Chess World Cup: Arjun Erigaisi India’s last surviving hope, Harikrishna crashes out
Down to the last eight it is at the Chess World Cup. And only one of them is Indian.
P. Mexico’s Jose Martinez Alcantara knocked out P. Harikrishna in the tie-breaks of the fifth round at Resort Rio here on Sunday. So the host’s hopes rest solely on Arjun Erigaisi, the second seed.
The No. 1 and 3 seeds, D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa, were eliminated in the earlier rounds.
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Arjun and China’s Wei Yi, the seventh seed, are the only two players among the top 10 remaining in the tournament. They come face to face in the quarterfinals beginning on Monday.
P. Mexico’s Jose Martinez Alcantara knocked out P. Harikrishna in the tie-breaks of the fifth round.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
P. Mexico’s Jose Martinez Alcantara knocked out P. Harikrishna in the tie-breaks of the fifth round.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
In the tie-breaks, Sam Shankland of the United States, Andrey Esipenko of Russia and Alexander Donchenko of Germany also won, to book their places in the quarterfinals, also keeping their hopes alive of a place in next year’s Candidates.
Alcantara, seeded 57th, spoke of the possibility of him playing at Cyprus, where the Candidates will be held from March 28 next year, after beating the higher-rated Harikrishna. Two more match wins here will take him there.
After both games in the first set of tie-breakers were drawn, the Peruvian-born player beat Harikrishna in the third game with black pieces in 59 moves from a Richter-Rauzer variation of Sicilian Defence. The game had reached a superior double-rook ending for Alcantara, after White made a few unwise moves, such as a pawn-exchange on the king-side on the 42d move and his king walked into a check-mating net. All Alcantara now needed was a draw in the following game, which he got.
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Shankland had already caused a bigger upset, winning both games in the first set of tie-breakers against former World rapid chess champion Daniil Dubov of Russia. The all-Russian battle between Esipenko and Aleksey Grebnov was also decided quickly, with the former winning the first game with white pieces.
Donchenko hard to work harder; it took him six tie-break games to stun the 13th seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam.
The results: Fifth round (tie-breaks):
Jose Martinez Alcantara (Mex) bt P. Harikrishna 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Sam Shankland (USA) bt Daniil Dubov (Rus) 2-0; Andrey Esipenko (Rus) bt Aleksey Grebnev (Rus) 1.5-0.5; Alexander Donchenko (Ger) bt Le Quang Liem (Vie) 1-1, 1-1,1.5-0.5.
Quarterfinal pairings: Wei Yi v Arjun Erigaisi; Javokhir Sindarov v Jose Martinez Alcantara; Sam Shankland v Andrey Esipenko; Nodirbek Yakkuboev v Alexander Donchenko.
Published on Nov 16, 2025