IMAGE: Arjun Erigaisi beat Shamsiddin Vokhidov in the 3rd round of the Chess World Cup in Panaji on Friday. Photograph: Kind courtesy Chess.com/X
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi continued with his fine form to beat his Uzbek counterpart Shamsiddin Vokhidov in a clean attacking game, while world champion D Gukesh played out a draw with Frederik Svane of Germany in the first game of the third round of Chess World Cup, in Panaji on Friday.
Apart from Erigaisi, Grandmaster P Harikrishna also shot into lead with another finely-crafted victory at the expense of young GM Daniel Dardha of Belgium. With both Erigaisi and Harikrishna winning with white pieces, a draw would be enough for them to get over the line to the fourth round.
In the round of 64, R Praggnanandhaa also drew the first game with Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia to start easy with black pieces, while Vidit Gujrathi played out a draw with Sam Shankland to start his campaign for the fourth round.
Erigaisi was great for the third time running, scoring his third straight win in the knockout event. Playing white, it was a Queen-pawn opening wherein Erigaisi found some nice resources in the opening and crushed Vokhidov in a one-sided affair.
Harikrishna continued his success story with the seasoned Grandmaster, who famously assisted Gukesh in the World Championship title match, showcasing his skills as a brilliant attacker.
“I had prepared something new. Of course, there was help for me but I could not recall all the moves in this variation. But there were some nice tricks that happened and some moves my opponent missed. Basically, he didn’t realise the danger properly in the game,” said Harikrishna after the match.
Among the other higher-ranked players, Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Jose Martinez in a game that could have swung either ways while Vincent Keymer of Germany who, is currently number four in the live ratings, was held to a draw by recently-crowned world junior champion V Pranav.
The second game of the two-game mini-match will be played on Saturday and if the tie persists, two games of rapid and subsequent games of lesser time control will be played to determine the winner.
Results (Round 3, Game 1) (Indians unless specified): Svane Frederic (Ger) drew with D Gukesh; Yilmaz Mustafa (Tur) lost to Shant Sargsyan (Arm); N Theodorou (Gre) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) drew with Nils Grandelius (Swe); P Harikrishna beat Daniel Dardha (Bel); Alexey Sarana (Srb) beat Jorden van Foreest (Ned); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) lost to Jose Martínez (Ven); Thao Dai Van Nguyen (Cze) drew with Nodribek Yakubboev (Uzb); Awonder Liang (USA) drew with Rasmus Svane (Ger); Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) drew with Diptayan Ghosh; Le Quang Leim (Vie) beat Jeffery Xiong (USA); Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou) drew with V Karthik; Matthias Bluebaum (Ger) beat Ivan Zemlyanskii (Fid); Alexander Donchenko (Ger) drew with Anish Giri (Ned); Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm) drew with R Praggnanandhaa; Georg Meier (Uru) drew with Daniil Dubov (Fid); Sam Shankland (USA) drew with Vidit Gujrathi; Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur) drew with Richard Rapport (Hun), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Vladislav Artemiev (Fid); Alexander Grebnev beat Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (Gre); Andrey Esipenko (Fid) lost to Pouya Idani (Iri); Vincent Keymer (Ger) drew with M Pranesh; Wei Yi (Chn) drew with Benjamin Gledura (Hun); Ivan Saric (Srb) drew with Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri); Samuel Sevian (Usa) drew with Evgeniy Najer (Fid); Michael Adams (Eng) drew with L Lodici (Ita); Levon Aronian (USA) beat A R Salem Saleh (UAE); Radoslav Wojtaszek (Pol) beat Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo); Kiriil Alekseenko (Aut) lost to Peter Leko (Hun); Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzb) lost to Arjun Erigaisi.
