Paris [France], August 13 : The battle for the Playoffs at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 Chess tournament enters its decisive stage on Thursday, with Indian Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin and Pranesh M set to compete in the Lower Bracket (LB) following an eventful opening day in Group A.
With only two players from each group's LB advancing to the Playoffs, the Indian trio will need to navigate the second day of the Group Stage successfully to keep their title hopes alive, according to a press release from EWC.
Arjun, representing Gen.G Esports, began his campaign with a 2-0 victory over fellow Indian and S8UL Esports player Nihal in a repeat of last year's EWC Group Stage opener.
However, his Upper Bracket (UB) run came to an end against Team Falcons' Alireza Firouzja, who prevailed in a closely contested contest after the score was tied 1-1, winning the Armageddon tiebreaker to book his Playoffs spot. Nihal, meanwhile, moved into the Lower Bracket (LB) following his opening-day defeat.
Nihal's S8UL teammate Pranesh also began his campaign with a defeat, falling 2-0 to Natus Vincere's Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The Uzbek Grandmaster followed up the victory with a 2-0 win over Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Weibo Gaming to secure his Playoffs berth.
In Group B, defending champion Magnus Carlsen of Team Liquid began his title defence with a 1.5-0.5 victory over Virtus.pro's Andrey Esipenko before defeating Hans Moke Niemann of GodLike Esports by the same score to secure his Playoffs berth. Joining Firouzja in the next stage, his Team Falcons teammate Hikaru Nakamura also advanced after overcoming Fnatic's Alexey Sarana 1.5-0.5 and AG.AL's Denis Lazavik 1.5-0.5.
The LB matches will decide the remaining Playoffs qualifiers from both groups. In Group A, Nihal will face Team Nemesis' Wei Yi, while Pranesh takes on Team MGD1's Benjamin Bok. Arjun and Jan-Krzysztof Duda will then await the winners in the LB deciders, where the remaining qualification spots will be at stake.
In Group B, Esipenko will face Aurora Gaming's Ian Nepomniachtchi, while Team Stallions' Sina Movahed takes on Sarana. Denis and Hans will then await the winners of those matches in the deciders.
The Playoffs will take place on August 14 and 15 and will feature a single-elimination bracket. The quarterfinals will be played over four games, followed by six-game semifinals, while the Grand Final will be decided through a best-of-three sets format. The first two sets will consist of four games each, with a potential third and final set comprising two games.
With four of the eight Playoffs spots already secured, the remaining players will now battle for the final four berths and a chance to challenge for the title, as well as a share of the $1.5 million (~INR 14.3 crore) prize pool.