Arjun Erigaisi knocks out Levon Aronian to reach FIDE quarterfinals

Arjun Erigaisi played brilliantly to defeat and eliminate two-time World Cup winner Levon Aronian and advance to the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup which is being played at Resort Rio in Goa. The first game between Arjun and Aronian had fizzled out into a hard played draw.

Pentala Harikrishna, however, had to stay content with a second consecutive draw against Jose Martinex Alcantara and will have to fight it out in the tie-break on Sunday to move into the last eight.

In other relevant outcomes, Nodirbek Yakkubaev of Uzbekistan defeated Gabriel Sargissian while his compatriot Jakovir Sindharov also advanced to the quarterfinal.

GM Wei Yi of China, defeated GM Samuel Sevian of USA in 73 moves and will play Arjun in the quarterfinal, scheduled on Monday. Incidentally, Arjun and Wei are the only players to advance amongst the top 10 seeds here.

Alexander Dovchenko after doing all the hard work missed the route to victory against Li Quang Liem and will have to fight for survival. The top three finishers in this event will qualify for the eight player Candidates tournament to decide the Challenger for the World Champion D Gukesh.

The World Cup began with 206 players, 24 of them Indians, but it has trickled down to just Arjun and Hari. The huge crowd gathered outside the resort to get a glimpse of their chess heroes promptly broke into a loud chorus chanting 'Arjun, Arjun' as he exited the playing hall.

Arjun just didn’t win but won it in style, a dazzling knight sacrifice leaving Aronian with no option but to resign! Going the Italian way, one of the oldest Openings in Chess, the player belted out the early moves in accordance with opening theory before Aronian played a new move on the 17th turn.

Even though the game appeared equal, there were some dynamics in that position  and Arjun rejected a draw offer from Aronian on the 31st move.

“Of course, I evaluated the position but thought that since he is not ambitious in this position and not thinking about winning, let me continue and play for a win” explained Arjun later. The position suddenly took a dangerous turn for Aronian after a dubious queen retreat on the 33rd turn. Arjun’s queen’ bishop, knight and rook posed multiple threats.

Arjun however missed a promising move on the very next turn but after a couple of inaccuracies by Aronian, wrapped up the game with a spectacular knight sacrifice on the 38th move, a sort of a knock- out punch. Aronian’s King was caught in the corner with disjointed pieces.

The ever Gentleman, Aronian congratulated Arjun with a smile. Interestingly, Aronian had singled out Arjun as his favourite, a few days back.

It was expected that Harikrishna would press with the White pieces today but had to settle for a draw after 35 moves of a King’s Indian Attack against Martinez. 39-year-old Harikrishna has an enviable experience amongst the elites in chess but Martinez has a good reputation in the faster versions of the game.

Round 5.2 Results: GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (Mex) drew with GM Pentala Harikrishna 1-1; GM Levon Aronian (USA) lt to GM Arjun Erigaisi 0.5-1.5; GM Frederik Svane (Ger) drew with GM Sindharov Javokhir (Uzb) 0.5-1.5; GM Daniil Dubov drew with GM San Shankland (USA) 1-1; GM Le Quang Liem (Vie) drew with Alexander Dovchenko 1-1; GM Nodirbek Yukubboev bt GM Gabriel Sargissian 1.5-0.5; GM Aleksey Grebnev drew with GM Andrey Esipenko 1-1; GM Wei Yi bt GM Samuel Sevian 1.5-0.5.