Pragg's World Cup is over! Dubov ends Indian's unconvincing run; Arjun, Harikrishna in last 16

PANAJI: Only 22-year-old Arjun and 39-year-old Harikrishna are the last men standing for India in the 206-player World Cup as Daniil Dubov cut short R Praggnandhaa's dodgy progress in the KO tournament.No. 2 seed Arjun and No. 24 Harikrishna, who defeated Peter Leko and Nils Grandelius respectively in the tiebreaks of fourth round, are joined by nine others, including Dubov, in the pre-quarterfinals.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Five players had made it to the last 16 from the classical phase on Wednesday itself. All three Indian tiebreaks ended in the first set of mini matches. The pre-quarters are slated from Friday to Sunday.

Arjun scored a convincing 2-0 win over stalwart and former World Championship challenger Peter Leko of Hungary in the first set of a 15-minute two-game tiebreak match. His quiet confidence and swift counter-attack in the first of those games with black pieces was particularly impressive. Hari, making a rare appearance in India for an individual classical tournament, drew his first game against No. 56 Grandelius and then struck with white.

Hari and Sweden's Nils are teammates in three teams in European Leagues — German, Polish and Czech.Russian Dubov, former second of Magnus Carlsen, crushed Pragg to end the Indian's speculative play. The Indian had escaped against Temur Kyubokarov in the second round tiebreaks after the opponent failed to grab his chances. Pragg, playing with black, made a dubious choice of co-operating for an easy 12-move draw with Dubov in the first tie-break game. Dubov annihilated him in the next with black pieces with masterful, flawless display — giving away knight for rook, picking pawns and making the position of Pragg's king untenable.Only the top 3 from this meet are making it to the eightplayer Candidates tournament, but Pragg is expected to qualify too as a runaway leader from the FIDE Circuit points.