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Tayade’s astonishing performances at the team event in the UK helped his side, headlined by Arjun Erigaisi, take the top spot in the Rapid event.
Atharvaa P Tayade. (X)
Atharvaa P Tayade was the star of the show in Arjun Erigaisi’s MGD1 unit at the World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships as the 24-year-old Indian helped his side finish atop the Rapid event on Saturday. Hexamind finished second, followed by Viswanathan Anand’s Freedom, who came in third.
Tayade, who remained unbeaten up until the final round in the Rapid section of the event in London, isn’t a professional chess player, but an amateur who took the world by storm. The team event dictates that the contingents must include a sub-2000 ELO ranked male and female player each and that is where Tayade comes in.
Tayade, who started the event in the United Kingdom with an ELO rating of 1952, ended the event with a near-unblemished record save for his final outing in the 52-team tournament. The youngster, however, has a Lichess Bullet rating of 2915. The difference in his rankings can be explained by the sparse FIDE events popping up irregularly and the availability of online games.
Tayade has a track record of edging out multiple GMs, including Thomas Breedson, Jose Carlos Iberra Jerez and Akshat Chandra for instance.
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Erigaisi reflected on his bout with Tayade over a decade ago and recollected that the amateur player got the better of him.
“I actually didn’t know him, but funny thing is that back in the day, in a tournament in 2012, we played a game and he beat me there,” Erigaisi said.
“And I did not remember about that game, but yes, it was a bit funny to do that. And, Srinath did a great job of finding him.”
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Erigaisi also went on to open up about the academic inclinations of Tayade who has been pursuing a course at the Indian Institute of Management, one of the elite educational establishments in the nation for maagement studies. Tayade was also part of the Indian Institute of Technology, another prestigious institute for Engineering studies.
“And also, he’s done IIT and he’s doing IIM. So it’s like, two of the toughest ones in education in India,” he added.
- Location :
United Kingdom (UK)
- First Published:
