Freestyle Chess: Arjun Erigaisi finishes sixth in Las Vegas; Praggnanandhaa seventh

India's Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu finished sixth and seventh respectively at the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Erigaisi, who had a stellar run earlier in the tournament and became the first Indian to reach semi-finals of a freestyle event, went down 0-2 to Fabiano Caruana in the fifth-sixth place play-off.

The 21-year-old Indian lost the plot in the knockout stages and ends the tournament with three straight loses to eventual winner Levon Aronian in the semi-finals, five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen in lower bracket semi-final, and to Caruana.

Eriagisi barely looked at his best and Caruana finished off the match trapping the Indian's queen before he resigned from the contest.

Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, got the better of Wesley So in the seventh-eighth place play-off after what was a tough tournament for him.

The 19-year-old from Chennai succeeded in walking away with a rock solid draw in the first game with the black pieces against So. This allowed him the opportunity to press for a win with the white.

As So erred as early as the eighth move, Praggnanandhaa made complete use of the opportunity to register a win and finish seventh.

While Erigaisi pocketed $40,000 for his sixth place finish in the tournament, Praggnanandhaa walked away with $30,000.

Freestyle Chess Las Vegas Standings

1st: Levon Aronian

2nd: Hans Niemann

3rd: Magnus Carlsen

4th: Hikaru Nakamura

5th: Fabiano Caruana

6th: Arjun Erigaisi

7th: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

8th: Wesley So