri, citing some health issues to the arbiters. His played games will be counted, subsequent games are given a walk over. Round 9 starts today at 9:30 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Sevian gains sole lead, Wenjun already the most successful female performer of MCCT

Wenjun Ju is having the best tournament among all women who participated in a Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event. She scored three wins on the second day to take her score 12/24. All eight of her games had decisive results. This is the highest ever score by a female participant at Meltwater Champions Chess Tour events.

Arjun Erigaisi is in terrific form | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Round 5: Arjun Erigaisi - Wojtaszek: 3-0

Arjun Erigaisi won a thriller against Poland no.2 Radoslaw Wojtaszek.

Position after 37...Rb2

While both sides are trying to promote their respective passed pawns, White has a slight edge due to having two connected passed pawns. 37...Rb2 turned things in White's favor 38.e6+ Ke7 39.Rge2 Rxc2 40.d6+ Kf6 41.d7 Rh1+ 42.Kg4 h5+ White is happy to bring his king to his opponent's side 43.Kxh5+-. White went on to win the game after a back and forth battle.

Round 6: Shankland - Arjun Erigaisi: 0-3

Arjun Erigaisi survived a completely lost endgame against Sam Shankland.

Position after 34...Bf6

35.Rb7 Kf8 36.Bc5+ is completely winning for White. However, he made a mistake of pushing the e-pawn a bit too early 35.e7 Kf7 allowed Black to equalize.

Position after 42...Bxe7

White can still get a comfortable draw by liquidating the position into a pawn ending via 43.Rc7 followed by an exchange of bishop and rook at e7. However, White blundered 43.Kc5. Find out why it is a huge mistake.

Arjun Erigaisi underpromotion leaves the commentator stunned! | Video: ChessBase India

Round 8: Leinier - Arjun Erigaisi: 0-3

USA no.5 Leinier Dominguez Perez made a positional inaccuracy which allowed Arjun Erigaisi to activate his knights.

Position after 30.f5

30.f5 allowed Black to get rid of White's bishop pair Ne5 31.Rxe5 Qxe5 -+. Even 31.Qg2 would have led to Nxd3 32.cxd3 Qc3 and Black gets a firm grip of the position.