Indians settle for a truce

In the first game of the fourth round of the FIDE World Cup being played in Goa, three of the five Indians in the fray got off to draws, a truce signed much before the approach to first time control.  

Arjun Erigaisi, Pentala Harikrishna and Karthik Venkataraman all pitted with Black pieces against Peter Leko, Nils Grandelius and Liem Quang Li respectively. R Praggnanandhaa once again survived some anxious moments before earning half a point. Pranav Venkatesh, meanwhile, was involved in a long game that lasted 82 moves before signing a peace. 

In fact, the approach by most players was rather similar, with very few hard-fought, intense games. The unwillingness to explore for an initiative resulted in not such an exciting day for the spectators and enthusiasts.

There were just two decisive games amongst the 16 played on the day. It was a cautious and waiting approach by most players with everyone eyeing the top three qualifying spots to the Candidates tournament.

Two-time World Cup winner Levon Aronian scored a victory in 37 moves with the White pieces in a two knights game against Radoslav Wojtaszek, a former second of Viswanathan Anand.

In one of the other decisive result, Martinez beat Alexey Sarana with the Black pieces in 39 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined game.

Praggnanandhaa wielding Whites in a Spanish Opening game was in an uncomfortable position almost from the Opening stages against Daniil Dubov. Pragg, always one of the most exciting players to watch for in any tournament has been  a bit under the weather but somehow Lady luck has been benevolent.

Dubov failed to spot the path to victory and a draw was sealed after 41 moves. 

Arjun and Leko were involved in a rather short Sicilian Defence game, lasting barely 20 moves with just about one piece and a few pawns exchanged. Arjun probably felt that he had better chances with the White pieces on Wednesday.

Peter Leko, a former Classical World Championship Challenger summed up his decision for opting for a draw with “It was a very interesting game. Arjun came up with a big surprise. But in this game, I knew the lines but I had not analysed it deeply. So being too low on the clock, I decided to draw by repetition,” also adding that he likes playing with black pieces and will try his best to win.

Harikrishna held Swedish GM Nils Grandelius in 32 moves and Karthik drew with GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam in 36 moves.

Pranav ending with double rooks and a bishop each. Black’s pawn ahd reached the 7th rank but had zero possibilities of queening. It was a complex position needing plenty to think.

Round 4.1 pairings: GM Peter Leko (HUN) drew with GM Arjun Erigaisi; GM R Praggnanandhaa drew with GM Daniil Dubov; GM Pranav Venkatesh  drew with GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB); GM Nils Grandelius (SWE) drew with GM Pentala Harikrishna; GM Liem Quang Le (VIE) drew with GM Karthik Venkataraman.