Wei Yi outwitted Arjun Erigaisi within the tie-breaker to finish the Indian participant’s hopes within the quarterfinals.
| Photograph Credit score: FIDE
Within the tie-breaks was damaged India’s coronary heart on Wednesday.
Arjun Erigaisi, the host’s final hope on the Chess World Cup, was knocked out within the quarterfinals at Resort Rio. The second seed was outwitted by China’s Wei Yi.
Arjun was in a spot of hassle within the first set of tie-breaker video games, however fought again to get a draw, however within the second, he misplaced. Wei, the seventh seed, thus received the tie-break 1.5-0.5.
After the early exit of the No. 1 and three seeds D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun had very a lot been the person in focus right here. His defeat is an enormous setback to him, and India: he wanted to complete inside the highest three to get a slot within the Candidates.
Wei will definitely be entertaining his hopes of travelling to Cyprus, the place the Candidates will likely be performed in March-April subsequent yr. Additionally on the identical boat of expectations are Jovakhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan and Andrey Esipenko of Russia, however they needed to wait longer to get their tickets for the semifinals. Within the second set of tie-breakers, Sindarov beat Jose Martínez Alcantara of Mexico and Esipenko defeated Sam Shankland of the USA 2-0.
The primary sport noticed Wei, enjoying from the white aspect of a French Defence, getting the higher hand from early on, following a doubtful pawn push from Arjun. The Chinese language regarded in management till he tousled with a few weak strikes, again to again, within the center sport, permitting Black to equalise and the sport was drawn in 66 strikes.
Within the second sport, Arjun confronted Petrov’s Defence, and located himself struggling once more earlier than stabilising the place. Issues had been equal within the rook-and-bishop ending till White blundered on his forty first transfer. He took the rook to the improper sq., giving Wei the clear benefit, which the Chinese language finally managed to transform, checkmating Arjun ultimately, on the 79th transfer.
“I had many probabilities within the first sport, however I didn’t discover even one approach to win,” mentioned Wei. “Within the second sport, I believe Arjun performed some dangerous strikes within the ending and I realised I had some probabilities to win, too.”
Within the semifinals on Friday, Sindarov will tackle Nodirbek Yakubboev in an all-Uzbek battle, whereas Wei will meet Esipenko.
The outcomes: Quarterfinals (tie-break): Wei Yi (Chn) bt Arjun Erigaisi 1.5-0.5; Jovakhir Sindarov (Uzb) bt Jose Martínez Alcantara (Mex) 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Andrey Esipenko (Rus) bt Sam Shankland (USA) 1-1, 2-0.
Revealed – November 19, 2025 09:44 pm IST
