Chess World Cup, 4th Round: Arjun, Praggnanandhaa and other Indians play out draws
After posting three wins in a row, Arjun Erigaisi seems to be taking it a bit easy. He still looks probably the most solid player at the Chess World Cup, though.
He drew his first game in the fourth round with the Hungarian veteran Peter Leko at Resort Rio on Tuesday. That was, in fact, his second straight draw in the tournament.
The half-a-point with black pieces, off just 20 moves, against Leko wasn’t a bad result, though. Another piece of fine homework saw Arjun blitzing through the opening moves – Sicilian Four Knights – and drawing by repetition of moves.
It was a peaceful day for the other Indians as well: third seed R. Praggnanandhaa, P. Harikrishna, V. Pranav and Karthik Venkataraman all drew their games. Praggnanandhaa, with white pieces, had to work hard for his half-point from his formidable Russian rival Daniil Dubov. He had to come back from an inferior position in their Spanish Game that lasted 41 moves.
ALSO READ | Raahul V S becomes India’s 91st Grandmaster
Karthik, only one of the two remaining players with less than 2600 Elo rating, indeed looked pleased after holding his much stronger Vietnamese rival Le Quang Liem to a draw with black pieces. He has had a great run here, registering a couple of upsets already.
“So far the tournament has gone well for me,” Karthik said. “Somehow I am holding my own. In this game, I had some slight disadvantages in the opening but I managed to make a draw quite easily and I am quite optimistic about my chances in the second game.”
Only two players will go into that second game with one full point against their names. Levon Aronian, the 15th seed from the United States, and Mexico’s Jose Martínez Alcantara, who had stunned the eighth seed Nodirbek Abudsattorov in the previous, were the only winners on this day.
Aronian, a two-time World Cup winner, defeated Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland with white pieces, while Alcantara beat Alexey Sarana with black.
The results (fourth round):
Frederik Svane (Ger) drew with Shant Sargsyan (Arm); Peter Leko (Hun) drew with Arjun Erigaisi; R. Praggnanandhaa drew with Danill Dubo (Rus); Matthias Bluebaum (Ger) drew with Alexander Donchenko (Ger); V. Pranav drew with Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb); Andrey Esipenko (Rus) drew with Vincent Keymer (Ger); Wei Yi (Chn) drew with Parham Maghsoodloo (Ira); Alexey Sarana (Srb) lost to Jose Martínez Alcantara (Mex); Nils Grandelius (Swe) drew with P. Harikrishna; Samuel Sevian (USA) drew with Lorenzo Lodici (Ita); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Aleksey Grebnev (Rus); Awonder Liang (USA) drew with Gabriel Sargissian (Arm); Le Quang Liem (Vie) drew with Karthik Venkataraman; Sam Shankland (USA) drew with Richard Rapport (Hun); Levon Aronian (USA) bt Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol); Yu Yangyi (Chn) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb).
Published on Nov 11, 2025