Erigaisi, Wei Yi, Yakubboev join Sindarov in quarters @ Goa

The highest remaining seed GM Erigaisi Arjun (India) brought down veteran two time World Cup winner GM Levon Aronian (USA) 1.5-0.5 after the second classical game of the fifth round at the $2 million FIDE World Cup at Goa. Joining GM Erigaisi Arjun in the quarter-finals with a similar match score were GMs Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Yakubboev (both Uzbekistan) and Wei Yi (China) respectively.

The 2nd classical game of the fifth round was inaugurated by Indian icon Women’s World Rapid Champion GM Koneru Humpy who made the symbolic first move in the GM Daniil Dubov vs GM Sam Shankland game.

In a day of extremely hard fought battles, four Grandmasters progressed to the next level while the other four will contend for the last 8 spots through tie-breaks. Four thrilling rapid & blitz tie-break matches are in store viz.,  Esipenko – Grebnev, Martínez – Harikrishna, Shankland – Dubov, Donchenko – Liem.

Of all the eight games fought, the one where German Grandmaster Alexander Donchenko missed a sitter will be long remembered. The King’s Indian Defense Fianchetto Variation game took shape into a slow middle game duel. The real battle started after the first time control when the rook and pawn ending came into force. GM Le Quang Liem slowly got himself into an unpleasant situation thanks to some unforced errors in the fifth hour of play. Faced with a clear losing position the former world blitz champion just hung on waiting for one slip to happen. Happen it did, on move 69…Ke2?? when the German Grandmaster possibly squandered a quarter-final spot. The Vietnamese GM thanked his stars bailing himself out with a draw after 75 moves. For GM Donchenko he’d surely go through a sleepless night thinking of the king move that threw away the win. For, there is nothing futile as regret.

The ancient Italian Giuoco Piano opening is regaining its popularity these days and gets seen through top Grandmasters. This age old opening coming from the stable of veteran GM Levon Aronian is no surprise, since the Armenian American is more an artist than anything else. An unusually passive play by Aronian saw white in all kinds of knots. GM Erigaisi Arjun kept advancing and improving for an assault on the white king and Aronian could hardly do anything about it. The exchanges of a rook and knight reduced the pressure a bit, but one mis-step with 38. Re1?? and it was all over for the two time World Cup winner. With the elimination of Aronian the FIDE World Cup Goa will now see three new Candidates dreaming to become the next world champion.

The 5th round tie-break games starts by Sunday, 16th November at 4:30 AM ET / 10:30 AM CET / 3:00 PM IST.

Key tie-break duels:  Andrey Esipenko vs Aleksey Grebnev, José Martínez Alcántara vs Pentala Harikrishna, Sam Shankland vs Daniil Dubov, Alexander Donchenko vs Le Quang Liem.

Results: (Round 5 Game 2): Sindarov Javokhir beat Svane Frederik 1.5-0.5, Erigaisi Arjun beat Levon Aronian 1.5-0.5, Sam Shankland drew with Daniil Dubov 1-1, Alexander Donchenko drew with Le Quang Liem 1-1, Gabriel Sargissian lost to Nodirbek Yakubboev 0.5-1.5, Andrey Esipenko drew with Aleksey Grebnev 1-1, Samuel Sevian lost to Wei Yi 0.5-1.5, José Martínez Alcántara drew with Pentala Harikrishna 1-1.

Le Quang Liem (2729) – Alexander Donchenko (2641) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 d5 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Ne5 O-O 8. Nc3 Bf5 9. Bf4 Nc6 10. O-O Ne4 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Nxc6 Rxc6 15. Rxc6 bxc6 16. Be3 Qa5 17. Qb1 Qd5 18. Rd1 Rd8 19. Rd2 h5 20. h4 Kh7 21. b3 Bh6 22. Bxh6 Kxh6 23. Qc1 Kg7 24. Rc2 Qxd4 25. Kg2 Qd1 26. Qxd1 Rxd1 27. a4 Rd6 28. Rc4 f5 29. Rb4 Kf7 30. Rb7 Rd2 31. e3 Rb2 32. a5 Ke6 33. a6 c5 34. Kf1 Kd6 35. Ke1 c4 36. b4 c3 37. Kd1 Kc6 38. Rxa7 Kb6 39. Rxe7 Kxa6 40. Rc7 Rxf2 41. Rxc3 Kb6 42. Rc5 Rg2 43. Re5 Rxg3 44. Ke2 Kc6 45. Kf2 Rg4 46. Rc5+ Kd6 47. Rc4 Rxh4 48. Kg2 Rg4+ 49. Kh2 Kd5 50. Rc5+ Kd6 51. Rc3 Rh4+ 52. Kg2 Rg4+ 53. Kh2 f4 54. exf4 Rxf4 55. b5 Kd5 56. Rb3 Kc4 57. Rb1 Rf7 58. Kg3 Rb7 59. Kf4 Rxb5 60. Rg1 Kd3 61. Rg3+ Ke2 62. Rg2+ Kd3 63. Rg3+ Ke2 64. Rg2+ Kf1 65. Rxg6 Rb3 66. Kxe4 h4 67. Rf6+ Kg2 68. Rg6+ Kf2 69. Rf6+

69…Ke2?? (A move that GM Donchenko will regret for the rest of his life, for 69…Kg2 70. Rg6+ Rg3 71. Rh6 h3 72. Rh7 h2 73. Rxh2+ Kxh2 wins) 70. Ra6 Rb4+ 71. Kf5 h3 72. Rh6 Rb3 73. Kg4 Kf2 74. Rxh3 Rxh3 75. Kxh3 1/2-1/2

Levon Aronian (2728) – Erigaisi Arjun (2769) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a5 6. O-O d6 7. Re1 O-O 8. Nbd2 Be6 9. Bb5 Ba7 10. Nf1 Ne7 11. d4 Ng6 12. Ng3 c6 13. Bf1 Bg4 14. Be3 exd4 15. cxd4 d5 16. e5 Ne8 17. Be2 f6 18. exf6 Nxf6 19. Qb3 Bxf3 20. Bxf3 Qd7 21. Rad1 h6 22. Be2 Rae8 23. Bd3 Nh4 24. f3 Nh7 25. Bb1 Ng5 26. Qc2 g6 27. Kh1 Qf7 28. Qf2 Bb8 29. Nf1 Nf5 30. Bd2 Bc7 31. Ne3 Nxe3 32. Bxe3 Kg7 33. Qf1 Re6 34. Bg1 Rfe8 35. Rxe6 Rxe6 36. a3 h5 37. Qf2 Qf4 38. Re1

38…Nh3 0-1

Nodirbek Yakubboev (2689) – Gabriel Sargissian (2616) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. a3 Qa5 10. O-O-O Be7 11. Kb1 a6 12. h4 Rd8 13. g4 dxc4 14. Bxc4 b5 15. Bb3 Bb7 16. Ng5 Rxd1+ 17. Rxd1 Rd8 18. Rc1 b4 19. Nce4 Nxe4 20. Qxe4 Bxg5 21. Bxg5 Rc8 22. a4 h6 23. Bf4 Nd8 24. Qd3 Rxc1+ 25. Kxc1 Bd5 26. Bc2 b3 27. Qh7+ Kf8 28. Bd6+ Ke8 29. Bd1 Nc6 30. Qxg7 Qxa4 31. Qf8+ Kd7 32. Ba3 Qc4+ 33. Kd2 e5 34. Qd6+ Kc8

35. Qc5 1-0

Complete Results

Photos Courtesy: Michal Walusza / Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE (International Chess Federation)

Official Site: https://worldcup2025.fide.com/