Which Indians have got wild-card entries for the Grand Chess Tour 2024?

Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi are the Indians who have got a wildcard entry for the 2024 season of the Grand Chess Tour, which got underway on Wednesday, May 8.

D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa are the two Indians, who got full tour invitations along with Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Forouzja, Anish Giri and Nodirbek Abdusattoroy.

On Thursday, May 9, Arjun drew his first match against the legendary Magnus Carlsen, the World No.1 from Norway. The 20-year-old also shared points with Anish Giri of the Netherlands and China’s Wei Yi to finish the day with 3/6.

Arjun is currently India’s highest-ranked player as of April 2024 after he went past the legendary Vishwanathan Anand.

After earning the title of grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 13 days, the youngster has given a decent account of himself. The 54th grandmaster from India, Arjun won the silver medal in the men’s team event in the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou and emerged victorious in the 2022 Indian National Championship.

As far as Gujrathi is concerned, he won silver in the team event at the Asian Games last year. Back in 2013, he earned the title of grandmaster and is currently ranked No.28 in the world. Back in 2020, he was the skipper of the Indian team that won the gold medal in the Online Chess Olympiad.

Recently, Gujrathi finished sixth place in the 2024 Candidates Tournament 2024. He defeated Japan’s Christopher Hikaru Nakamura two times.

The Grand Chess Tour 2024 consists of the Rapid and Blitz in Warsaw, Poland, the Classic in Romania, the Rapid and Blitz in Saint Louis, and the Sinquefield Cup. It remains to be seen how all four Indians perform in the tournament.

---

List of Indians with wild-card entry for Grand Chess Tour 2024

Arjun Erigaisi

Vidit Gujrathi