Vidit Gujrathi wins play-in event to secure spot in Paris leg of Freestyle Grand Slam tour

The Paris leg of the Freestyle Grand Slam Chess Tour will have four Indians competing in the 10-player field after  Vidit Gujrathi qualified for the event through the final play-in spot. Already, India’s Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi were in the 10-player field for Paris, which also has players like Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Hans Niemann.
Remarkably, Vidit won the play-in event, which was being held to find the 10th player for the Paris leg, without needing a tiebreak in any clash. He defeated former world champion Ding Liren in the round of 16, compatriot Pranesh M in the quarters, Amin Tabatabai in the semis and Richard Rapport in the final.
What was also impressive was that Vidit confessed that he had barely played or trained for the past few months since his engagement. His fiancee Nidhi posted on Instagram after his win: “After being out of practice since the last few months to winning this! Vidit 3.0 has just begun.”
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Vidit will be playing in Paris just days after his wedding in April. In fact, he said he would have to fly for Paris for the event just the next day after his wedding ceremony.
“I have my wedding in early April. Now probably Paris will be the place where I go for my honeymoon. Because as soon as I get married, it looks like I will be flying out. I will probably fly out the next day after my wedding. I will need help for my fiance’s visa. If anybody (who can help is watching this), it will be useful,” Vidit laughed in an interview with Chess.com after his win.
A focused Vidit Gujrathi during his match in the ongoing 2024 Global Chess League. (FIDE | Michal Walusza)
Vidit: ‘Haven’t been practising chess for 3-4 months’
The 30-year-old admitted that he was not expecting to do so well at the play-ins.
“I’m feeling great. For me, it was very unexpected that I would do so well in this tournament. Because I haven’t been practising chess for the last three-four months. I have just been busy with other stuff. So it was a very pleasant surprise, it went really smooth,” he said. “Before the tournament began, I was not ready, I felt rusty. I thought it could be very embarrassing if it doesn’t go well. ”Story continues below this ad
Vidit said he was a fan of the Freestyle format.
“You don’t need to prepare the openings. You can just show up an play. Today I have travelled for 10 hours before the match. And I’m playing with my mobile internet, not even my WiFi,” he said.