Arjun Erigaisi draws with Wei Yi as World Cup quarterfinal heads to tiebreak

GM Arjun Erigaisi was held to a draw by GM Wei Yi in their FIDE World Cup 2025 quarterfinal, forcing a tiebreak in Panaji. Nodirbek Yakubboev advanced to the semis, while two other matches also head to tiebreaks

Hyderabad: GM Arjun Erigaisi could not convert his advantage in the middle game and had to settle for a draw in the second game against GM Wei Yi as their FIDE World Cup 2025 quarterfinal heads to a tiebreak in Panaji (Goa).

Having played a quick draw with black on Monday, Arjun expectedly looked for a win with white, and it looked like the highest ranked player left in the competition had gained an upper hand in the middle game.

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At that stage, the chess engines were suggesting a bishop sacrifice as the top move to drive home the advantage, but Arjun went with a relatively steady queen to d2 and Wei then defended well to ensure that no other result was possible.

Arjun will begin the tiebreak with black pieces on Wednesday and should be the favourite to advance in the rapid format.

Two more quarterfinals will head to the tiebreak as GM Andrey Esipenko split the point against GM Sam Shankland after 37 moves, while the match between GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara and GM Javokhir Sindarov ended after just 25 moves, lasting only 18 minutes.

Uzbekistan’s GM Nodirbek Yakubboev was the only player to advance to the semi-finals after the two classical games, as he drew the second game against GM Alexander Donchenko of Germany in 57 moves. Nodirbek had won the first game with white pieces.

Results: GM Andrey Esipenko drew with GM Sam Shankland (1:1 aggregate) GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara drew with GM Javokhir Sindarov (1:1 aggregate) GM Arjun Erigaisi drew with GM Wei Yi (1:1 aggregate) GM Alexander Donchenko lost to GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (0.5:1.5 aggregate)