New Delhi, July 30 (H.S.): Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi has qualified for the quarterfinals of the E-Sports World Cup 2025 chess event in Riyadh. He joins group winners Levon Aronian, Alireza Firouzja, and Magnus Carlsen in the top eight. The competition features 16 players and a prize pool of 1.5 million USD. The quarterfinals will also include four winners from the Losers Bracket.

Group A has Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladislav Artemiev, and Andrey Esipenko; Group B contains Anish Giri, Nihal Sarin, and Maxim Vachier-Lagrave; Group C has Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi, and Hikaru Nakamura; Group D features Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana, and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Matches consist of two games with a 10-minute time control, followed by an Armageddon tiebreaker if necessary.

Erigaisi started with a 2-0 win over Nihal Sarin and topped his group after a decisive Armageddon victory against Vachier-Lagrave, while Nihal Sarin faces Anish Giri in the Losers Bracket semifinals.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar