FIDE World Cup: Vidit Gujrathi Moves Forward With Win Over ‘Messi Of Chess’ Oro Faustino

Vidit Gujrathi. (X)

Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi finally emerged victorious against 12-year-old Oro Faustino of Argentina, while Nihal Sarin was eliminated from the FIDE World Cup after missing several opportunities against Greek Grandmaster Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis in the first set of tie-break games as the second round concluded on Thursday.

For Nihal, it was a heartbreak as the Kerala Grandmaster was hoping to make a mark in this unique competition that features the world’s best players.

However, Stamatis stayed on course, applying constant pressure until Nihal collapsed after multiple chances.

Nihal could have easily won the match, as he had several decent positions, but he missed them, allowing Stamatis to capitalise on the opportunities he got.

India’s second major casualty of the day was Aravindh Chithambaram, who lost to compatriot K Venkatramanan after the second set of rapid games.

Indian Results (Round 2, Game 2):

Temur Kuybokarov (Aus) drew with R Praggnanandhaa 1-1, 1-1

Oro Faustino (Arg) lost to Vidit Gujrathi 1-1, 0.5-1.5

Nihal Sarin lost to Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis (Gre) 1-1, 0.5-1.5

P Harikrishna beat Arseniy Nesterov (Fid) 1.5-0.5

Murali Karthikeyan drew with Idani Pouya (Iri) 1-1

Nikita Vituov (ENG) DREW with sl narayanan 1-1

Dmitrij Kollars (Ger) lost to M Pranesh 1-1, 0-2

V Pranav beat Aryan Tari (Nor) 1-1, 1.5-0.5

Raunak Sadhwani lost to Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm) 1-1, 0-2