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There will be only one Indian in the semifinals of the FIDE Chess World Cup, after D Gukesh and Vidit Gujrathi went down to Magnus Carlsen and Nijat Abasov respectively on Wednesday. However, R Praggnanandhaa produced a stunning comeback victory playing with black pieces to take his quarterfinals with fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi into the tie-breaks to be played on Thursday. Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi, best friends off the board, played a 75-move match before the latter resigned. Erigaisi had won with black pieces on Tuesday and the two will now play the tie-breakers in the rapid format. The winner will face Fabiano Caruana in the semifinal, after the American defeated Leinier Dominguez. The tie-breakers also assume additional context for the two young Indians, with the winner likely to automatically qualify for next year's Candidates tournament, the winner of which will challenge China's Ding Liren for the World Championship title. Only the top three players from the World Cup are slated to qualify for the Candidates tournament but five-time world champion Carlsen said he would not be taking part in the tournament in its current format. "Everybody should operate under the assumption that I will not play the Candidates and that everybody else who's in the semifinals is qualified for the Candidates," Carlsen said. Carlsen's win with black pieces ensured he only needed a draw with white pieces against Gukesh to qualify for the semifinal of the World Cup. Even though the young Indian made the early running and gave himself a slight edge, his hopes were snuffed out by the Norwegian, as the two players shook hands on a draw after 59 moves. After a marathon draw against Azerbaijan's Abasov yesterday, Gujrathi came under pressure early in the match and never recovered from it, allowing the checkmate after 44 moves. Abasov will now take on Carlsen in the semifinal, and even though he starts as the underdog, he will take confidence from having beaten the likes of Anish Giri, Peter Svidler and Gujrathi in this competition so far. Tie Break format for Praggnanandhaa vs ErigaisiThe first two tie-break games will be played with each player having 25 minutes and an additional 10 seconds increment per move. If they are still unable to be separated, they will play two more games with each player having 10 minutes and a 10 seconds increment per move. If the scores are still level, two more games will be played with each player having five minutes and an additional three seconds increment per move. And finally, if even that match doesn't provide a winner, the players will play one sudden death match at a time with three minutes and an additional two seconds increment per move, until a winner is found.
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