FIDE World Cup: Harikrishna Goes Down In Round 5 Tiebreak; India’s Hope Rests On Arjun Erigaisi

FIDE World Cup: Harikrishna goes down in round 5 tiebreak; India’s hope rests on Arjun Erigaisi (Image Source: IANS)

India’s hopes in the FIDE World Cup 2025 will depend solely on second seed GM Arjun Erigaisi after GM P Harikrishna went down in the fifth round tiebreak against GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara here on Sunday.

While Arjun had knocked off two-time champion GM Levon Aronian 1.5:0.5 in the two classical games, Harikrishna had to win the tiebreak against Martinez after drawing both the classical games.

The first two Rapid Games, which had 15 minute time control, also ended with a draw.

In the next set of Rapid games with 10 minute time control, Harikrishna pushed for a win with white and banked on his preparation to add almost a minute to his clock after 14 moves. But Martinez was ready with his counter and slowly but surely took control of the situation after the Indian traded the queens and Martinez won the game in a rook-pawn endgame after 59 moves.

Harikrishna faced a must-win situation with black in the second game but could only manage a draw and was knocked out of the competition in 30 moves.

In the next set of Rapid games with 10 minute time control, Harikrishna pushed for a win with white and banked on his preparation to add almost a minute to his clock after 14 moves. But Martinez was ready with his counter and slowly but surely took control of the situation after the Indian traded the queens and Martinez won the game in a rook-pawn endgame after 59 moves.

In the quarterfinals on Monday, Arjun will play Chinese GM Wei Yi, Shankland meets Esipenko and Martinez will face GM Javokhir Sindarov.

Article Source: IANS