Indian Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna is raring to go at the FIDE World Cup and book his berth for the 2018 Candidates tournament as he takes on Yuri Gonzalez Vidal of Cuba in his first-round game at Tibilsi, Georgia, PTI reported.
The World No 20 Indian feels that the World Cup would be a tough outing this time around. “All the top ranked players from around the world will be participating this year around and I know it is going to be tough,” the 31-year-old said. “As this is a knockout event I would ideally want to take it one match at a time,” he added.
The Guntur-based Harikrishna has made an impact on the international front in the last year. Recently, he finished third performance at the Biel Chess Festival. Although he is out of contention through the Grand Prix, this will be his opportunity to secure a spot at the prestigious Candidates’ slated for next year.
“I will look to open on a winning note,” he said. on the eve of his first round match.
There will be six other Indians in contention along with Harikrishna. Veteran Vishwanathan Anand is the highest rated and accompanying them will be Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Baskaran Adhiban, Deep Sengupta, Sethuraman and Karthikeyan Murali.
