Grand Swiss (3. bis 15. September)
FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, Day 2: Blunders and comebacks as favourites regroup
Day two of the FIDE Grand Swiss delivered more drama as the favourites were put to the test. World Champion Gukesh D was held to a draw by 14-year-old Turkish prodigy Yagız Kaan Erdogmus, while fellow favourite Arjun Erigaisi survived a near-loss to defeat Haik Martirosyan. In the Women’s event, several top players who stumbled at the start staged a strong comeback, but surprises continued to shake up the standings.
The day’s drama began on the top board, where Uzbekistan Chess Federation Vice President, Komil Sindarov, made the ceremonial first move in the game between Gukesh and the world’s youngest Grandmaster, Erdogmus.
It was exactly this game that opened with a surprise as early as move two. After 1.d4 d5, Gukesh played the unusual 3.c3 aimed at throwing him out of his preparation. Commenting in the live broadcast on FIDE’s YouTube channel, English IM Jovanka Houska branded the move as “anti-youngster”, hinting at the attempt to thwart the deep and excellent opening preparation very young players such as Erdogmus excel nowadays. The odd thing is that both players in this game are youngsters – Gukesh is 19 and Erdogmus 14.
The World Champion got the initiative across the board and was notably better for the most part, but then he let it slip.
White has an extra pawn, a chain in the centre, and a pin on Black’s a-runner. On top of that, Black played the last 10 moves in severe time trouble.
Gukesh now plays a seemingly logical move which, however, backfires and completely wipes out his advantage.
40.Bxg5?? Instead, Gukesh should have opted for 40.Nf6, forcing Black to take – 40…Bxf6 and after 41.Bxh6! Bg7 (41…Rf7 fails to 42.hxg6 and Black is lost) 42.Bxg7 Rf3 43.h6 Rh3 44.e6 White is slowly but surely advancing his pawns to victory.
However, the move played by Gukesh allowed Black to equalise.
40…Kxd5! 41.Bf6 gxh5 42.Rg7 trying to attack via the back ranks. But now 42…Rxf6 43.exf6 Re2+ and Black delivered perpetual check. ½ – ½
Erdogmus’ persistence in defending and withstanding pressure even with seconds on the clock paid off.
The sharpest game among the top boards was played between India’s Arjun Erigaisi and Armenia’s Haik Martirosyan. Playing as Black, Erigaisi was on the brink of defeat on move 23.
With his king exposed and pieces trapped on the queenside, Black is in severe trouble. However, White missed the best continuation and, in several moves, Black turned the tables.
24.Kh1?! 24.Ra2 with the idea of bringing the rook to the attack on the kingside was a better choice.
24…Nd7 25.Qf3 Nc5 26.Rb1 After a few hesitant moves White is now defending and shuffling, losing the advantage.
A few moves later, with both trading advantages along the way, the following position emerged on the board:
Instead of the natural 32.Qxg6+ Ng7 33.Bg5 with a roughly equal position, Haik played 32.Rf1?? giving Black a chance to get the upper hand.
Black should have responded with 32…Ra7, bringing the rook to action and protecting the seventh rank. Arjun, however, played 32…Nxe5?? And the position was even again.
Later down the line, White misplayed one more time and had to give up a piece. Erigaisi still had to be careful, but ultimately converted his advantage into a full point.
Following a draw in round one, rating favourite Praggnanandhaa defeated Ivan Zemlyanskii, after Black overlooked a tactical subtlety.
Black should have played 30…e6 here, to open a retreat route for his bishop in case of c4-c5. Instead, he played 30…Rc7? with fatal consequences.
31.c5! Bxc5 No other choice as bxc5 means the a5-knight will fall.
32.Bxc5 Rxc5 33.b4 fork. Black resigned. 1-0
In other developments among the leaders, Alireza Firouzja defeated Maxim Rodshtein on board two. The 22-year-old naturalised Frenchman played confidently, gaining the initiative and creating a passer on the a-file which White could not stop. Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo is also on two points, after overcoming Spain’s David Anton.
Local hope Nodirbek Abdusattorov played a challenging positional game as Black against Svane which ended in a draw.
In a surprise of the round, seasoned heavyweight Alexander Grischuk lost as White to Chilean GM Cristobal Villagra after blundering in time trouble.
