India’s below-par show at Chess World Cup — an aberration, nothing more
On the final night of the Chess World Cup at Resort Rio, there were, so to speak, two Viswanathan Anands: the legend in person, and the winner’s trophy that FIDE had named after him, shortly before the tournament kicked off. And that was just about the only Indian presence.
No Indian contested the final. There was no Indian in the semifinal, too.
For a country that is now used to winning just about every title in international chess – the Olympiad for both men and women, the World championship, the women’s World Cup, the World junior title – this was a disappointment. And even more so as the host boasted the top three seeds.
Among them, the second seed Arjun Erigaisi travelled farthest. He reached the quarterfinals rather comfortably, and had looked extremely well prepared and very solid. But he went down to China’s Wei Yi, who played even more solidly and went on to contest the final.
Arjun badly needed to finish inside the top three if he was to qualify for the Candidates, but is now going to miss yet again after coming close. While for D Gukesh, it proved yet another eminently forgettable outing after becoming the youngest World champion last year, R. Praggnanandhaa wasn’t just the brilliant performer he has been for most of the year.
There were 24 Indians in all. Among them, V. Pranav looked really impressive. The World junior champion reached the fourth round and showed once again that he was a serious talent. Karthik Venkataraman also reached the last 32, quite a performance from someone who began as the 109th seed.
Higher seeds like Vidit Gujrathi, Aravindh Chithambaram and Nihal Sarin, made earlier exits. Still, given the knock-out format of the tournament, there is no need to read too much into India’s below-par show. It was more of an aberration.
Published on Nov 27, 2025
