By Admin 
At the closing ceremony of the Tata Steel Chess India tournament in Kolkata in 2021, Levon Aronian, after edging out Arjun Erigaisi in the tie-breaks to win the rapid title, joked that his younger rival, though very strong chess-wise, wasn’t physically strong enough to carry two trophies. Arjun had won the blitz, and that tournament was the breakthrough of his career.
Aronian, the genial Armenian-born American Grandmaster who loves many things Indian including Satyajit Ray films, had, in fact, picked Arjun as the brightest of the bright Indian teenagers. On Friday at Resort Rio here, he went down to his younger rival in the fifth round of the Chess World Cup.
The second-seeded Arjun thus moved into the quarterfinals, beating two-time champion Aronian 1.5-0.5. The two men have probably looked the two most solid players here, and their first game was drawn.
The other Indian remaining in the tournament, P. Harikrishna drew with his Mexican rival Jose Martinez Alcantara, and they will face off in Sunday’s tie-breaks. Out of the eight matches, four, in fact, have gone into the third day.
Apart from Arjun, three men have reached the last eight without playing the tie-breaks. Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan, who was the lone winner in the first game among all the players, had required only a draw from his German rival Frederik Svane, and he got that in 47 moves from the black side of a Spanish Game.
The other Uzbek, Nodirbek Yakubboev, and seventh seed Wei Yi of China won with white pieces against Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia and Samuel Sevian of the United States, respectively.
Wei will face Arjun in the quarterfinal, starting on Monday. After winning in 38 moves from the black side of an Italian Game against Aronian, the 22-year-old from Warangal said he had rejected the offer of a draw. Before long, Aronian blundered fatally with his rook.
The results (fifth round): Levon Aronian (Arm) 0.5 lost to Arjun Erigaisi 1.5; P. Harikrishna 1 drew with Jose Martinez Alcantara (Mex) 1; Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb) 1.5 bt Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) 0.5; Le Quang Liem (Vie) 1 drew with Alexander Donchenko (Ger) 1; Aleksey Grebnev (Rus) 1 drew with Andrey Esipenko (Rus) 1; Daniil Dubov (Rus) 1drew with Sam Shankland (USA) 1; Wei Yi (Chn) 1.5 bt Samuel Sevian (USA) 0.5; Frederik Svane (Ger) 0.5 drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) 1.5.