Better to keep them separate: Arjun Erigaisi on online and FIDE chess ratings

Paris, Aug 15 (PTI) Ace Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi has reservations about plans to convert online chess ratings into a player's first official FIDE rating, arguing that the nature of virtual play makes it difficult to guarantee the same level of integrity as over-the-board competition.

World Chess and FIDE has published a White Paper detailing a proposed two-year experiment to convert online rapid and blitz ratings into a player's first official FIDE rating via World Chess. The proposal outlines fair-play checks, identity verification, and a proposed rating ceiling of 1,800.

Arjun said he had not followed the proposal closely but immediately pointed to the fundamental differences between online and over-the-board chess.

"I was not aware of this. I didn't think much. The first thing that comes to my mind is that online chess contains a lot of mouse slips, flagging and all this. While FIDE chess is quite different," the 22-year-old told PTI during an interview.

"Even in world blitz, which is the fastest time control, there is still no dirty flagging, no mouse slips. It's better to keep both of them separate. But it's not that I gave a lot of thought into it," added Arjun, who finished in the quarterfinals in the chess tournament of the ongoing Esports World Cup.

The distinction, according to Arjun, becomes particularly important when players are competing from their homes, where there is no physical supervision.

"In an event like EWC, there is no way that anybody can cheat. But yeah, as for pure online events where people are playing from home, I know that chess.com and other organisations are trying their best. But I don't think it's so easy," he said.

"Essentially, people are at home playing and there is no one at the location to monitor them. So if they really want to cheat, there must be some way."

Arjun backs Gukesh to regain confidence

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Arjun also offered a measured assessment of World Champion D Gukesh's recent struggles, saying the Indian GM's results have not always reflected the quality of his play.

Gukesh became the youngest world champion in December 2024. Since then, his results have been inconsistent.

"To be honest, in Chennai, his quality didn't seem so bad. The results feel otherwise, but his quality was fine, in my opinion. Like with me, he was actually playing a quite good game. But yeah, in some situations, he was just taking one bad decision," he said.

"I'm not sure why exactly this would happen. With me, the position was more complex and was more understandable. With Pranesh, his bad decision was a bit absurd."

Arjun was referring to Gukesh's recent games against him and S8UL Esports player Pranesh M, where individual mistakes proved costly.

"But these things can happen. Once he wins a clean game somewhere, like Olympiad or whatever tournament, before the match, he will get his confidence back."

Rather than viewing Gukesh's dip in form as unusual, Arjun said fluctuations are an unavoidable part of life at the highest level of chess.

"In general, if we see individually, everyone is having their phases, not just me, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, everyone has their ups and downs. 2024 was a point when Gukesh was having his ups and he became world champion.

Asked what it would take for India to emerge as a dominating force, Arjun said: "We are doing well, but we are not really dominating. Like Magnus is still, at least as of now, the best. But recently Praggnanandhaa beat him twice. I also had pretty decent results with him.

"I'm confident if we just stay focused and do all the right things, we will be able to do well in the near future."

AI is a tool, not a threat to creativity

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Arjun was dismissive of the idea that artificial intelligence is taking the creativity out of chess.

"I don't think it takes away the creativity. It actually helps as a tool for players to improve. As for classical chess, it does feel like, not always, but sometimes it can happen that basically both players know the whole game pretty much beforehand due to preparation and memorisation."

The growth of blitz and rapid chess has also prompted comparisons with cricket's T20 revolution, which transformed the economics, scheduling and consumption of the sport.

Arjun believes chess has not reached a similar tipping point.

"No, I wouldn't say we are there yet because even though all these events exist, FIDE's main format is classical.

"And because that's how the system is, even though most players prefer the shorter formats, they do consider classical to be more important and give more weightage for that because that's what the system is."