FIDE World Cup 2025 R5 TB: Jose Martinez knocks out Pentala Harikrishna, continues his dream run
Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (MEX) eliminated Pentala Harikrishna to secure his place in the Quarterfinals of FIDE World Cup 2025. The first two 15'+10" Rapid tie-break games ended in draws. Then Jose won the first 10'+10" Rapid tie-break game and drew the next to set up a clash against Javokhir Sindarov in Round 6. Sam Shankland (USA), Andrey Esipenko and Alexander Donchenko (GER) were the other victors of the day. They knocked out Daniil Dubov, Aleksey Grebnev and Liem Quang Le (VIE). The Quarterfinalists consist of two from Uzbekistan, one from China, Germany, India, Mexico and USA. Round 6 Game 1 starts tomorrow at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed
Shankland, Esipenko and Donchenko are through to the Quarterfinals
The Quarterfinals have an interesting statistic - six players are undefeated. Only two players - Sam Shankland (USA) and Andrey Esipenko suffered a loss each in one 15'+10" Rapid tie-break game. A new World Cup winner and three new Candidates is guaranteed to be crowned in ten days.
Shankland - Dubov: 3-1
GM Sam Shankland (USA) started the day with a fine victory against GM Daniil Dubov. Shankland seized his opportunity when his opponent went wrong in the double rook and knight endgame. He was continuously applying pressure before that.
Shankland - Dubov, Game 3
29...Nh7?? was the final mistake after which things started turning in favor of White 30.Nc4 Rd8 31.d6 Nf8 32.Re7 Ne6 33.Re4 a6 34.d7 Rc3+ 35.Ke2 Kf8 36.Re8+ Rxe8 37.dxe8Q+ Kxe8 38.f5 b5 39.axb5 Rxc4 40.Rxc4 and White won the game in half a dozen more moves with a beautiful finish.
Find out the winning continuation which would definitely make it to future books in both tactics and endgame chapters.
Shankland mentioned in the post-match interview that the second game was a dead dead dead draw. If the games were reversed the outcome of the second game would have been a draw. Dubov pushed hard in a drawn endgame because he had no other choice as it was a must-win game for him. Shankland will face Andrey Esipenko in the Quarterfinals.
Donchenko - Liem: 4.5-3.5
GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) started his day with a win in the first 15'+10" Rapid tie-break game. Then he lost the next game. Once again, he won the first 10'+10" Rapid tie-break and lost the next. Then he drew the first 5'+3" Blitz game and won the next to secure his place in the Quarterfinals. He will face GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) in Round 6.
Replay Donchenko - Liem tie-break games
Esipenko - Grebnev: 2.5-1.5
GM Aleksey Grebnev played uncharacteristically unlike his previous games and lost without landing any offense in the first Rapid tie-break game.
Grebnev played the second game better relatively. However, it still did not seem like the Grebnev who eliminated players like David Navara, Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in earlier rounds.
Jose - Harikrishna: 3.5-2.5
The first two 15'+10" Rapid tie-break game between GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (MEX) and GM Pentala Harikrishna ended in draws. Then Jose struck in the first 10'+10" Rapid tie-break, drew the next to secure his place in the Quarterfinals. He will face GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) in Round 6. Both of them are undefeated till now.
Replay Jose - Harikrishna tie-break games
For more photos, please click here.
Round 5 tie-break scores
GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (MEX) - GM Pentala Harikrishna: 3.5-2.5
