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Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi's efforts to break through GM Levon Aronian's defence did not bear fruit, while GM P. Harikrishna played out a quick draw in the opening game of Round 5 at the FIDE World Cup 2025 here on Friday.
Playing white, Arjun could not convert his slight advantage in the double rook endgame as the two players split points after 41 moves. Earlier, Harikrishna played a solid game with black to ensure that giant-killer GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara had no opportunities to win with white. A total of 24 Indian players participated in the competition, which saw 206 players from 82 countries vying for the Viswanathan Anand Trophy. After four rounds, only two Indians are still in the fray to win the title and also grab the Candidate spots on offer. On Friday, Arjun was eager to seize the advantage against two-time champion Aronian with the white pieces. It looked like the Armenian-born Aronian was in trouble when he took almost 30 minutes to play his 21st move. To his credit, he found a way to extricate himself from trouble and then played solid chess to ensure that he entered the second game with a theoretical advantage, as he will be playing white. There was no such trouble for Harikrishna, as he was well prepared for Alcantara's plan, and both players raced to a rook-pawn endgame quickly and then opted for a draw in 41 moves. At the time of writing, six of the eight matches had ended in a draw. Indian results (Round 5, Game 1) GM Arjun Erigaisi drew with GM Levon Aronian 0.5:0.5GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara drew with GM P Harikrishna 0.5:0.5. (ANI)
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