Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Goa
It was by and large a flat day for Indians at the FIDE World Cup on Wednesday as R Pranav and Karthik Venkataraman bowed out. The top guns — R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and P Harikrishna — hung on, securing draws to head in to the tie-breakers taking place on Thursday.
It was a tricky and tough outing for Pragg and Harikrishna. Both were inferior in their games yet showed steel and skill to stay afloat. There were moments when they looked down and out. The live commentators from the venue were predicting that they were close to elimination. Both of them showed extreme steel to hang in. Erigaisi was almost even and didn’t let that position slip.
Around two hours into Pragg’s game against Daniil Dudov of Russia, the commentators were saying that Dudov was up with an advantage. Pragg systematically dismantled that position and eked out a situation where his rival had no scope to push it further. It was believed that Dudov had a ‘draw in his pocket’. He opted for it and didn’t go for a situation which might have invited a bit of risk.
The same could not be said about Harikrishna. He was apparently and decisively down. Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara of Mexico, the first player to have qualified for the stage of 16, was of the opinion that he was 30-70 down. The Indian found ways which kept him in the game and eventually, helped him settle for a stalemate. It was highly creditable on the part of Harikrishna to have done that. He looked relaxed and in full comfort after the game. Who knows? What’s coming up?
Erigaisi versus Peter Leko of Hungary was a more even contest. It was a game where neither side held an edge. It was petering out into a draw and that’s how it ended. The Indian could not really penetrate into the zone of his rival from a position which was almost equal for most of the time.
For Pranav and Karthik Venkataraman, it was a different story. The former made a mistake during the middle stage of the game and paid a price. Karthik was possibly behind most of the time. It was a creditable show by both nonetheless. They lost but have reasons to hold their heads high.
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