B. Adhiban’s defeats in the last three rounds cost him a place in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Chessable Masters online rapid chess tournament on Monday.
Adhiban, who won the first two rounds to move to the eighth place and enjoyed a half-point lead over Jorden van Foreest, crashed to losses against Alireza Firouzja (France), Wesley So (USA) and Levon Aronian (Armenia) to finish joint-ninth at eight points, 1.5 points behind Foreest.
The day proved to be worse for P. Harikrishna (6) and K. Humpy (2).
Harikrishna lost four rounds, including the last three to Vladislav Armetiev (Russia), World’s youngest GM Abhimanyu Mishra (USA) and David Anton (Spain). Humpy lost all five rounds to finish last among the 16 participants.
The results (involving Indians):
15th round: Levon Aronian (Arm) bt B. Adhiban; P. Harikrishna lost to David Anton (Esp); Ju Wenjun (Chn) bt K. Humpy. 14th round: Abhimanyu Mishra (USA) bt Harikrishna; Humpy lost to Eduardo Iturriazaga (Esp); Adhiban lost to Wesley So (USA).
13th round: Alireza Firouzja (Fra) bt Adhiban; Vladislav Artemiev (Rus) bt Harikrishna; Aryan Tari (Nor) bt Humpy.
Standings (after 15 rounds): 1. So (11), 2-4. Aronian, Firouzja, Hikaru Nakamura (USA) (10.5 each), 5. Artemiev (9.5), 6-7. Le Quang Liem (Vie), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) (9 each), 8. van Foreest (8.5), 9-10. Adhiban, Iturriazaga (7 each), 11. Tari, 12. Harikrishna (6), 13. Anton (5.5), 14. Wenjun (5), 15. Abhimanyu (2.5), 16. Humpy (2).
Quarterfinal line-up: So-Foreest; Nakamura-Artemiev; Firouzja-Quang Liem; Aronian-Mamedyarov.
