Mumbai, Nov. 8 -- Among the big three from this new, dominant generation of Indian chess players, Arjun Erigaisi was the only one to miss out on qualifying for the 2024 edition of the Candidates Tournament - the pathway to the World Championships. That was a miss that took a toll on him. "That was very tough for me," he had said to Chessbase India. "The first few days of January (2024) were very hard on me." But the 22-year-old from Warangal moved on. He became the highest ranked Indian player, moving to the world No.4 spot. And now at the Chess World Cup in Goa, where three spots for the 2026 Candidates are up for grabs, Erigaisi has shown his intent. As the second seed, Erigaisi received a bye from the first round. He then went on to win both his matches in the second round against Bulgarian GM Martin Petrov. And on Friday, Erigaisi made it three wins in three matches, using the white pieces to register a 30-move win over Uzbeki GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov. At the last edition of the World Cup, in 2023, Erigaisi lost in the quarter-final to compatriot and eventual runner-up R Praggnanandhaa. This time though, he has made a quick and telling start to his campaign. Erigaisi however, was not the only Indian to pick up a win on Friday. Arguably even more clinical on the day was veteran Pentala Harikrishna. The 39-year-old GM from Guntur took 25 moves while using the white to beat Belgium's Daniel Dardha. "I had prepared something new," Harikrishna said after the match. "But there were some nice tricks that happened and some moves my opponent missed. Basically, he didn't realise the danger properly in the game." While Erigaisi and Harikrishna won early, Pranav V played a match that lasted nearly six hours to get the point. The reigning junior world champion, while using white pieces, was locked in a match against Lithuanian GM Titas Stremavicius that lasted 102 moves before the Indian managed to secure the win. Among the top contenders for the event, top seed and reigning world champion Gukesh D and third seed Praggnanandhaa were both held to draws....