Chess
Arjun Erigaisi stuns Levon Aronian, storms into FIDE World Cup quarter-finals
Backed by loud home support, the World No. 8 kept his 2026 Candidates hopes alive, while Pentala Harikrishna was pushed into tiebreaks.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi leads the charge in the Masters section of the Chennai Grandmasters 2025. (Photo credit: ANI)
Goa: Chants of "Arjun, Arjun" echoed at the Rio Resort here in Arpora as Arjun Erigaisi made his way into the quarter-finals of the 2025 FIDE World Cup, knocking out two-time winner Levon Aronian.
The 22-year-old from Warangal admittedly was unsure of how the middle game was panning out, but once Aronian offered a draw, he was confident of pushing for a win.
"It was a tense middle game. I wasn't able to understand if I was on the better or the worse side of equality," said Arjun minutes after his win.
"After he played ne3 [31st over] and offered a draw, it gave me some confidence to play for a win because I knew he was happy with a draw," he added.
From that point on, Arjun, as he is known for, went all out for the white king stuck on the corner at the h1 square.
Aronian resigned seven moves later as Arjun placed his knight on the h3 square – a move he termed "cute", effectively leaving the American Grandmaster without any defence.
The win propelled Arjun into the quarter-finals, the only top-ten-ranked player in the world, to reach the final eight in what has so far been a World Cup of upsets.
He, in fact, is one of the only two top-ten seeds to make it thus far. He'll face the other – China's Wei Yei – in the quarter-finals.
As the race to the 2026 Candidates heats up, Arjun's legend, backed by a vociferous home crowd, only continues to grow.
Pentala Harikrishna into the tiebreaks
In the other game of Indian interest, veteran Pentala Harikrishna was forced into tiebreaks by Mexico's Jose Martinez, who has emerged as one of the dark horses.
Having played out a draw with the black pieces on Friday, Harikrishna looked eager to push for a win to earn himself a spot in the quarter-finals.
But Martinez defended solidly to force tie-breaks.
Elsewhere, Javokhir Sindarov, having won his first game on Friday, and Nodirbek Yakubboev, by winning his second game, also advanced to the quarter-finals.
