FIDE WC: Arjun draws again to make tiebreaker

Panaji: Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi on Tuesday played out another draw with China’s Wei Yi and will fight it out in the tiebreaker of the quarterfinals of the World Chess cup here.

Having drawn the first game without shedding any blood, Arjun was surprised early by Wei Yi in the Queen’s gambit declined and this time it was the turn of the Chinese to hog the limelight with black pieces as it turned out to be an effortless draw.

For the records, a set of minor piece changed hands early followed by a rook when the players realized there was no point in looking for more. The game was drawn after white’s 32nd move.

Alexander Donchenko’s dream run at the world cup finally ended as Uzbek Nodirbek Yakubboev played out a draw after a fine victory in the first game to take the match 1.5-0.5 and also became the first player to qualify for the semifinals.

Donchenko tried for quite sometime but could not really come close to equalizing as Yakubboev was at his best in the counter-play and the finale saw a rook and pawns endgame wherein neither side could make headway.

Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan played out another draw with Jose Eduaordo Martinez Alcantara of Mexico and will also decide his fate in the tiebreaker, while Sam Shankland of United States drew his second straight game with Andrey Esipenko of Russia to set up his

tiebreak clash.