The $2mn World Cup in Goa, India, which started with a field of 206, has now reached the quarter-finals after the elimination of a host of favourites.
Those still standing into the last eight include India’s No 2 seed Arjun Erigaisi and China’s seventh seed, Wei Yi. The luck of the draw has paired them together today, Monday, so that only one of them can reach the semi-finals and a chance for one of the coveted three places in the 2026 Candidates, whose winner will become world champion Gukesh Dommaraju’s official challenger later next year.
Full quarter-final pairings, with seedings in brackets, are:
Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan, 16) vs Jose Martinez (Mexico, 57).
Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzbekistan, 28) vs Alexander Donchenko (Germany, 61).
