Karthik Venkataraman turned the fifth Indian grandmaster to succeed in the fourth spherical on the FIDE World Cup i nGoa after surviving a nerve-wracking tiebreak battle in opposition to Bogdan-Daniel Deac on Sunday. In addition to Karthik, Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Pentala Harikrishna and Pranav V may also be a part of the 32 gamers who will return to the board on Tuesday after the primary remainder of the occasion on Monday. In the meantime, it was heartbreak for Vidit Gujrathi and SL Narayanan who have been eradicated from Spherical 3 after tiebreaks.
For Vidit, the heartbreak was harsher as he had received the primary speedy sport on Sunday in opposition to Sam Shankland with some sensible endgame maneuvering. However he then misplaced the subsequent sport to ship the competition right into a mini-battle with two extra video games, the place he drew the primary after which lastly misplaced the second to see the door on his Candidates probabilities shut.
After his fin victory on Sunday, two-time Nationwide champion Karthik mentioned he was in ‘complete concern’ coming into the World Cup as a result of everyone seems to be ‘very robust’. Whereas among the world’s finest gamers like world champion D Gukesh, Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Wesley So are already eradicated, Karthik will proceed his keep in Goa for at the very least three extra days.
INTERACTIVE: How Karthik Venkataraman beat Bogdan-Daniel Deac
Karthik, who will play in opposition to Le Quang Liem of Vietnam within the fourth spherical, mentioned that his journey within the sport had truly began on his seventh birthday when his mom gifted him a chessboard. It was a case of affection at first sight and Karthik has by no means appeared again.
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When requested if making it to the fourth spherical of the World Cup was his greatest achievement to this point, particularly contemplating that many prime gamers had crashed out early, the 25-year-old from Tirupathi mentioned, “Most likely profitable the Nationals twice is my greatest achievement. Only a few have achieved it. I imply, I’ve received some tournaments. However you can not title profitable these as one of the best achievement. Being a two-time nationwide champion is way cooler.”
With the win over Deac, 5 rounds stand between Karthik and the possibility to do one thing even cooler: win the Viswanathan Anand Cup, safe a spot within the prestigious Candidates event (given to the highest three finishers on the World Cup) and pocket a cool $1,20,000 prize cash (roughly Rs one crore).
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