All draws keep five Indians in hunt for the next round

Panaji, Nov 12 (PTI) Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi drew the first game and remained committed to cement his place in the Candidates as all Indian contenders drew their first game of the fourth round of the FIDE Chess World Cup.

The day provided just two decisive game out of a possible 16 as Armenian turned American Levon Aronian defeated Radoslav Wojtaszek of Poland and Jose Martinez continued with a grand run, defeating Alexey Sarana of Slovenia.

Only five Indians, out of 32, remain in the hunt and leading the list is Arjun who is yet to endure a difficult day in the office.

In the first game of the fourth round, Arjun did not have to face many problems against Peter Leko who was happy with a draw with white pieces on Tuesday. The Indian is likely to come back with guns blazing in the return game now.

Praggnanandhaa was worse when Daniil Dubov decided it was not much to look forward to. It was clear that Dubov was hoping to take his chances in the shorter time control that he dominates. However, Pragg, as he is referred to, will not mind the new situation and will try to keep things under control.

As things turned out Grandmaster P Harikrishna also drew with Nils Grandelius of of Sweden. Nils is someone known to be chasing the higher prize fund but for Hari it does not matter much. The Swede will have to keep his moves intact if he has to proceed to the tiebreaker after the return game.

For the records, Arjun employed the Sicilian Taimanov and got an opening survey from one of the main lines. Peter Leko being the theoretical masterclass he is, did not find any flaws per se in Arjun prep and decided to draw instead of trying to fight on the long ordeal.

Complete pairings round 4 (Indians unless specified): Frederic Svane (Ger) drew with Shant Sargysyan (Arm); Peter Leko (Hun) drew with Arjun Erigaisi; R Praggnanandhaa drew with Daniil Dubov (Fid); Matthias Bluebaum (Ger) drew with Alexander Domchenko (Ger); V Pranav drew with Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb); Andrey Esipenko (Fid) drew with Vincent Keymer (Ger); Wei Yi (Chn) drew with Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri); Alexey Sarana (Fid) lost to Jose Eduardo Martinez Alacantra (Mex); Nils Grandelius (Swe) drew with P Harikrishna; Samuel Sevian (Usa) drew with Lorenzo Lodici (Ita); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Aleksy Grebnev (Fid); Awonder Liang (Usa) drew with Gabriel Sargissian (Arm); Le Quang Liem (Vie) drew with V Karthik; Sam Shankland (Usa) drew with Richard Rapport (Hun); Levon Aronian (Usa) beat Radoslav Wojtaszek (Pol); Yu Yangyi (Chn) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb). PTI Corr AT AT AT