Only Arjun and Aronian undefeated so far
A new chapter is waiting to be written today between Arjun Erigaisi and the only two-time World Cup winner in history, Levon Aronian (USA). They are the only two who are unbeaten till Round 8. Their penultimate round clash could very well be Arjun's final hurdle towards his triumph in the Rapid portion of the event.
Round 5: London System strikes
The only time GM Arjun Erigaisi (2685) faced GM Jakhongir Vakhidov (UZB, 2513) in a rated game, was at World Rapid 2021. It ended in a draw. This time, Arjun had the white pieces. He got a winning position out of the London System opening within the first 15 moves.
Arjun - Vakhidov
18.Ng5! is fantastic move. 18...hxg5 leads to a checkmate via 19.Qh5+ using the queen and rook. 18...Bxe5 does not alter the course either 19.dxe5 f6 20.Qh5 Qg7 21.exf6 Rxf6 22.0-0-0 Bd7 23.Nxe4 Be8 24.Rxg7 and Black resigned.
Round 6: Positional squeeze
GM Arjun Erigaisi (2685) faced the reigning two-time World Blitz Women's champion, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ, 2359) for the first time in a rated game. He got a pleasant position in the middlegame once the queens were off the board.
Bibisara - Arjun
25...f6 forced the queen exchange. 26.Qxd6 Bxd6 and Black made the most out of his space advantage. Eventually Black created a lot of pressure on the b-file, which led to White making an error which cost her the point.
Round 7: Six decisive games
GM Arjun Erigaisi faced the legendary GM Boris Gelfand (ISR, 2626) only once in a rated game in World Rapid 2021 which ended in a draw. This time the color got reversed and Arjun had the white pieces. The game was fairly balanced throughout, until Gelfand ran out of time in an equal knight endgame and lost the game.
For more Round 5-8 photos, please click here.
Replay Round 5-8 games
Round 5-8 results
Standings after Round 8
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 6 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2685 | 7 | 0 | 22,75 | 6 |
| 2 | 5 | GM | Aronian, Levon | USA | 2720 | 6 | 0 | 19,00 | 4 |
| 3 | 4 | GM | Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2756 | 5 | 0 | 17,25 | 3 |
| 4 | 7 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | ARM | 2587 | 4,5 | 1 | 14,50 | 3 |
| 5 | 10 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2731 | 4,5 | 0 | 16,75 | 2 |
| 6 | 11 | GM | Vakhidov, Jakhongir | UZB | 2513 | 4 | 0 | 15,00 | 2 |
| 7 | 2 | GM | Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2626 | 3,5 | 0,5 | 13,25 | 1 |
| 8 | 12 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | RUS | 2485 | 3,5 | 0,5 | 11,50 | 1 |
| 9 | 3 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | GER | 2630 | 3 | 0 | 12,50 | 0 |
| 10 | 9 | GM | Hou, Yifan | CHN | 2618 | 2,5 | 0 | 10,50 | 1 |
| 11 | 1 | IM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | KAZ | 2359 | 2,5 | 0 | 8,50 | 0 |
| 12 | 8 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | UZB | 2578 | 2 | 0 | 6,00 | 1 |
