Harikrishna exits via tiebreaker in Round 5

The seasoned Indian GM loses in the third tie-break game of Round 5 in Goa

- Rutvick Mehta [e-mail]

Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara, the Peruvian-Mexican Grandmaster making waves by the beaches of Goa, has a message for his next opponent at the FIDE World Cup. It may also well have applied to the opponent he swept past on Sunday, or, for that matter, any of them across the past fortnight.

“Twill say, if you want to eliminate me, it will be difficult,” Martinez Alcantara told FIDE. “For sure, I'm the underdog every single match... (but) you will need to suffer until the end.”

The underdog continues to soar, rolling into the quarter-finals. The latest to succumb to his giant-killing act is Pentala Harikrishna. The seasoned Indian GM (Elo 2690), seeded 24th, was knocked out by the 57th-seed (Elo 2644) in the tiebreaks of Round 5. The result left second seed Arjun Erigaisi as the only Indian standing in the last eight from the flock of 24 that entered this home tournament.

After a drawn first set of two rapid games, Martinez Alcantara made his move in the next set with faster controls by beating Harikrishna with black before settling for a draw with white from a winning position.