Arjun Erigaisi’s efforts to break through Levon Aronian’s defence did not fructify, while P. Harikrishna played out a quick draw in the opening game of Round 5 at the FIDE World Cup 2025 here on Friday.
Playing white, Arjun could not capitalise on his advantage in the double rook endgame as the two players split points after 41 moves.
Earlier, Harikrishna played a solid game with black to ensure that giant-killer Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara had no opportunities to win with white.
Twenty-four Indians had started the competition, but after four rounds, only two remain in the fray to win the title and grab the Candidates spots on offer.
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On Friday, Arjun was keen on grabbing the advantage against two-time champion Aronian with white pieces. It looked like the Armenian-born Aronian was in trouble when he took almost 30 minutes to play his 21st move.
To his credit, he found a way to get out of trouble and then played solid chess to ensure that he goes into the second game with a theoretical advantage as he plays white.
There was no such trouble for Harikrishna, as he was well prepared for Alcantara’s plan, and both players raced to a rook-pawn endgame quickly and then opted for a draw in 41 moves.
At the time of writing, six of the eight matches had ended in a draw.
Available results round 5 game 1:
Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) playing Frederic Svane (Ger); Arjun Erigaisi (Ind) playing Levon Aronia (Usa); Sam Shankland (Usa) playing Daniil Dubov (FID); Alexander Donchenko (Ger) drew with Liem Le Quang (Vie); Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) drew with Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb); Andrey Esipenko (Fid) drew with Aleksey Grebnev (Fid); Sevian Samuel (Usa) playing Wei Yi (Chn); Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (Mex) drew with P Harikrishna (Ind).
Published on Nov 14, 2025