Panaji, Nov 11 (IANS) Grandmaster (GM) Arjun Erigaisi, GM Karthik Venkataraman, and GM P. Harikrishna split points with black pieces while R. Praggnanandhaa survived a scare with white against GM Daniil Dubov in the first game of Round 4 in the FIDE World Cup 2025 in Panaji, Goa, on Tuesday.

Second seed Arjun Erigaisi, playing black, earned a quick 20-move draw against experienced Hungarian GM Peter Leko, while Harikrishna held Swedish GM Nils Grandelius in 32 moves and Karthik drew with GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam in 36 moves.

In other matches, two-time World Cup winner GM Levon Aronian defeated GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek in 37 moves with white, while GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara outplayed GM Alexey Sarana in 39 moves with black pieces.

The 46-year-old Leko, who is playing in an individual event after a gap of six years, did not take any risk with Arjun’s rook controlling the ‘a’ file as he opted for a draw by repetition and will now have to play with black to continue his fantastic run in the competition while the Indian is likely to go all out to claim a win and advance to the pre-quarterfinals.

“It was a very interesting game. Arjun came up with a big surprise. But in this game, I knew the lines, but I had not analysed them deeply. So, being too low on the clock, I decided to draw by repetition,” said Leko, who also added that he likes playing with black and will try his best to win.

On one of the top boards, Praggnanandhaa made an error by pushing his d-pawn on the 14th move and was under time pressure till Dubov failed to find a move that could have given him a winning advantage, as both players needed to play quickly to meet time control before they finally shook hands for a draw after 41 moves.

India results: (Round 4, Game 1)

GM Peter Leko (HUN) drew with GM Arjun Erigaisi 0.5:0.5

GM R Praggnanandhaa drew with GM Daniil Dubov (FID) 0.5:0.5

GM Nils Grandelius (SWE) drew with GM P Harikrishna 0.5:0.5

GM Le Quang Liem (VIE) drew with GM Karthik Venkataraman 0.5:0.5

–IANS

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