India, Dec. 13 -- Arjun Erigaisi shared a few laughs during the curtain-raiser event of the Global Chess League (GCL) and readily posed for photos and selfie requests.

This image of Erigaisi on Saturday in Mumbai was in contrast to less than a month ago in Goa. That was a picture of heartbreak - literally too, as Erigaisi posted that emoji on X - after the second seed crashed out from the quarter-finals of the FIDE World Cup. It shattered his goal of qualifying for the 2026 Candidates, for which three spots from the home tournament were up for grabs.

A so-near-yet-so-far tale can be hard enough to digest once but for the 22-year-old, it was a repeat of the 2023 World Cup where he also stumbled in the last eight. It therefore took a few ...