Arjun also remained unbeaten through all the nine rounds and finished half a point ahead of Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov.
The India 'A' and 'B' teams registered comprehensive seventh round victories
In the women's event, Padmini Rout, R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni posted wins in the first round. D Harika will be joining them in the second round, courtesy a bye in the first round.
India's chess maestro Viswanathan Anand along with Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, Nihal Sarin and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa will be offering simultaneous exhibitions on Chess.com to support COVID-19 relief in India on Thursday.
With the top spot assured in the pool with a round to go, India was held to a 3-3 draw by a fighting Slovenia.
Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh shocked world number 5 Fabiano Caruana as India 'B' pulled off a superb 3-1 win over number 2 seeds USA in the eighth round of the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai on Saturday.
Apart from a place in the Candidates to be played in April next year in Canada, Vaishali got richer by US$25000 (Over Rs 20 Lakhs) while Vidit took home a whopping prize purse of US$80000 (Over Rs 66 Lakhs).
The Indian teams made winning starts in the Open and women's sections of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai on Friday.
After six draws in a row, Praggnanandhaa was relieved after the victory, a result of Gupta's blunder under time pressure.
Arjun Erigaisi is in joint lead with 4.5 points from five rounds along with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Fedoseev after holding the Norwegian superstar in round five.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi pipped Rinat Zumabayev of Kazakhstan in the fifth round to share the top spot.
For a long time, Viswanathan Anand was the lone flag-bearer of Indian chess, taking the world by storm with his exploits.
The game incidentally was an old Sicilian where Shirov tried an unconventional ninth move.
India will be fielding three teams each in the Open and women's sections respectively.
It has bolstered the home team's medal chances at the 14-day event, which is expected to see massive participation from more than 150 countries.
In the women's event, the country's top player Koneru Humpy has 3.5 points with two wins and three draws after five rounds as does R Vaishali who has scored three victories to go with a draw apart from a loss.
Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna and teen prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa took a big step towards a spot in the fourth round of FIDE Chess World Cup in Sochi
R Praggnanandhaa's ability to defend seamlessly in pressure situations and the deductive mind to quickly gauge his opponent's weakness is the hallmark of a world class player, national coach GM M Shyam Sundar said on Tuesday.
In the women's event, India's D Harika drew with Nino Bastiashvili (Georgia) to move up to four points. She is in joint third place with six others.
India was held to a 3-3 draw by lower-ranked Mongolia in the sixth round as favourites China grabbed the top spot in Pool A in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad on Saturday.
Anand played the Italian game with white pieces but could get little out of opening against Vituigov.
Reigning world rapid champion Viswanathan Anand drew his sixth straight game of the tournament to stay undefeated and have a mid-table placing at number four with three points.
Nihal scored his third and final GM norm at the Abu Dhabi Masters that was held from August 7 to 15. He scored 5.5 points in nine rounds with four wins, three draws, and two losses.
India's top player and Asian Games gold medallist Koneru Humpy, who had come back into medal contention after a modest performance on day two, had to settle for the sixth place though she logged eight points.
The second day of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League witnessed the debut of Magnus Carlsen, the strongest chess player in the world. C
The experienced Pentala Harikrishna accepted a draw against lower-rated Constantin Lupulescu of Romania to advance to round four at the FIDE Chess World Cup.
Sankalp Gupta becomes India's 71st GM.
Any player with a Chess.com blitz or FIDE standard rating of under 2000 could play with former world champion Anand by donating US$150 and with the other four GMs by paying US$25 as registration amount.
India's Dronavalli Harika defeated former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the third round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament in Riga to grab a share of the lead.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand gave a fine endgame lesson to young Alireza Firouzja, jumping to joint sixth position at the end of 11th round of Tata Steel Masters, in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands, on Saturday. With his second victory, Anand clawed his way back to a fifty percent score and will now hope to end the tournament on a high. At just 16 years, Firouzja is less than one third of Anand's age, and the Indian ace showed that the Iranian still has a lot to learn.
Indian players experienced mixed fortunes in the second round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament here with two each in the men's and women's sections registering victories.
Legendary Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand has joined hands with WestBridge Capital to launch an academy, through which the five-time world champion will train youngsters.
Anand has been trying to play very complicated positions and the sixth round was no different.
India's Pentala Harikrishna secured two wins on the last day but could only finish second, half a point behind Japanese-American wizard Hikaru Nakamura who lived up to his top billing to clinch the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid tournament, in Kolkata, on Sunday.
Anand, as white, had simply an extra pawn and this is where the tenacity of Carlsen came to fore.
Anand moved to joint sixth spot with 2.5 points on a day that saw Firouzja Alireza scoring a sensational victory over super-solid Anish Giri of Holland.
Asked if the teenaged GM from Chennai needs to tone down on his aggression, Ramesh said, "I don't think so. That is one of his strengths. But, he must also learn every aspect of the game, not just aggression..."
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand came into his own with a much-needed win over Jan-Krzystof Duda in 78 moves in the second round after losing to his opponent in the first round.
With the Indian teams doing well so far, they can run into one another in the competition.
High-flying with his superman-cap, overnight joint leader Grandmaster Gupta ran out of steam and surrendered to Nakamura on a day when B Adhiban also did well to hold Levon Aronian of Armenia to a creditable draw.
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