ARPORA, Nov. 16 -- Team Herald [emailprotected]

GM Arjun Erigaisi rejected a draw offer from GM Levon Aronian before tightening the noose on his experienced opponent to win with black pieces to advance into the quarter-finals of the FIDE World Cup 2025 at a resort, on Saturday. P Harikrishna will now have to play a tie-break to advance. Having drawn the opening game of Round 5 with white, Arjun pinned Aronian's king in the h1 corner and forced the two-time World Cup winner to resign after the 38th move as he launched a triple attack with a queen, bishop and knight. "It was a tense middle game. I was not able to understand if I was better. But after he played knight e3 and offered a draw, I was confident that I could win because he was ha...