PANAJI: Arjun Erigaisi and Pentala Harikrishna kept the Indian challenge alive while R. Praggnanandhaa, last edition’s runner-up, went down in tiebreaks in the fourth round of the Chess World Cup in Goa on Thursday.
Third seed Arjun defeated Hungarian GM Peter Leko in both rapid games to secure a spot in the round of 16 where he will face USA’s Levon Aronian.
With Pranav V and Karthik Venkataraman losing in the classical games in round 5, there were three Indians in the tiebreak and two of them ultimately advanced to the next round.
Harikrishna was held to a draw by Sweden’s Nils Grandelius in the first rapid game. But the Indian won the second with white pieces to set up a pre-quarterfinal clash with Mexico’s José Eduardo Martínez Alcántara.
However, Praggnanandhaa, who lost to Magnus Carlsen in the final of the last edition two years ago, was knocked out by Russian Daniil Dubov. After a draw in the first rapid game, Dubov took down the second-seeded Indian with black pieces in the second.
In the other matches, GM Aleksey Grebnev defeated GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave after winning the first Rapid game with white in 70 moves and then drawing the second to advance. GM Sam Shankland won both his rapid games against GM Richard Rapport to reach Round of 16. Agencies