Arjun Erigasi and V Pranav win with black in FIDE World Cup Round 2

World Junior Champion V Pranav and India’s top-rated GM Arjun Erigasi won their first games in Round 2 of the FIDE World Cup 2025 with black pieces, while Vidit Gujrathi managed a draw after surviving a time pressure scare

Hyderabad: World Junior Champion V Pranav and the highest-rated Indian GM Arjun Erigasi capitalized on errors from their respective opponents to win with black pieces, while Vidit Gujrathi survived a scare against the tournament’s youngest player in the first game of Round 2 of the FIDE World Cup 2025 in Panaji (Goa) on Tuesday.

In a battle of two young stars, Pranav defeated Norway’s GM Aryan Tari in 41 moves, while Arjun overcame Martin Petrov of Bulgaria in 37 moves. Both will be the favourites to advance as they play with white pieces in the second game.

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Arjun was the first among them to bag the full point despite a spirited fight from Petrov. The Indian kept up the pressure in the middle game and then capitalized on the Bulgarian’s slight error to win the game.

“Today, it was an interesting game. It was a tense middle game battle, but starting from b4, he started to drift a bit, and I think I managed to make full use of it,” said Arjun after the match.

On another board, Aryan Tari and Pranav were locked in a dogged battle before the former opened up the board for the Indian on the 40th move by advancing his pawn to g4, and Pranav went for the kill.

While Arjun and Pranav celebrated their wins, Vidit did well to dig himself out of a time pressure hole to split points against Argentine prodigy IM Faustino Oro. The 31-year-old, playing white, had just 38 minutes on the clock after 11 moves and looked under pressure as his 12-year-old opponent played with confidence.

However, Oro tried to play it safe by moving his rook away from the attacking line and gave Vidit an opportunity to save the day and draw by repetition after 28 moves. Vidit will now be the favourite to advance to the next round as he plays with white in the second game.

Among the other Indians in the fray, GM Diptayan Ghosh did well to hold the experienced GM Ian Nepomniachtchi to a draw with white pieces, while GM Gukesh D, GM R. Praggnanandhaa, GM P. Harikrishna, and GM Narayanan S.L. also split points with their respective opponents.