Arjun, Nihal and Pranesh fight for EWC Chess Playoffs spots

PARIS: The chessboard is set for another tense day at the Esports World Cup, with Indian grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin and Pranesh M fighting through the lower bracket for a place in the Playoffs.

All three Indians were pushed into the lower bracket after an eventful opening day in Group A. Only two players from the bracket will progress to the next stage, leaving little room for error as the group stage reaches its decisive phase.

Arjun, representing Gen.G Esports, started strongly with a 2-0 win over fellow Indian and S8UL Esports player Nihal, repeating their opening-day clash from last year’s EWC.

His upper-bracket run, however, ended against Team Falcons’ Alireza Firouzja. After the two players were locked at 1-1, Firouzja won the Armageddon tiebreaker to secure his Playoffs place.

Nihal now gets another shot through the lower bracket, where he will face Team Nemesis’ Wei Yi.

Pranesh, meanwhile, lost 2-0 to Natus Vincere’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov on the opening day. Abdusattorov followed that result with another 2-0 victory over Weibo Gaming’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda to book his Playoffs berth.

Pranesh will now take on Team MGD1’s Benjamin Bok, with Arjun and Duda waiting for the winners in the lower-bracket deciders.

Defending champion Magnus Carlsen has already secured his place in the Playoffs after beginning his title defence with a 1.5-0.5 victory over Virtus.pro’s Andrey Esipenko before beating GodLike Esports’ Hans Moke Niemann by the same score.

Team Falcons’ Hikaru Nakamura also advanced after defeating Fnatic’s Alexey Sarana 1.5-0.5 and AG.AL‘s Denis Lazavik by the same margin.

The remaining Group B spots will be decided through the lower bracket, with Esipenko facing Aurora Gaming’s Ian Nepomniachtchi and Team Stallions’ Sina Movahed taking on Sarana. Denis and Hans will await the winners in the deciders.

The Playoffs will be held on August 14 and 15, with the remaining players competing in a single-elimination bracket. The quarter-finals will feature four games, while the semi-finals will be played over six games.

The Grand Final will use a best-of-three sets format. The first two sets will consist of four games each, followed by a potential two-game third set if required.

Four of the eight Playoffs spots have already been filled, leaving the remaining contenders battling for the final four berths and a shot at the $1.5 million prize pool, worth around Rs 14.3 crore. For the Indian trio, the route is now simple but unforgiving: win the lower-bracket battles or watch the title chase end in Paris.