Indian Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Pentala Harikrishna advanced to tiebreaks in the fourth round of the FIDE World Cup 2025 after drawing their second classical games on Wednesday.
Erigaisi, playing white, agreed to a draw after 36 moves against Hungarian veteran Peter Leko. Praggnanandhaa split the point with Daniil Dubov of FIDE in 30 moves, while Harikrishna held Nils Grandelius of Sweden in 38 moves despite facing a difficult position.
With both classical games ending in draws, all three Indian players will now decide their round-of-16 spots in Thursday’s rapid and blitz tiebreaks.
Peruvian Grandmaster Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara became the first player to reach the last 16 after drawing with Alexey Sarana following a win in the first game. Two-time champion Levon Aronian also advanced, holding Radoslaw Wojtaszek to a 35-move draw with black.
World junior champion Pranav V. was eliminated after losing to Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Yakubboev, while Karthik Venkataraman also exited the tournament following defeat to Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem.
India results (Round 4, Game 2):
Arjun Erigaisi drew with Peter Leko (HUN) – 1:1 aggregateDaniil Dubov (FID) drew with R Praggnanandhaa – 1:1 aggregateP Harikrishna drew with Nils Grandelius (SWE) – 1:1 aggregate
Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) beat Pranav V. – 1.5:0.5 aggregateLe Quang Liem (VIE) beat Karthik Venkataraman – 1.5:0.5 aggregate