Chess World Cup: Harikrishna exits after running into ‘Mexican wave’

bombay: Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara, the Peruvian-Mexican Grandmaster making waves by the beaches of Goa, has a content for his next opposing at the FIDE domain transfuse. It may also well have applied to the opponent he swept past on Sunday, or, for that matter, any of them across the past fortnight.

“I will say, if you want to eliminate me, it will be difficult,” Martinez Alcantara told FIDE. “For sure, I’m the underdog every single match... (but) you will need to suffer until the end.”

The underdog continues to soar, rolling into the quarter-finals. The latest to succumb to his giant-killing act is Pentala Harikrishna. The seasoned Indian GM (Elo 2690), seeded 24th, was knocked out by the 57th-seed (Elo 2644) in the tie-breaks of Round 5. The result left second seed Arjun Erigaisi as the only Indian standing in the last eight from the flock of 24 that entered this home tournament.

After a drawn first set of two rapid games, Martinez Alcantara made his move in the next set with faster controls by beating Harikrishna with black before settling for a draw with white from a winning position.

Harikrishna accepted the draw, and his defeat overall, with a resigned look after shaking his head many times in the final few seconds. Amid the exodus of local faces through the four rounds – some young hopefuls eager to make a mark and some super GMs seeking a solid run – the experienced hand from Guntur had held on to his own.

A common thread between the current World Cup and the last time India hosted the event back in 2002, Harikrishna was stringing a composed run – only one of his three previous victories needed tiebreaks – while inching closer to what would have been a fine achievement of earning a Candidates spot at 39.

Until he ran into the Mexican wave.

Born in Peru, where he grew up, Martinez Alcantara was an impressive young chess talent who won the U-18 World Championship in 2017 and soon became GM. The 26-year-old, though, has since made more of a name in the booming world of online chess. Nicknamed “Jospem” in that universe, he regularly competes in Titled Tuesdays (a weekly online Blitz tournament) and is also a streamer.

Playing over-the-board classical chess, thus, had not been his strong suit for quite a while. In Goa he remains undefeated, with three of his four wins, including the big one over Uzbek Abdusattorov Nodirbek (2750), wrapped up in classical contests.

“I can be at least 50 times better,” he said. “For me, it’s really amazing because with this level, I’m reaching the quarter-finals... I’m really impressed.”

Martinez Alcantara switched to represent Mexico last year for better exposure and financial support. The increased sponsorships, as he acknowledged earlier in the tournament, has helped. He also believes he has got much better at classical in the last few months. And so, after doing well to hold Harikrishna to a couple of draws in the longer format, he was more at home in the quicker tie-breaks on Sunday.

“I’m the favourite in faster controls, but still I need to prove... Because I consider him a better player, like, in knowledge of chess,” he said.

The Mexican had his chances in the first couple of drawn rapid games, and wasn’t going to let go again in the first game of the second set of tie-breaks. With Harikrishna in a slightly worse position, a mistake on the 42nd move (gxh5) was seized on by Martinez Alcantara, who then began marching towards a decisive outcome. Another mistake on the 50th move (a5) dragged Harikrishna down further. Nine moves later with about 20 seconds left on the clock, he resigned after Martinez Alcantara kept glancing at him.

A couple of inaccurate moves in the next game again compromised the position with Harikrishna needing a win with black to stay alive. Out came another quick Martinez Alcantara stare across the board. So did another shake of the head from Harikrishna.

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