S8UL’s Nihal Sarin Storms Into Esports World Cup Quarterfinals, Joins Arjun Erigaisi

Indian Grandmasters Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi will headline the country's challenge in the knockout stage of chess tournament at the Esports World Cup after securing their places in the quarterfinals in Paris on Thursday.

The two Indians survived the lower bracket on the final day of the group stage and will now compete in the knockout stage on Friday.

The tournament offers a USD 1.5 million prize pool.

Both the players reached the playoffs at the inaugural EWC Chess event in 2025, with Nihal making the quarterfinals and Arjun going on to finish fourth.

Nihal, representing S8UL Esports, began his lower-bracket run against Team Nemesis' Wei Yi. The first two games ended in draws, sending the match to an Armageddon decider. Nihal held his nerve to win the tiebreak and move into the lower-bracket decider.

His next opponent was Weibo Gaming's Jan-Krzysztof Duda. After the opening game was drawn, Nihal took the second to close out the match and secure his place in the quarterfinals.

"It was very tight matches, both of them. I am just happy and relieved that I managed to win. Whoever I play next I should try to raise my level as much as can, bring out the best version," Nihal told PTI.

The result gives Nihal another deep run at the EWC. At last year's tournament, he reached the quarterfinals after coming through the lower bracket, before losing to eventual champion Magnus Carlsen.

Nihal's S8UL teammate Pranesh M also stayed alive in Group A after defeating Team MGD1's Benjamin Bok. Pranesh won the opening game and was close to ending the match in the second, but Bok fought back to force an Armageddon. The tiebreak ended in a draw, which was enough for Pranesh, playing Black, to advance under the Armageddon rules.

That victory set up an all-Indian lower-bracket decider against Arjun of Gen. G Esports.

Arjun produced a clean 2-0 victory to eliminate Pranesh and claim the second playoff spot from Group A alongside Nihal.

"To be honest, my quality wasn't good today. I think I was in trouble in both the games. But overall, I would say I showed a better understanding of the game under critical moments. So that helped me take the time," Arjun said.

Arjun now has an opportunity to improve on his fourth-place finish from 2025. He reached the semifinals last year before losing to Alireza Firouzja, and subsequently fell to Hikaru Nakamura in the third-place match.

In Group B, Aurora Gaming's Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Virtus.pro's Andrey Esipenko 1.5-0.5 to reach the lower-bracket decider, where he will face AG.AL's Denis Lazavik.

In the other lower-bracket matchup, Team Stallions' Sina Movahed defeated Fnatic's Alexey Sarana in an Armageddon tiebreak and advanced to a decider against GodLike Esports' Hans Moke Niemann.

The two Group B deciders will complete the eight-player quarterfinal field.

Magnus Carlsen, the defending champion, Alireza Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura and Natus Vincere's Nodirbek Abdusattorov have already secured playoff places, while Nihal and Arjun have now joined them.

The EWC Chess playoffs begin on Friday and run through Saturday. The knockout stage uses a single-elimination format. Quarterfinal matches consist of four games, while the semifinals expand to six games.

The grand final is played as a best-of-three sets match, with the first two sets comprising four games each and a potential third set consisting of two games. The tournament uses a 10-minute, no-increment time control, with Armageddon used as the tiebreak in two-game matches.