FIDE World Cup: Arjun, Harikrishna and Karthik draw; Praggnanandhaa holds Dubov

Indian GMs Arjun Erigaisi, P Harikrishna and Karthik Venkataraman drew their games with black pieces in Round 4 of the FIDE World Cup in Panaji, while R Praggnanandhaa survived a tense battle with GM Daniil Dubov to secure a draw

Hyderabad: GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM Karthik Venkataraman and GM P Harikrishna split points with black pieces, while R Praggnanandhaa survived a scare with white against GM Daniil Dubov in the first game of Round 4 of the FIDE World Cup in Panaji on Tuesday.

Second seed Arjun Erigaisi, playing black, earned a quick 20-move draw against experienced Hungarian GM Peter Leko, while Harikrishna held Swedish GM Nils Grandelius in 32 moves and Karthik drew with GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam in 36 moves.

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In other matches, two-time World Cup champion GM Levon Aronian defeated GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek in 37 moves with white, while GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara outplayed GM Alexey Sarana in 39 moves with black pieces.

Forty-six-year-old Leko, who is playing in an individual event after a gap of six years, did not take any risk with Arjun’s rook controlling the ‘a’ file, as he opted for a draw by repetition. He will now have to play with black to continue his fine run in the competition, while the Indian is likely to go all out for a win to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.

“It was a very interesting game. Arjun came up with a big surprise. But in this game, I knew the lines, though I had not analysed them deeply. So being too low on the clock, I decided to draw by repetition,” said Leko, who added that he enjoys playing with black and will try his best to win.

On one of the top boards, Praggnanandhaa made an error by pushing his d-pawn on the 14th move and was under time pressure till Dubov failed to find a move that could have given him a winning advantage. Both players had to play quickly to meet time control before finally shaking hands for a draw after 41 moves.