Arjun Erigaisi was the only Indian to reach the quarter-finals of FIDE Chess World Cup Goa 2025
PANAJI
When Goa was chosen as the host of FIDE Chess World Cup 2025, it was a proud moment not only for the state but for the entire country. After all, India was hosting the prestigious Chess World Cup after a gap of 23 years. The last Chess World Cup held in India was way back in 2002 at Hyderabad.
Much was expected from the 24-member strong Indian contingent, the largest delegation from among the 206 players from 82 countries which participated in the tournament.
When India had hosted the event in 2002, the legendary Vishwanathan Anand had won it. In fact, he had even won it in 2000 while during last edition in 2023, Praggnanandhaa R was runners-up.
With defending champion Magnus Carlsen, world number two and three - Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, skipping the event, the top three seeds were all Indians - Gukesh D, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa R.
But, things did not go as per expectation for the Indians. They kept on crashing out one after another with each passing round much to the disappointment of the Indian chess fans. It was a story filled with one heartbreak after another.
So much so that second-seeded Arjun Erigaisi was the only Indian remaining in the fray in the quarterfinals. He however went down fighting to China's Wei Yi in tie-breaks, thus ending India's campaign to an abrupt halt in the quarterfinal stage itself.
It's was a crushing blow for Arjun, who now cannot qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates tournament.
In the previous round i.e. round of 16, another Indian Pentala Harikrishna lost narrowly to Mexico GM José Martínez Alcántara.
They were the only two Indians to make it to the round of 16. R Praggnanandhaa, V Pranav and V Karthik lost in the round of 32.
The biggest shock was the exit of top-seed and world champion Gukesh D in the third round. He lost to German GM Frederik Svane (0.5 - 1.5) in the third round.
Vidit Gujrathi and M Pranesh also lost in the third round.
Goa’s lone representative Leon Mendonca and the only woman candidate Divya Deshmukh crashed out in the first round itself.
Overall, the tournament was a failure of the large Indian contingent. At this World Cup, there were 24 Indians at the start, but the final four had none. In fact, the final eight had just one, the final 16 two, and the final 32 five. These numbers tell the story how bad it has gone for them.
It is also a grim reminder to the young chess stars of the Indian team. They got a taste of performing at the highest level. Whenever you win a big tournament, you are expected to show the same level of consistency again and again and keep winning big events. That's what made the likes of Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen the greats that they are.
This World Cup has also shown that past seeding or reputation does not matter much. You need to perform on that day, every day, across eight rounds, if you want to win a tournament of this stature, perhaps the most gruelling tournament on the calendar to win.