The Women’s tournament
The winner of the 2023 Women’s Grand Swiss, Vaishali Rameshbabu, continued strongly – she defeated Dutch champion Eline Robers with black pieces in just 22 moves. Vaishali played a rare line in the Morphy Defence in Ruy Lopez and White couldn’t counter.
Here, in already inferior position White played 12.Nxf5? Instead of continuing development with 12.Nd2 she has accepted battle without being fully developed.
12…d5 Black wastes no time and strikes in the centre.
13.Bb3? after this mistake White’s position is beyond repair. Eline had to return the knight to d4 although after simple 13…dxe4 her position is no fun.
14.Nxf5 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.Bxd5+? Further digging herself in. The rest was a smooth sail for Black. White resigned on move 22 facing an imminent checkmate.
In a big duel of the round, former World Champion Mariya Muzychuk defeated the seasoned player from Moscow, Valentina Gunina. The position was even until the early stage of the middlegame where Gunina blundered and from then on everything went downhill for her. A swift and convincing comeback by Mariya against a strong player is what she needed after losing on day one.
Tan Zhongyi also made a quick comeback today, after starting the tournament with a loss. The former Women’s World Champion was victorious against Lina Nassr. In the Delayed Alapin variation of Sicilian Defence, Tan – playing as White – won a pawn early in the middlegame and gradually gained control across the board, resulting in her victory in 30 moves.
Austria’s Olga Badelka outplayed Zsoka Gaal with black pieces on board four. With two points, the young player originally from Belarus has shown she is well prepared for this event. European Champion Teodora Injac also won, bouncing back after a loss in round one. One of the favourites in the event, Anna Muzychuk, could not get more than a draw in her game against Anna Shukhman.
In a big upset of the round, Uzbek player Guldona Karimova defeated 100 points higher-rated IM Lela Javakhishvili, stunning her early in the game with a tactical strike:
15.Rxd7! Qxd7 16.Ne6 Rf6 17.Nxg7+ Kf8 18.fxe5 Rc6 19.e6 Qc7 20.Nb5 and Black is in a mating net. A few moves down, Lela resigned.
Another seasoned player was stunned today. IM Irina Bulmaga fell to 300 points lower-rated Madinabonu Khalilova from Uzbekistan after losing on time.
The full results of Round 2 and Round 3 pairings can be found here:
Women: grandswiss2025.fide.com/grand-swiss-women/
Open: grandswiss2025.fide.com/open/
Round three starts at 3 PM local time on Saturday, 6th September.
Written by Milan Dinic
Photos: Michal Walusza
FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, Day 3: Maghsoodloo and Vaishali emerge as sole leaders
After five hours and 45 minutes of tension, Parham Maghsoodloo outlasted Alireza Firouzja to take the sole lead in the tournament. In the women’s event, Vaishali Rameshbabu – despite being down to her final minute – played fearlessly and defeated Olga Badelka to claim the top spot.
It was a long day in Samarkand, with many of the top games stretching late into the evening. If there was a theme to Day 3, it was concentration – or lack of it – as several decisive matches were decided by blunders in tense, balanced endgames.
The main duel of round three in the Open took place on board one, where France’s Alireza Firouzja faced his former compatriot Parham Maghsoodloo in the battle for the lead. Playing the Najdorf, the two transitioned to a complicated endgame, where Black had a slight advantage thanks to a pawn chain in the centre and two bishops. However, at some point Maghsoodloo miscalculated and lost a pawn, allowing Firouzja to equalise.
White has almost complete domination on the queenside, but his g4-pawn is lost. If he’s not careful, Black can be just in time to win the race to promotion. The only option for White here is to put his rook on the eighth rank and go with checks: 43.Rb8 Rxg4 44.Rf8+ Ke6 45.Re8+ Kd7 46.Ne5+ Kxe8 47.Nxg4.
Instead, after more than five hours of play, Firouzja made a fatal error with 43.Rb6??
This immediately loses: 43…Bxb6 44.axb6 Rh7! 45.c4 Rd7! Cutting off the white king from the kingside.
46.Nb4 White is forced to pull back his knight and try to stop Black’s advance on the kingside.
46…f3 47.Nd3 Ke7 48.c5 Rd8! 49.c6 Kd6 Right on time to squash any hopes for Firouzja.
50.c7 Re8 51.Kc3 Kc6 White resigns, 0-1.
A crushing blow to Firouzja in the first high-stakes clash of the tournament.
A crushing blow to Firouzja in the first high-stakes clash of the tournament.
