Panaji (Goa) Nov 8 (PTI) World champion D Gukesh bowed out of the Chess World Cup, losing the third-round match to Frederik Svane of Germany, while Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa made it to the last-32 stage, here on Saturday.
Gukesh lost the second game of the third round under normal time control against a seasoned opponent known to be a fierce competitor.
It was an Italian opening wherein Gukesh went wrong in judging the position when it was just about equal. With the world champion landing into a worse knight-and-pawns endgame, it meant that only the black had a chance and Svane made history by showcasing his immaculate skills in the endgame.
Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa had little trouble securing the last-32 berths, defeating Shamsiddin Vokhidov of Uzbekistan and Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia respectively.
A draw was enough for Erigaisi to take him to the next round while Praggnanandhaa played a fine game to win after he had drawn the opener on Friday.
Grandmasters P Harikrishna and V Pranav also made it to the last-32 stage, eliminating Daniel Dardha of Belgium and Titas Stremavicius of Lithuania by identical 1.5-0.5 margins.
Having shown sublime form so far, Harikrishna was the first Indian to make the cut as Dardha achieved nothing with the white pieces, and the first game loss against the Indian proved decisive.
It was a similar story for Pranav as he drew with black pieces after winning the first game with white on Friday. Stremavicius tried hard to break through the defences but a calm Pranav forced the game to a draw in the rook-and-pawns endgame.
Diptayan Ghosh went out of contention after losing his way against Armenian Gabriel Sargissian. After getting an easy draw with white pieces in the first game, Diptayan, who had ousted Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia in the previous round, just could not find his rhythm in the second game and lost 0.5-1.5.
Available results (Round 3, Game 2) (Indians unless specified) D Gukesh lost to Svane Frederik (Ger) 0.5-1.5; Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzb) drew with Arjun Erigaisi 0.5-1.5; R Praggnanandhaa beat Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm) 1.5-0.5; M Pranesh lost to Vincent Keymer (Ger) 0.5-1.5; Wei Yi (Chn) drew with Benjamin Gledura (Hun) 1-1 – goes to tie-break; Jose Martínez (Ven) beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) 2-0; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) lost to Nils Grandelius (Swe) 0.5-1.5; Michael Adams (Eng) lost to L Lodici (Ita) 0.5-1.5; Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Vladislav Artemiev (Fid) 1-1 – goes to tiebreak; Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) beat Diptayan Ghosh 1.5-0.5; Le Quang Liem (Vie) drew with Jeffery Xiong (USA) 1.5-0.5; Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur) drew with Richard Rapport (Hun) 1-1 – goes to tiebreak; Levon Aronian (USA) drew with A R Salem Saleh (UAE) 1.5-0.5; N Theodorou (Gre ) lost to Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) 0.5-1.5;Yangyi Yu (Chn) drew with S L Narayanan 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Radoslav Wojtaszek (Pol) beat Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo) 2-0; Sam Shankland (USA) drew with Vidit Gujrathi 1-1 – goes to tiebreak; Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou) drew with V Karthik 1-1 – goes to tiebreak; Alexander Grebnev drew with Stamatis Kourkoulos Arditis (Gre) 1.5-0.5; Daniel Dardha (Bel) drew with P Harikrishna 0.5-1.5; Jorden van Foreest (Ned) beat Alexey Sarana (Srb) 1-1 – goes to tiebreak; Titas Stremavicius (Ltu) drew with V Pranav 0.5-1.5; Matthias Bluebaum (Ger) drew with Ivan Zemlyanskii (Fid) 1.5-0.5; Kiriil Alekseenko (Aut) lost to Peter Leko (Hun) 0-2; Yilmaz Mustafa (Tur) drew with Shant Sargsyan (Arm) 0.5-1.5. PTI Cor AM AM AM
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