Arjun Erigaisi and Pentala Harikrishna drew their respective opening games of Round 5 to keep the Indian challenge alive in the FIDE Chess World Cup in Goa.

Erigaisi drew with white against two-time World Cup winner Levon Aronian. The game ended in a draw by threefold repetition, and the Indian No. 1 will hope to deny the American a win in their second classical game on Saturday.

Harikrishna's game with Mexican Jose Martinez also ended in a theoretical draw as both players decided to shake hands in a rook end game after 41 moves. Harikrishna will play white against Martinez tomorrow.

Should the second games of their mini match-ups also end in draws, tiebreakers will be used to decide who advances to the quarterfinals.

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R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh, the other leading Indian players who featured in the event, were knocked out in Rounds 4 and 3 respectively. Praggnanandhaa had finished runner-up in the previous edition, the best finish by an Indian in the World Cup.

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