Esports World Cup 2025: Nihal Sarin enters quarterfinal
India’s Nihal Sarin beat France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to enter the quarterfinal of the chess event at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday.
Sarin pulled off back-to-back wins on Wednesday in the lower bracket, first against Netherlands’ Anish Giri (2-0) and Vachier-Lagrave (1.5-0.5).
Sarin, representing S8UL Esports, held Vachier-Lagrave with black pieces in the first game, before claiming a win with white to secure his progression.
The time control for all games is 10 minutes with no increment and every fixture is a two-game match (with a possible armageddon tiebreak).
On Tuesday, Arjun Erigaisi, along with other group winners – Levon Aronian, Alireza Firouzja and Magnus Carlsen – progressed to the last-eight stage of the 16-player event which has a prize money of USD 1.5 million.