Indian Grand Master Arjun Erigaisi became the first Indian chess player to secure his qualification in the upcoming Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025 to be held in Saudi Arabia later this year. He ensured the qualification for the tournament through the second leg of the Champions Chess Tour (CCT).
After occupying the fourth spot amidst 118 competitors by the end of the Play-in Swiss stage with 7.0/9, he selected Daniil Dubov as his opponent for the next round, which was Match Play. The tournament will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
ARJUN ERIGAISI is the only Indian who remains in contention at the https://t.co/PC11GfKxYM Classic 2025.
— IndiaSportsHub (@IndiaSportsHub) May 21, 2025
Only the Top 12 Players will be qualified for the Esports World Cup.
Arjun is at the 6th position currently. So he has most certainly qualified for the World Cup. pic.twitter.com/j76cJttZwE
Arjun beat Dubov with both white and black pieces to emerge triumphant in the two-legged decisive fixture, which ensured his spot in the EWC. R. Praggananandhaa conceded a defeat in the first round playoff ties to Ding Liren while World champion D. Gukesh, who was directly invited to playoffs lost to Vladamir Fedoseev.
Apart from Arjun, Jan Krzysztof Duda, Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Hikaru Nakamura also booked secured their spots in the tournament. Amongst Indians, no one apart from Arjun has made it to the EWC yet.
Congratulations to 🇮🇳 GM Arjun Erigaisi on qualifiying to the 2025 E-Sports World Cup!
— Chess.com - India (@chesscom_in) May 20, 2025
After a fourth place finish at the Play-in event on Monday, @ArjunErigaisi booked his seat to the main event. 👏 pic.twitter.com/eP5k3CFPcL
Four players will join the top 12 from EWC to complete the field of competitions at the tournament through a Last Chance Qualifier” (LCQ) event.
How did Arjun Qualify?
Arjun made it to the semi-final of the first CCT event — 2025 Chessable Masters, to earn 40 crucial points in the overall leaderboard. Also, his knockout qualification in the 2025 Chess.com Classic ensured that he stays in the top 12 with addition of some more points to his tally.
What is the Esports World Cup?
The world’s biggest esports clubs will compete across 24 of the most popular esports titles in the event. For the first time, the spectators will witness chess in the event. The first edition took place in 2024 and eight teams competed in the inaugural edition.
What is the Champions Chess Tour?
The Champions Chess Tour is an online chess event which started in 2020 and was named as the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. Till 2024, there were four standard tournament to qualify for an final event where the competition used to fight for the prize money. However, the format was tweaked to accommodate the qualification path for the Esports World Cup 2025.
