Panjim, Nov 9: Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi bowed out of the World Chess Cup after a 2.5-3.5 loss to Sam Shankland of United States in the second set of tie-break games of third round here on Sunday.
On what turned out to be a dramatic day, S L Narayanan also had to concede defeat against Yangyi Yu of China in the first set of tie-break games but V Karthik continued with his dream run and defeated Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania 1.5-0.5.
Karthik reached the fourth round which means there are five Indians left in the fray after the first three rounds.
The two favourites Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa, and P Harikrishna who shown sublime form here and world junior champion V Pranav, who has proved that he is the next big Indian star in the making, have already qualified by winning the games under classical format itself.
It will be a test of time for the five Indians in the last 32 stage in the event that started with 206 players. With top three slots at stake for the next Candidates’ tournament, it seems that the battles will be even more interesting in the rounds to come.
Meanwhile, Gujrathi became the third biggest casualty from Indian perspective in the tournament after the ouster of world champion D Gukesh who lost under classical games against Frederic Svane of Germany, and Aravindh Chithambaram who went down to Karthik as early as in round two.
For V Karthik, this is turning out to be the event of a lifetime as he has now got into the stage from where one more victory will push him to the pre-quarterfinals. (PTI)
