Chess: Indian challenge ends as Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi loses to Duda: The Indian challenge in the FIDE chess World Cup ended on Thursday when Grandmaster Vidit Santosh Gujrathi lost the second game of the men’s quarterfinals to Jan-Krzystof Duda.
The 26-year old India No.3 faltered against his Polish opponent in a 50-move encounter after having drawn the first game of the two-game mini-match on Wednesday.
Chess: Indian challenge ends as Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi loses to Duda
Playing black in the crucial game, Gujrathi lost out as Duda handled the unbalanced ending better and created opportunities. He cashed in when the Indian player slipped and finished the game with precise calculation.
Jan-Krzysztof Duda beat Gujrathi Vidit in the second game of their match and reached the Semifinals, where he will fight against the World Champion Magnus Carlsen. #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/n4wezGmCZL
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 29, 2021
This was the first time Gujrathi had reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
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Duda’s reward for beating the India GM is a semifinal clash against world No.1 Magnus Carlsen.
The Norwegian world champion stormed into the last four with a comprehensive 2-0 win over Frenchman Etienne Bacrot.
Chess: Indian challenge ends as Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi loses to Duda
In another quarterfinal match, Sergey Karjakin (Russia) came back strongly to win the second game against Sam Shankland (USA) to level the score at 1-1 and force a tie-break.