Arjun Freestyles Into Four-Time Friday Champion

GM Arjun Erigaisi, who won three straight Freestyle Fridays in February and March, finally got back in the win column in the tournament on October 10 for his long-awaited fourth victory. The undefeated Arjun’s 9.5 points were enough to win outright, and GM Dmitrij Kollars was the runner-up after topping third-place GM Hans Niemann in the last round to become the only player on nine points. GM Jules Moussard and top women’s scorer IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham rounded out the prize winners.

Arjun and Niemann got off to the fastest starts in the 116-player field, each reaching 5/5 before making a draw with each other in the sixth round. Arjun took the sole lead in the next round, beating last week’s winner GM Pranesh M while Niemann lost to three-time winner GM Sina Movahed. Movahed played Arjun to a draw in the ensuing round, when Kollars caught up to Arjun with a win against Moussard. (The eighth round was also notable for GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda‘s win over GM Magnus Carlsen, who had skipped the first two rounds and so finished seventh despite winning all the rest of his games.)

With Arjun and Kollars both on 7/8 and three rounds remaining, their ninth-round matchup loomed large. Not much seemed to happen in the opening or the middlegame, but both players ended up with an isolated d-pawn. Kollars’ proved much weaker and was captured in just a couple of moves. A second pawn soon fell, and Kollars was unable to convert his one chance (on move 39) of getting back into the game.

Arjun just couldn’t break through in the even-numbered rounds, however, making another draw in the 10th and once again betting caught in the standings. This time, it was Niemann who equaled the score, but their earlier draw would prevent a matchup between coleaders from deciding events. Instead, both players had Black in their last game, Arjun against GM Oleksandr Bortnyk and Niemann against Kollars.

The Bortnyk-Arjun game ended first, and was not really competitive. Both of them resisted the urge to legally castle on move one, but Bortnyk could not resist a dubious piece sacrifice on move nine, and the game was over in less than 30 moves.

The other erstwhile coleader was not so fortunate. For most of the game, Niemann’s position rated anywhere from good to equal, and his own piece sacrifice was solid enough that Kollars declined to take it. But Niemann would falter late in neglecting the safety of his king. Technically, he lost on time, but he was already all but checkmated.

Fortunately for Niemann, both his main score and his tiebreak score were enough to retain a paid position. But today was Arjun’s day to return to the top of the standings, as he joins Bortnyk and GM Hikaru Nakamura among the only four-time Freestyle Friday winners.

October 10 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)