India’s challenge at the FIDE World Cup 2025 now rests solely on GM Arjun Erigaisi after GM P Harikrishna was eliminated in a hard-fought Round 5 tiebreak by GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara on Sunday.

Harikrishna entered the tiebreak after drawing both classical games against the Peruvian Grandmaster. The first pair of rapid games (15 minutes each) also ended in draws, taking the match into the next stage of rapid games with a 10-minute time control.

With the white pieces in the first 10-minute game, Harikrishna tried to seize the initiative and gained nearly a minute on the clock after 14 moves. However, Martinez responded with accurate counterplay. After Harikrishna traded queens, the Peruvian slowly steered the position into a favourable rook-and-pawn endgame, eventually converting the advantage in 59 moves.

Facing a must-win scenario with black in the second rapid game, Harikrishna attempted to build pressure but could not break through, settling for a draw in 30 moves — a result that ended his World Cup campaign.

Meanwhile, Arjun Erigaisi had already secured his place in the quarterfinals after defeating two-time World Cup champion Levon Aronian 1.5–0.5 in the classical games on Saturday. The second seed will now face China’s GM Wei Yi in a high-profile quarterfinal clash on Monday.

In other tiebreak results, GM Sam Shankland knocked out former World Rapid Champion GM Daniil Dubov, while GM Andrey Esipenko defeated GM Aleksey Grebnev after winning with white and drawing with black. The final quarterfinal slot went to Germany’s GM Alexander Donchenko, who overcame GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam.

Quarterfinal Matchups:

Arjun Erigacy (IND) vs Wei Yi (CHN)

Sam Shankland (USA) vs Andrey Esipenko (FID)

Jose Eduardo Martinez (PER) vs Javakhir Sindarov (UZB)

Alexander Donchenko (GER) vs Opponent TBD