Last night and this morning saw a steady stream of players heading out of the hotel in Goa, and into taxis heading off to the airport. Such is the cruelty of knock out chess, with the number of participants down to 64 (although I did sit across from Ivanchuk at dinner tonight, even though he is no longer in the draw)
Expectations that it might be a quieter day was dispelled by the fact that the quick finishes were decisive results, while the longer games were the drawn ones. In my section Erigaisi was the first to finish, beating Vokhidov in clinical fashion. There was some drama in the last game of mine to finish with a 'touch move' ruling required, and an incorrect repetition claim. The game eventually finished in a draw, and both players accepted the rulings that were made.
As it is late in the evening here, I will leave you with a link to the games played so far https://worldcup2025.fide.com/live/ and recommend that you play through at least a few of them. They are quite instructive in all phases (opening middlegame and endings) and are well worth studying
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