Gm vasyl ivanchuk

German GM Vincent Keymer: India’s GM Vidit Gujrathi finally managed to crack the defence of Argentine wonder kid Faustino Oro in the second rapid game while Pranav V and Pranesh M also got the better of their respective opponents in the first set of rapid games to advance to the third round of the FIDE World Cup 2025 here on Thursday.

Vidit had been put under pressure by 12-year-old Oro in the two classical games but on Thursday, the 31-year-old Indian relied on his experience to grind out a 52-move win in the second rapid game with black pieces. Pranav defeated Aryan Tari of Norway while Pranesh beat Dimitrij Kollars of Germany to join the likes of world champion Gukesh D, Arjun Erigasi, P Harikrishna, Karthik Venkatraman and Diptayan Ghosh in the next round.

Speaking about the feeling after beating the youngest player in the competition, Vidit admitted that playing against the youngster was challenging as the pressure was on him but added, “It feels good to qualify for the next round. It was not an easy match, so it feels good all the more.”