Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Harikrishna head to tiebreak in 4th round of Chess World Cup

Panjim (Goa), Nov 12 (PTI) Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa played out solid draws while P Harikrishna wriggled out of a difficult situation to head into a tie-break in the fourth round of the Chess World Cup, here on Wednesday.

Erigaisi accepted a draw after 36 moves against Hungarian GM Peter Leko, Praggnanandhaa split the point after 30 moves against Russian GM Daniil Dubov, while Harikrishna also drew after 38 moves.

Mexican GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara, who had won with black pieces on Tuesday, became the first player to advance to the round of 16 after he went for a threefold repetition and took a draw against GM Alexey Sarana in 20 moves.

He will take on the winner of the match between Harikrishna and GM Nils Grandelius of Sweden.

Two-time champion GM Levon Aronian also advanced to the next round after drawing the second game in 35 moves with black against GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek.

Erigaisi opted for the Nimzo-Indian opening with white against Leko and looked like he was well-prepared as he gained time on the clock after 16 moves.

But the Hungarian defended resolutely and the highest-ranked Indian opted to trade queens on the 20th move after thinking for 26 minutes. He tried to push ahead thereafter but could not get a breakthrough.

"I am getting more and more in my preparations and I wasn't really afraid (of Erigaisi's opening line). I knew that this b5 that I played is quite solid and there cannot be any miracle in this position. But over the board when Erigaisi is blitzing all his moves, I know that there is always some pressure. But it was more or less equal all the time," said Leko after the match.

Praggnanandhaa was also satisfied with the draw with black against Dubov. The Indian will now start with black pieces against the former World Rapid champion in the first tie-break game.

In the match between Harikrishna and Grandelius, the Indian looked under pressure despite playing white. But he kept his cool and forced a draw in a bishop-pawn endgame.

World junior champion Pranav V, playing black, was knocked out of the tournament after he lost the second game against GM Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan in 38 moves.India results (Round 4, Game 2)Arjun Erigaisi drew with GM Peter Leko (HUN) (1:1 aggregate); Daniil Dubov (FID) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (1:1 aggregate); P Harikrishna drew with GM Nils Grandelius (SWE) (1:1 aggregate); Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) beat Pranav V (1.5:0.5 aggregate); Karthik Venkataraman lost to GM Le Quang Liem (VIE) (0.5:1.5 aggregate). PTI AM AM KHS