Arjun Erigaisi was yet to come to terms with the meltdown he endured on Sunday, the last day of the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz tournament.

Leading the pack with 10.5 points after 15 rounds — eventual champion Magnus Carlsen was half a point behind — there was a buzz at the Dhano Dhanyo Auditorium that the 21-year-old might pull through. That was despite the fact that blitz has always been Carlsen’s domain.

As it panned out, Erigaisi imploded. He lost the next three matches — to Vidit Gujrathi, Carlsen and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa — and left mulling what could have been.

“I am distraught. Not in a good space of mind. I was going so well. Just do not know what went wrong in the last three games. It’s so upsetting,” Erigaisi told The Telegraph, trying hard to mask his disappointment, his voice hardly audible even from close.

But just one bad day in the office does not define what Erigaisi has achieved in the last few months. At a time when his juniors Praggnanandhaa (19 years) and Dommaraju Gukesh (18) were creating waves, the soft-spoken Erigaisi was rewriting the Indian chess script.

“Maybe it will take some time to get over this setback. Then I will analyse the mistakes I made. But yes, overall it’s been a good year for me. I feel happy about that,” he said with a smile.

“Good year” is a modest assessment.

Erigaisi crossed the much-coveted 2800 Elo rating in October — the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to do so — and at one point he was the world No. 2.

In the live chess rating chart, he is the present world No. 4, the highest-ranked Indian, with an Elo rating of 2800.9. Erigaisi played a stellar role in India’s gold medal success in the Chess Olympiad held in Budapest in September, winning nine of his 11 matches. He also won the individual gold in Budapest.

“Hard work... There are times I work hard but do not get the results. It’s sort of hitting a stagnant phase. It’s a time when nothing works for me. But I keep believing in the process. Slowly the bad phase makes way for good results,” he said.

“This year, to take care of the mental aspect, I started doing inner engineering at Isha Foundation. For me, it helped. I know people who did not get the desired result but that’s not the case with me.

"After I started inner engineering, I moved on from a bad loss in say about 60 minutes. Earlier this was not the case. This is a huge change in my mental make-up,” Erigaisi stressed.

The interaction naturally veered towards the World Championship match between Gukesh and China’s Ding Liren to be held in Singapore from November 25. “As everyone is saying, Gukesh is the favourite. If Ding was at his best then it would have been a different story.”

The grandmaster from Warangal in Telangana nurtures the dream of winning the World Championship.

“That’s my dream. But to become a world champion I have to qualify for the Candidates chess first and win it. It’s a difficult process but I am ready to give my all.”