Wei Yi outwitted Arjun Erigaisi in the tie-breaker to end the Indian player’s hopes in the quarterfinals.
| Photo Credit: FIDE
In the tie-breaks was broken India’s heart on Wednesday.
Arjun Erigaisi, the host’s last hope at the Chess World Cup, was knocked out in the quarterfinals at Resort Rio. The second seed was outwitted by China’s Wei Yi.
Arjun was in a spot of bother in the first set of tie-breaker games, but fought back to get a draw, but in the second, he lost. Wei, the seventh seed, thus won the tie-break 1.5-0.5.
After the early exit of the No. 1 and 3 seeds D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun had very much been the man in focus here. His defeat is a big setback to him, and India: he needed to finish inside the top three to get a slot in the Candidates.
Wei will certainly be entertaining his hopes of travelling to Cyprus, where the Candidates will be played in March-April next year. Also on the same boat of expectations are Jovakhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan and Andrey Esipenko of Russia, but they had to wait longer to get their tickets for the semifinals. In the second set of tie-breakers, Sindarov beat Jose Martínez Alcantara of Mexico and Esipenko defeated Sam Shankland of the United States 2-0.
The first game saw Wei, playing from the white side of a French Defence, getting the upper hand from early on, following a dubious pawn push from Arjun. The Chinese looked in control until he messed up with a couple of weak moves, back to back, in the middle game, allowing Black to equalise and the game was drawn in 66 moves.
In the second game, Arjun faced Petrov’s Defence, and found himself struggling again before stabilising the position. Things were equal in the rook-and-bishop ending until White blundered on his 41st move. He took the rook to the wrong square, giving Wei the clear advantage, which the Chinese eventually managed to convert, checkmating Arjun in the end, on the 79th move.
“I had many chances in the first game, but I didn’t find even one way to win,” said Wei. “In the second game, I think Arjun played some risky moves in the ending and I realised I had some chances to win, too.”
In the semifinals on Friday, Sindarov will take on Nodirbek Yakubboev in an all-Uzbek battle, while Wei will meet Esipenko.
The results: Quarterfinals (tie-break): Wei Yi (Chn) bt Arjun Erigaisi 1.5-0.5; Jovakhir Sindarov (Uzb) bt Jose Martínez Alcantara (Mex) 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Andrey Esipenko (Rus) bt Sam Shankland (USA) 1-1, 2-0.
Published – November 19, 2025 09:44 pm IST
