World Junior Champion V Pranav and India’s top-rated Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi scored important victories with the black pieces, while Vidit Gujrathi was forced to dig deep to hold a draw against 12-year-old Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro in the first game of Round 2 of the FIDE World Cup 2025 on Tuesday.
The single-elimination event, held for the Viswanathan Anand Cup, features 206 players from 82 nations. India has 17 participants in the second round, including eight who received byes due to their top-50 world rankings.
In one of the key results of the day, Pranav defeated Norway’s Aryan Tari in 41 moves. The game remained balanced deep into the middlegame, but the turning point came on move 40, when Tari advanced his pawn to g4, loosening his kingside structure. Pranav capitalised immediately, forcing decisive weaknesses and converting the advantage efficiently to take the full point.
On an adjacent board, Arjun Erigaisi overcame Bulgaria’s Martin Petrov in 37 moves. The encounter was sharp early on, with Petrov generating practical chances, but a slight inaccuracy allowed Arjun to seize initiative in the middlegame. Once ahead, the Indian maintained pressure and closed out confidently.
“Today it was an interesting game. It was a tense middle game battle, but starting from b4 he started to drift a bit and I think I managed to make full use of it,” Arjun said after the match.
Both Pranav and Arjun now play White in the second game, giving them the advantage in closing out their respective matches.
Vidit recovers under time pressure
Vidit Gujrathi, however, had a more anxious afternoon. Facing the youngest participant in the tournament, IM Faustino Oro, Vidit found himself in early time trouble down to 38 minutes by move 11 while the 12-year-old handled the position with impressive composure.
Oro appeared willing to maintain tension and exploit Vidit’s clock, but a cautious rook retreat allowed Vidit to stabilise and steer the game into repetition. The draw came in 28 moves, ensuring the Indian enters Game 2 with momentum and the advantage of White.
Mixed results across the Indian contingent
Elsewhere, the results for India were steady. Diptayan Ghosh held former World Championship Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi to a draw with the white pieces, a strong result in matchplay conditions. Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Harikrishna, and Narayanan SL also shared points in balanced contests. Surya Shekhar Ganguly was defeated by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, while IM Aronyak Ghosh went down to Levon Aronian. Both will now need to win on demand with Black in Game 2 to stay in the event.
Round 2, Game 1 — Indian Results (as of 8:20 PM)
| Match-up | Result |
| GM Gukesh D vs GM Nogerbek Kazybek (KAZ) | 0.5–0.5 |
| GM Martin Petrov (BUL) vs GM Arjun Erigaisi | 0–1 |
| GM R Praggnanandhaa vs GM Temur Kuybokarov (AUS) | 0.5–0.5 |
| GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) vs GM Surya S. Ganguly | 1–0 |
| GM Diptayan Ghosh vs GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID) | 0.5–0.5 |
| GM Levon Aronian (USA) vs IM Aronyak Ghosh | 1–0 |
| GM Vidit Gujrathi vs IM Faustino Oro (ARG) | 0.5–0.5 |
| GM Karthik Venkataraman vs GM Aravindh Chithambaram | 0.5–0.5 |
| GM Arseniy Nesterov (FID) vs GM P Harikrishna | 0.5–0.5 |
| GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) vs GM Iniyan P | 0.5–0.5 |
| GM Narayanan SL vs GM Nikita Vitiugov (ENG) | 0.5–0.5 |
| GM Dmitrij Kollars (GER) vs GM Pranesh M | 0.5–0.5 |
| GM Aryan Tari (NOR) vs GM Pranav V | 0–1 |
| GM Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM) vs GM Raunak Sadhwani | 0.5–0.5 |
The return games of Round 2 will be critical for several Indian players particularly Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Aronyak Ghosh, both needing wins to force tiebreaks. For the rest, the priority will be to consolidate strong positions, especially with Pranav and Arjun now holding the advantage of the first move.
The World Cup continues Wednesday with Game 2 of Round 2 a day that will likely determine how many Indians enter the tournament’s deeper rounds.
