<p>Goa: Arjun Erigaisi preferred precision over fireworks in the first game of the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup as he eked out a draw against Wei Yi as the 206-player tournament has now trickled down to just eight on Monday.</p>.<p>The draw was achieved by the Indian with almost effortless ease with the Black pieces. </p><p>Meanwhile, Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan was the only player to clinch a victory on the day as he defeated Alexander Donchenko of Germany.</p>.FIDE World Cup: Arjun Erigaisi lone Indian warrior as P Harikrishna crashes out.<p>The battles between Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov-Peru’s Jose Martinez Alcanatra, and the USA’s Sam Shankland-Russia’s Andrey Esipenko also ended in deadlocks. </p><p>The encounter between Arjun and Wei is almost like a final as both players are the only ones remaining from the top 10 seeds. Interestingly, 34-year-old Shankland is the oldest player in the last eight while the remaining five players are in their twenties.</p><p>22-year-old Arjun, who began as the second seed behind world Champion D Gukesh, has easily been the pick among the Indian players. In his latest outing, he decided to battle Wie out in one of the oldest openings in chess, the Ruy Lopez. It was sort of a theoretical tussle between these stalwarts with Wei being the youngest player to reach an Elo 2700 at 15 years while Arjun being only the second Indian to cross the Elo 2800 barrier.</p>.<p>Wei showed no urgency to push for a breakthrough with the White pieces, and Arjun was content to go with the flow, sending a clear message that he was comfortably sticking to his preparation. What followed was a fast-paced exchange of pieces, with both players trading at a furious rate.</p>.<p>By the 31st move, the game had settled into a rook-and-three-pawns-each endgame, where neither player had any incentive to continue. In an amusing twist, Arjun actually ended up with more time than he started with when the draw was agreed, thanks to the time increment of 30 seconds added after each move.</p>.<p>Arjun will play with White in the second game on Tuesday, with a victory securing a semifinal spot, a loss eliminating him, and a draw setting up a tie-breaker on Wednesday.</p>.<p><strong>Round 6 results:</strong> GM Wei Yi (Chn) drew with GM Arjun Erigaisi; GM Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) drew with GM Jose Martinez Alcantara (Mex); GM Sam Shankland (USA) drew with GM Andrey Esipenko (Rus); GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb) bt GM Alexander Donchenko (Ger).</p>
<p>Goa: Arjun Erigaisi preferred precision over fireworks in the first game of the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup as he eked out a draw against Wei Yi as the 206-player tournament has now trickled down to just eight on Monday.</p>.<p>The draw was achieved by the Indian with almost effortless ease with the Black pieces. </p><p>Meanwhile, Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan was the only player to clinch a victory on the day as he defeated Alexander Donchenko of Germany.</p>.FIDE World Cup: Arjun Erigaisi lone Indian warrior as P Harikrishna crashes out.<p>The battles between Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov-Peru’s Jose Martinez Alcanatra, and the USA’s Sam Shankland-Russia’s Andrey Esipenko also ended in deadlocks. </p><p>The encounter between Arjun and Wei is almost like a final as both players are the only ones remaining from the top 10 seeds. Interestingly, 34-year-old Shankland is the oldest player in the last eight while the remaining five players are in their twenties.</p><p>22-year-old Arjun, who began as the second seed behind world Champion D Gukesh, has easily been the pick among the Indian players. In his latest outing, he decided to battle Wie out in one of the oldest openings in chess, the Ruy Lopez. It was sort of a theoretical tussle between these stalwarts with Wei being the youngest player to reach an Elo 2700 at 15 years while Arjun being only the second Indian to cross the Elo 2800 barrier.</p>.<p>Wei showed no urgency to push for a breakthrough with the White pieces, and Arjun was content to go with the flow, sending a clear message that he was comfortably sticking to his preparation. What followed was a fast-paced exchange of pieces, with both players trading at a furious rate.</p>.<p>By the 31st move, the game had settled into a rook-and-three-pawns-each endgame, where neither player had any incentive to continue. In an amusing twist, Arjun actually ended up with more time than he started with when the draw was agreed, thanks to the time increment of 30 seconds added after each move.</p>.<p>Arjun will play with White in the second game on Tuesday, with a victory securing a semifinal spot, a loss eliminating him, and a draw setting up a tie-breaker on Wednesday.</p>.<p><strong>Round 6 results:</strong> GM Wei Yi (Chn) drew with GM Arjun Erigaisi; GM Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) drew with GM Jose Martinez Alcantara (Mex); GM Sam Shankland (USA) drew with GM Andrey Esipenko (Rus); GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb) bt GM Alexander Donchenko (Ger).</p>