In another tense and long game, Arjun Erigaisi defeated Anton Demchenko in the Petroff Defence. On two occasions in the endgame, Erigaisi had a significant advantage but failed to capitalise. But when Demchenko gave him a third chance, the Indian took it:
White has just played 61.c6-c7. According to chess engines, the position is even.
After 61…Rb1+ (or 61…g5) 62.Nb5 g5 63.Rxg7 g4 64.Rxg4 Rxb5+ 65.Kxb5 Kxc7 all pawns would have been removed and Black would have been left with a knight against a rook, sufficient for a draw.
However, Demchenko instantly blundered with 61…Rc4??
After 62.Nb5! Black has to give up his rook to avoid checkmate.
The last two games on the top boards – lasting well into the seventh hour – saw Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa emerge as victors.
Praggnanandhaa won against the resilient veteran Boris Gelfand in a fierce queen and rook endgame which could have gone either way. Abdusattorov had a commanding position from the middlegame, but his opponent Abhimanyu Puranik put up a fierce and long fight.
World Champion Gukesh D continued in strong form on Day three. Playing as Black, he defeated Daniil Yufa. In the Ragozin, White mixed up his preparation and ended up a pawn down as early as move seven.
After three rounds, Parham Maghsoodloo is on three points, followed by six players on 2.5/3.
One of the sharpest games of the round was played between Robert Hovhannisyan and Vladimir Fedoseev. In the Scandinavian Defence, White managed to get a slight edge by holding more initiative on the board, but early middlegame complications led to a tactical position with White making a daring sacrifice:
It’s unusual to see white pawns on the sixth rank this early in the game. Black should have removed one threat by taking on c6. Instead, Vladimir took the bait with 19…Qxe2, after which he was punished effectively.
20.Rfe1! Offering another sacrifice. 20…Bxe1 21.Rxe1Qb2 22.Rxe7 Be6 23.Nd4 Qb1+ 24.Kh2 g5 Opening a space for his queen to help the black king.
25.Qe5 Qg6
It’s hard to believe that White is down in material here, given his dominance across the board. The strongest move in the position was 26.Nf5. In case Black plays 26…Bxf5, then he’s checkmated after 27.Rxe8+ Rxe8 28.Qxe8#. Instead, Black would have to play 28…Rf8 and after 29.Rxe6, he could not defend the knight coming to e7 with a double attack on the king and the queen.
Hovhannisyan instead went for a different line with: 26.cxb7 Rab8 27.Nc6 Nd5 28.Rxe8 Rxe8, but now he missed the winning move – Ne7+! Instead, he played 29.d7?! Which still was enough to win in a knight endgame that emerged after 29…Nxd7 30.B8=Q Qxh6 31.Qxe8+ Bxe8 32.Qxe8 Kg7 33.Qe5+ Qf6 34.Qxf6+ Kxf6 35.Nxa7. Eventually, White’s a-passer tipped the balance in his favour.
The Women’s event
In the Women’s tournament, only two players had a perfect score after the first two rounds: the 2023 Grand Swiss winner Vaishali Rameshbabu and naturalised Austrian Olga Badelka.
In a direct duel for first place, Vaishali defeated Badelka in a sharp line of the Pirc Defence.
This is the crucial part of the game. The position is extremely complicated with threats on both sides. Only 24 moves have been played, but Vaishali had a minute on her clock, while Badelka had six.
Moments like these distinguish the real champions. Despite being desperately low on time, Vaishali chose the strongest move, a breakthrough on the kingside – 25.g4 – even though it led to serious complications. Black has to respond; otherwise, the pawn will advance and endanger her king.
25…fxg4 26.hxg4 Now it was Badelka’s turn to play sharply. The best option was 26…h5 – opening her king and directly challenging White. She stopped for a while to think, but it seems Badelka was tempted by White’s time trouble, and she leapt directly into a blunder – 26…Nfxd5??
White was now completely winning, and Vaishali didn’t miss her chance. After 27.Nxd5 Nxd5 28.Rxd5, Black could not recapture: 28…Qxd5 fails to 29.Ng6+! hxg5 30.Qh4+, winning the queen.
28…Bxb2 29.Rh5! Black is now completely lost. With an extra piece, Vaishali easily managed the time pressure even with just a minute on her clock. Badelka continued to resist until move 38, when she resigned, faced with an imminent loss of her queen.
