Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin Bow Out In Esports World Cup Chess Quarterfinals
India's campaign at the Chess tournament of the Esports World Cup has ended in the quarterfinals, with Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin both securing top-eight finishes on Friday.
India's campaign at the Chess tournament of the Esports World Cup has ended in the quarterfinals, with Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin both securing top-eight finishes on Friday. Arjun, representing Gen.G Esports, was eliminated by Team Falcons' Hikaru Nakamura after their quarterfinal went all the way to an Armageddon tiebreak. The four regulation games produced four draws, with neither player able to break the deadlock. Nakamura, playing White in the deciding Armageddon game, eventually converted his advantage and checkmated Arjun to book his semifinal spot.
"I got a great position out of the opening. I took his bishop and I was in an extremely good situation. To be honest, I didn't see how I could lose this, because he's the one who had to try and make a draw in such a position ... at that point, I was only maybe one and a half or two minutes behind on a draw. So this was the first moment where it went wrong.
"After that, I'm sure there were moments where I could have done better. But it was never easy. I had to spend time and things were not so obvious." The result marked another close encounter between the two Grandmasters. Nakamura had also defeated Arjun in last year's third-place playoff at the tournament.
In another quarterfinal, Nihal faced defending champion Magnus Carlsen of Team Liquid in another rematch from last year's knockout stage.
Carlsen took control early, winning the opening two games before a draw in the third confirmed a 2.5-0.5 victory. The Norwegian will now continue his title defence in the semifinals.
The other two quarterfinals also required decisive results.
AG.AL's Denis Lazavik defeated Natus Vincere's Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Armageddon, while Team Falcons' Alireza Firouzja beat GodLike Esports' Hans Moke Niemann 2.5-1.5.
The semifinal bracket will see Nakamura take on Lazavik, while Carlsen will meet Firouzja in a repeat of last year's final.
Despite missing out on the semifinals, Arjun and Nihal's quarterfinal appearances mark India's strongest showing in the Chess event. Both players will receive USD 75,000 each from the tournament's USD 1.5 million (approximately Rs 14.3 crore) prize pool.
India's four-player contingent also included S8UL Esports' Pranesh M, who was eliminated in the Lower Bracket a day earlier and earned USD 55,000 (approximately ₹52.5 lakh). S8UL's Aravindh Chithambaram, who exited during the Play-Ins, received USD 23,000 (approximately Rs 21.9 lakh).
The EWC Chess playoffs now move into the semifinals, which will be played across six games. The championship match will use a best-of-three sets format, with the first two sets comprising four games each. If required, a third set will consist of two games to determine the champion. PTI ATK TAP
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)