And then there were none.
India started out with 24 participants at the Chess World Cup. Among them were the top three seeds. And there were another two in the top 20. Yet, none of them remained after the quarterfinals.
The last man standing, the second-seeded Arjun Erigaisi, was ousted by Wei Yi of China at Resort Rio on Wednesday; it must have been a painful blow for him, as he needed to finish inside the top three to qualify for the Candidates.
At the last Candidates, the qualifying event for the World championship, there were three Indians, and one of them, D. Gukesh, went on to win it and then the World title.
R. Praggnanandhaa, who was knocked out in the fourth round here by Russia’s Daniil Dubov, is most likely to retain his slot in the Candidates, as he is leading the FIDE Circuit — one of the ways to qualify — comfortably at the moment.
What is even more certain is that at least one of the eight Candidates will be from Uzbekistan, the country that is second only to India when it comes to top young chess talents.
Jovakhir Sindarov and Nodirbek Yakubboev will face off in the World Cup semifinals starting on Friday. The best-known Uzbek and eighth seed, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, was stunned by Mexico’s Jose Martinez Alcantara in the third round.
In the other semifinal, World No. 11 Wei — at No. 7 the highest seed left in the tournament — will take on Andrey Esipenko. The 23-year-old Russian is ranked 41st in the world, Yakubboev 37th, Sindarov 25th.
The knockout format of the World Cup doesn’t regard much for ranking as the Indian players have found.
The pairings (semifinals, first game): Wei Yi (Chn) v Andrey Esipenko (Rus); Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb) v Jovakhir Sindarov (Uzb).