Arjun Erigaisi defeats Vishy Anand in the Finals to clinch Jerusalem Masters 2025
It would not be an understatement to say that it is every player's dream to battle against Vishy Anand. What better stage to do it than a Final of a tournament? Arjun Erigaisi won a dream final against the one and only, Vishy Anand. Arjun had some chances in the first Rapid game. However, it ended in a draw. The second Rapid game also had the same outcome. Arjun struck in the first 3'+2" Blitz tie-break game. He drew the second one even though he was winning as a draw was enough for him to win the match and Jerusalem Masters 2025 tournament. This was the third time Arjun and Anand played a knockout tournament in the past 1.5 years and for the first time they faced each other in a Final. Photo: Yoav Nisenbaum / Israeli Chess Federation
Dream final becomes a reality
Arjun Erigaisi was playing fantastic at FIDE World Cup 2025. He was the last Indian in the fray before getting eliminated by the eventual runner-up, Wei Yi (CHN) in the Quarterfinals. Arjun climbed to World no.3 in June FIDE Rating list. He has been consistently doing well for the better part of the year. The only thing that lacked was a strong finish. Finally, that happened. It could not have occurred against a better opponent, than the mighty, Vishy Anand. The comeback immediately after a setback shows why Arjun is a World-Class player and he is only going to attain more and more.
Semifinal: Arjun - Svidler: 1.5-0.5
Arjun Erigaisi (2708) drew the first game against Peter Svilder (2669). In the second game, Arjun employed the French Defence. He won a back and forth battle which could have gone either way as Svidler made the final mistake in the rook and same color bishop endgame.
Svidler - Arjun, Game 2
32.Rxb3?? Bf3 and it was over. 33.Bc2 Rxc2 34.Rxe3 Bd5 35.Rd3 Rb2 White does not have anything more to continue the game.
Nepomniachtchi - Anand: 0.5-1.5
After a draw in the first Semifinal game, Vishy Anand (2727) struck in the second game against Ian Nepomniachtchi (2762).
Anand - Nepomniachtchi, Game 2
Anand got a beautiful position in the middlegame after 22.d5 Qf7 23.d6 and after a few moves Black blundered
34...Qe7 would have kept the game going. 34...Kg8?? 35.b4+- Be2 36.Qd4 now Black cannot avoid material loss. 36...Re7 37.Qxc5 b6 38.Qf5 White won and the dream final between Arjun and Anand was set.
Finals: Arjun - Anand: 2.5-1.5
Arjun got some chances in the first Rapid game of the Finals.
Arjun - Anand, Game 1
Arjun correctly spotted 28.Nd6+ Kb8 29.Qc3 cxd5 now 30.Rhf1 would have maintained the decisive advantage for White. Later Black got some chances too. However, the game eventually ended in a draw.
The second 15'+5" Rapid tie-break was a relatively calm draw. Arjun struck in the first 3'+2" Blitz tie-break game.
Arjun - Anand, Tie-break 1
30...Re8?? turned out to be the decisive mistake 31.Nxe6+- fxe6 32.g4 e5 33.g5+ Kg6 34.dxe5 Rxe5+ 35.Kf4 White used his connected passed pawns on the kingside to win the game.
Arjun was winning the second game too but he took a draw as it was enough for him to win the match and the tournament.
Replay live stream
Format
Time control: 15 minutes, with a 5-second increment starting from move 1.
Tiebreak system (with the exception of a tie for the semi-finals and finals):
• Direct encounter
• The Sonneborn – Berger
• The Koya system
• Higher number of wins with black
• Higher number of games with black.
Semi-Finals and Finals
The first 4 ranked players qualify to the semi-finals.
Semi-final pairings would be 1-4, 2-3.
The semi-finals and finals shall consist of a mini-match as follows: Two 15-5 rapid games.
If the score is tied after the two games (1–1), two 3 min + 2 Ssec blitz games will be played, and, if the score is still tied, a decisive game (Armageddon) will be played with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black, with a 3-second increment after each move, starting from move 61.
The colour of the pieces is chosen by the participant who won the drawing of lots. The drawing of lots is conducted at the chief arbiter’s discretion.
If the Armageddon game ends in a draw, the player who played with black is declared the winner of the match.
The two winners of the semi-finals qualify to the finals. The finals shall be conducted in the same mini-match format.
The two semi-finals runners up shall compete in a mini match for the 3rd place.
Replay Semifinal and Final games
Semifinal results
| 4 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | IND | 2714 | ½ | 1 | 1½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | GM | Svidler Peter | FID | 2669 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | FID | 2762 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | IND | 2727 | ½ | 1 | 1½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Final and 3rd place results
| Final - Round 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | IND | 2714 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 2½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | IND | 2727 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Small final for third place - Round 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | GM | Svidler Peter | FID | 2669 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 2½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | FID | 2762 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Links
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Jerusalem Masters 2025: Vishy Anand and Arjun Erigaisi advance to the Semifinals
@ 03/12/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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Jerusalem Masters 2025 R1-7: Can Arjun Erigaisi and Vishy Anand advance to the Semifinals?
@ 02/12/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |