The first game of the fourth round at the Chess World Cup 2025 in Goa saw a cautious approach from the Indian players, as all five participants settled for a draw.

Key Indian Results:

• Arjun Erigaisi, widely considered one of the tournament’s most consistent players, quickly drew his match in just 20 moves against Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko. Playing with the black pieces, Erigaisi employed a Sicilian Four Knights opening and achieved a draw by move repetition, marking his second straight half-point result.
• The third seed, R. Praggnanandhaa, had to fight hard for his draw against Russian competitor Daniil Dubov. Playing white, Praggnanandhaa managed to rescue an inferior position in their Spanish Game encounter, which concluded after 41 moves.
• World Junior Champion V. Pranav engaged in the day’s longest struggle, eventually drawing his game against higher-rated Uzbek player Nodirbek Yakubboev. The demanding match stretched to 82 moves before a truce was signed.
• Karthik Venkataraman continued his successful run, holding the strong Vietnamese player Le Quang Liem to a draw while playing with the black pieces. Karthik, one of the lower-rated players remaining, noted his satisfaction with the tournament so far and expressed confidence ahead of the second game.
• Veteran P. Harikrishna also split the point in his match against Nils Grandelius of Sweden.

Across the tournament, only two players secured full victories in the first game of the round: Levon Aronian (USA), a two-time World Cup winner, defeated Poland’s Radoslaw Wojtaszek, and Jose Martínez Alcantara (Mexico) beat Alexey Sarana. These two are the only players heading into the second game with a one-point advantage.