Daniil Dubov shocked third seed Praggnanandhaa with black items within the second tie-break sport.
| Picture Credit score: FIDE
A runner-up within the final version, R. Praggnanandhaa started as one of many strongest favourites on the Chess World Cup. He has had some fabulous outcomes this yr too, however not on Thursday.
The third seed from Chennai was knocked out within the fourth spherical by Russia’s Daniil Dubov at Resort. After settling for a 12-move draw within the first tie-breaker sport, Praggnanandhaa misplaced with white items within the second, when he wanted at the least a draw.
However second seed Arjun Erigaisi and P. Harikrishna have ensured there may be nonetheless an Indian presence within the match regardless of the farewells from Praggnanandhaa and high seed D. Gukesh.
Russians rule
Praggnanandhaa wasn’t the one large seed to fall on today. Nor was Dubov the one Russian to prevail. Sixth seed Vincent Keymer of Germany and the Eleventh-seeded Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had been ousted by Andrey Esipenko and Aleksey Grebnev, respectively.
Arjun, who wants to complete inside the highest three right here with a purpose to safe a spot within the Candidates, received each his video games towards his much-experienced Hungarian opponent Peter Leko.
“For the 2 classical video games, we each had been actually ready, although I had a slight edge within the second sport, however Peter confirmed his class by defending fairly comfortably,” mentioned the 22 year-old. “I used to be proud of the best way I performed the tie-breakers. I used to be fairly dominant.”
Harikrishna might not have been as dominant towards Nils Grandelius of Sweden, however he too booked his ticket for the fifth spherical from the primary set of tie-breaks. After drawing the opening sport, he received the second in 34 strikes.
The 39-year-old, who now lives in Prague, mentioned he was enjoying a classical chess match in India after a very long time. “And I hadn’t obtained a lot time to organize,” he mentioned. “It was solely in September that I signed the contract for the World Cup.”
Within the round-of-16, Harikrishna will play Jose Martínez Alcantara of Mexico, whereas Arjun will tackle Levon Aronian of the US.
The outcomes: Fourth spherical (tie-breaks): Arjun Erigaisi bt Peter Leko (Hun) 2-0; P. Harikrishna bt Nils Grandelius (Swe) 1.5-0.5; Frederik Svane (Ger) bt Shant Sargsyan (Arm) 1.5-0.5; Andrey Esipenko (Rus) bt Vincent Keymer (Ger) 1-1, 2-0; Sam Shankland (USA) bt Richard Rapport (Hun) 2-0; Aleksey Grebnev (Rus) bt Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) 1.5-0.5; Danill Dubov (Rus) bt R. Praggnanandhaa 1.5-0.5; Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) 1 drew with Awonder Liang (USA) 1; Wei Yi (Chn) bt Parham Maghsoodloo (Ira) 1-1, 1-1, 2-0; Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) bt Yu Yangyi (Chn) 1.5-0.5; (Uzb); Vincent Keymer (Ger) 1 drew with Andrey Esipenko (Rus) 1; Samuel Sevian (USA) bt Lorenzo Lodici (Ita) 1-1, 1-1, 2-0.
Revealed – November 13, 2025 08:33 pm IST
