Fifteen of the world’s top 20 were eliminated in first four rounds, including world champion Gukesh Dommaraju
An early cull of the favourites at the Chess World Cup in Goa has resulted in 15 of the top 20 seeds heading for home early. It has also created a lopsided pairing situation where almost all the remaining favourites are concentrated in one half of the draw.
The two surviving top seeds, India’s world No 5 Arjun Erigaisi and China’s No 10-ranked Wei Yi, could meet in the quarter-finals, while the headline pairing in Friday afternoon’s fifth round is Levon Aronian, the US star who has already won the World Cup twice, against Erigaisi.
Several of the top 20 were eliminated in the first three rounds of the $2m (£1.5m) tournament, among them India’s 19-year-old world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, the double world title finalist Ian Nepomniachtchi, and the controversial US star Hans Niemann.
Aronian introduced a subtle wrinkle on move three (!) against Radoslaw Wojtaszek: 1 e4 e5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 a3!? The point is that after 3...d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 (which the Polish world No 57 played) White has 5 Qh5! whereas in the mirror variation 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Qh4?! 5 Nb5! is awkward to meet. Taken by surprise, Wojtaszek conceded a pawn early and Aronian scored a smooth victory.
