Chess World Cup: Pranav reaches second round, Divya crashes out
Six are already in. Another five are in with a chance. India’s lesser-known players aren’t doing badly at the chess World Cup.
Leading the host’s charge into the second round was V. Pranav, the highest-ranked Indian apart from those top players seeded directly into the second round. And he did it in the most convincing fashion.
All that the reigning World junior champion needed was a draw in the second game of the first round, but he defeated Algeria’s Ala Eddine Boulrens for the second time in as many days to win their mini match 2-0.
Joining him in the second round are M. Pranesh, Raunak Sadhwani, P. Iniyan, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, and Karthik Venkataraman. Like Pranesh, the season campaigner Ganguly also registered a perfect score against Ahmad Ahmadzada of Azerbaijan.
The day also saw Kolkata’s Aronyak Ghosh stage a fine comeback. After losing on the opening day, he was in a must-win situation against Mateusz Bartel, his higher-rated rival from Poland. He won to force a tie-breaker.
Also playing in Monday’s shootout are S.L. Narayanan, R. Raja Rithvik, Diptayan Ghosh, and M.R. Lalith Babu.
There was disappointment for Leon Mendonca after the local lad crashed out of the tournament after losing to China’s Wang Shixu, who is rated more than 200 points below.
The campaign of Divya Deshmukh also ended. The only woman in this World Cup went down to Greece’s Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis 0-2.
Turkey’s Yagiz Erdogmus, American Jeffrey Xiong, Maxim Rodshtein of Israel, Vladislav Artemiev of Russia, and Englishman Michael Adams — the highest-rated players in the first round — all registered victories and reached the second round.
Important results (First round)
Yagiz Erdogmus (Tur) 2 bt Nagi Abugenda (Lba) 0; Li Yiheng (Hkg) 0.5 Jeffrey Xiong (USA) 1.5; Maxim Rodshtein (Isr) 2 bt Qin Oscar Shu Xuan (NZ) 0; Heskeil Ndahangwapo (Nam) 0 lost to Vladislav Artemiev (Rus) 2; Michael Adams (Eng) 2 bt Alrehaili Ahmed Abdullah (KSA) 0; Ala Eddine Boulrens (Alg) 0 lost to V. Pranav 2; Daniel Barrish (SA) 0.5 lost to Raunak Sadhwani 1.5; Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzb) 2 bt Jaloliddin Ilkhomi (Tjk) 0; Satbek Akhmedinov (Kaz) 0.5 drew with M. Pranesh 1.5; Wang Shixu (Chn) 1.5 bt Leon Mendonca 0.5; S.L. Narayanan 1 drew with Steven Rojas (Per) 1; Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (Gre) 2 bt Divya Deshmukh 0; Dylan Isidro Berdayes Ason (Cub) 0.5 drew with Pa. Iniyan 1.5; Neelash Saha 0.5 lost to Georg Meier (Uru) 1.5; Mustafa Yilmaz (Tur) 1.5 bt G.B. Harshavardhan 0.5; Aronyak Ghosh 1 bt Mateusz Bartel (Pol) 1; Vasil Ivanchuk (Ukr) 1.5 drew with Mohammad Fahad Rahman (Ban) 0.5; R. Raja Rithvik 1 drew with Kazybek Nogerbek (Kaz)1; Diptayan Ghosh 1 drew with Peng Xiongjian (Chn) 1; Ahmad Ahmadzada (Aze) 0 lost to Surya Shekhar Ganguly 2; M.R. Lalith Babu 1 drew with Max Warmerdam (Ned) 1; Karthik Venkataraman 1.5 bt Roberto García Pantoja (Cub) 0.5; Himal Gusain 0 lost to Andy Woodward (USA) 2.
Published on Nov 02, 2025