Arjun Erigaisi Becomes Second Indian After Viswanathan Anand to Cross 2800 Elo Rating

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Arjun Erigaisi created history on Thursday (October 24) by becoming only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to surpass the 2800 Elo rating mark. The 21-year-old is also the youngest Indian and the 16th overall to reach the live Elo rating of 2800.

Representing team Alkaloid, Arjun achieved the feat after victory over Russia's Dmitry Andreikin in the fifth round of the European Chess Club Cup 2024 with White pieces to achieve the feat. This result also helped him climb to the World No. 3 in the live rating list.

The rising Indian Grand Master Arjun had last week got closer to the live Elo rating of 2800 when he clinched the WR Chess masters title after defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the Armageddon game following two draws in Classical chess.

Arjun, who was a part of the gold-winning Indian team in the Chess Olympiad recently, has been in excellent form over the past few months, securing second place in the TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament and finishing joint-fifth in the Sharjah Masters Open Tournament. He also won the Menorca Open title.

By crossing the 2800 Elo rating, Arjun enters the top 15 all-time highest rating list, joining the likes of Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov, Anand and Alireza Firouzja among others. Here is a look at the top 15 list:

All-Time Highest Elo Rating List

1. Magnus Carlsen (Norway) - 2882
2. Garry Kasparov (Russia) - 2851
3. Fabiano Caruana (USA) - 2844
4. Levon Aronian (Armenia) - 2830
5. Wesley So (USA) - 2822
6. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) - 2820
7. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) - 2819
8. Viswanathan Anand (India) - 2817
9. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) - 2817
10. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) - 2816
11. Hikaru Nakamura (USA) - 2816
12. Ding Liren (China) - 2816
13. Alexander Grischuk (Russia) - 2810
14. Alireza Firouzja (France) - 2804
15. Arjun Erigaisi (India) - 2802.1

What is Elo Rating and how is it measured?

The Elo rating system measures the relative strength of a player in some games, such as chess, compared to other players. The Elo rating system was officially adopted by the U.S. Chess Federation in 1960 and by FIDE in 1970.

Each player's Elo rating is represented by a number that reflects that person's results in previous rated games. After each rated game, their ratings are adjusted according to the outcome of the encounter.