Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi will take on an in-form Levon Aronian of Armenia, while P Harikrishna will have to tackle giant-killer Jose Eduardo Martinez Alacantara of Mexico in the pre-quarterfinals of the World Cup here.
Drubbing Peter Leko of Hungary 2-0 in the first set of the tie-break games, Arjun has to meet Aronian, who has displayed great form coming into the round of 16 and it looks like an evenly-poised match on form even though Arjun enjoys a decent rating advantage.
For Harikrishna the biggest challenge so far awaits in form of Jose Martinez who has played impeccably thus far packing off higher ranked players in tandem. Harikrishna conceded that he had never played the Mexican in a Classical game.
“I think probably in some blitz games sometime but I don`t think I have ever played him before, its time to take some rest and then come back for the next round.”
With R Praggnanandhaa also eliminated by Daniil Dubai in the fourth round tiebreaker, it is now upto Harikrishna and Arjun to fight for the honours here.
There are three places reserved for the next Candidates from here for the top three finishers and besides Praggnanandhaa, no other Indian has made it yet to the next Candidates.
In the 2023 edition, that was won by reigning world champion Gukesh there were three Indians in all with Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi joining Gukesh when the history was created.
With most of the big stars falling out of contention, Arjun and Wei Yi of China are the last two remaining 2750+ rated players left in the fray that gives a feeling that some more surprises might well be in store.
The ouster of Vincent Keymer and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave certainly gave jitters to the fans in the previous round tie-break and it remains to be seen as to who will fall under the axe in the next one.
Wei Yi will meet Samuel Sevian of United States in the next round and again starts as a huge favourite. In other likely interesting encounters, Gabriel Sargissian will has a younger opponent in Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan while another Uzbek star Javokhir Sindarov has to play against Frederic Svane of Germany who had famously beaten Gukesh.
Pairings round 5:
Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) vs Frederic Svane (Ger); Arjun Erigaisi (Ind) vs Levon Aronia (Usa); Sam Shankland (Usa) vs Daniil Dubov (FID); Alexander Donchenko (Ger) vs Liem Le Quang (Vie); Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) vs Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb); Andrey Esipenko (Fid) vs Aleksey Grebnev (Fid); Sevian Samuel (Usa) vs Wei Yi (Chn); Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara vs P Harikrishna (Ind).
Complete results round 4: Arjun Erigaisi beat Peter Leko (Hun) 3-1; P Harikrishna beat Nils Grandelius 2.5-1.5; R Praggnanandhaa lost to Daniil Dubov (Fid) 1.5-2.5; Frederic Svane (Ger) beat Shant Sargysyan (Arm) 2.5-1.5; Matthias Bluebaum (Ger) lost to Alexander Domchenko (Ger) -0.5-1.5; V Pranav lost to Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb) 0.5-1.5; Andrey Esipenko (Fid) beat Vincent Keymer (Ger) 4-2; Wei Yi (Chn) beat Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri) 5-3; Alexey Sarana (Fid) lost to Jose Eduardo Martinez Alacantra (Mex) 0.5-1.5; Samuel Sevian (Usa) beat Lorenzo Lodici (Ita) 5-4; Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) lost to Aleksey Grebnev (Fid) 1.5-2.5; Awonder Liang (Usa) lost to Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) 1.5-2.5; Le Quang Liem (Vie) beat V Karthik 1.5-0.5; Sam Shankland (Usa) beat Richard Rapport (Hun) 3-1; Levon Aronian (Usa) beat Radoslav Wojtaszek (Pol) 1.5-0.5; Yu Yangyi (Chn) lost to Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) 1.5-2.5.
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