Kateryna Lagno continued her advance towards the top with another victory. Playing with the black pieces, she defeated Xeniya Balabayeva of Kazakhstan.
White held firmly until the endgame, but then blundered, allowing her rook and queen to be pinned.
Despite Black having a 2:1 advantage on the queenside, the position is even. White should have simply taken on e4 with her queen, and after the exchange, her rook is just right in time to stop Black’s potential c-passer via Rf4-f1-c1. But Balabayeva made a critical error – capturing with the wrong piece on e4.
35.Rxe4?? Qg6 and White’s pieces are completely tied up. Black just proceeded by advancing her pawns. White tried to resist, but in the end, she also blundered her rook and had to resign.
Two more players finished the day on 2.5 points – Chinese IM Yuxin Song defeated India’s Vantika Agrawal in the French, while Dinara Wagner of Germany, playing with the black pieces, got the best of Meruert Kamalidenova.
In another top duel of the day, Bibisara Assaubayeva split a point with Ulviyya Fataliyeva, with both now on two points.
One of the most exciting games of the day was played by Stavroula Tsolakidou, who executed a beautiful sacrifice against Eline Roebers.
Black has just committed the decisive error with 18…fxe4? Stavroula delivered a powerful blow 19.Rxg7!! If 19…Kxg7 20.Rg1+ Kh8.
19…Bf5 Trying to hold, but then 20.Nxe5!! Another sacrifice, after which Black is completely lost. Although White’s conversion was not perfect, Stavroula forced Black’s resignation on move 35.
The full results of Round 3 and pairings for round 4 can be found here:
Women: grandswiss2025.fide.com/grand-swiss-women/
Open: grandswiss2025.fide.com/open/
Round four starts at 3 PM local time on Sunday, September 7.
Written by Milan Dinic
Photos: Michal Walusza
Torsten Cmiel über das Grand Swiss:
Round 8: A day of draws in the Open, as Lagno takes the lead in the Women’s tournament
Vincent wieder im Rennen dank seines Siegs über Vidit. In Sinne von geringer Remiswahrscheinlichkeit ist Maghsoodloo ein guter Gegner. Neulich gegen Viernheim in der Bundesliga setzte es eine 0. Vielleicht diesmal eine 1? Und Matthias? Tja, wer Pragg und Erigaisi knacken kann...
— Perlen vom Bodensee (@bodenseeperlen.bsky.social) 2025-09-12T12:01:45.653Z
Round eight saw just one victory among the top boards – with Keymer defeating the 2023 Grand Swiss winner Vidit. A different story unfolded in the women’s tournament where Vaishali Rameshbabu was knocked out of the lead after losing to Bibisara Assaubayeva. On board two, Kateryna Lagno crushed Mariya Muzychuk, taking a half-point lead in the tournament.
Among the top ten boards in the Open section, eight finished in a draw. While many were mostly calm, some saw a sharp fight.
On board one, the two tournament leaders from round seven – Matthias Bluebaum and Nihal Sarin – had a peaceful draw in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, in just 21 moves and under an hour and 20 minutes of play.
Of the seven players trailing the leaders on five points – all but one drew. Firouzja split a point with Niemann in the Ruy Lopez on board two, while Abdusattorov drew as Black against Mishra.
Despite finishing in a draw, the game between Parham Maghsoodloo and Anish Giri saw a lot of intense action on the board. This was the position reached by move 21, in the English Opening:
Black had just placed his bishop on d5, effectively taking the white rook on d6 captive. After 22.Bh3 Rc7 24.cxd5 Ke7 25.dxe6 Kxe6 Black emerged an exchange up, but it’s not so easy to convert, as White’s bishop had a lot of open space and his rook is also very active.
After some precise maneuvers, the two eventually reached the following position:
49.Rg8! The only move! If 49…Rxg8 then 50.Bd5+ followed by the queen promotion after hxg8.
49…Rf8 50.Bg6+ Ke7 51.Kd5 Rf6 And now everything simplifies into a clean draw: 52.h8=Q Rxh8 53.Rxh8 Rxg6 54.Rh7+ Kd8 55.Rxb7.
The only winner among the top boards was Vincent Keymer, who defeated Vidit in the Berlin Defence of Ruy Lopez. Vidit – who is defending his 2023 Grand Swiss crown – blundered his position in one move, in a drawn pawn endgame.
Black should have played 43…Kd5! With the idea of creating a sufficient counterplay on the queenside in case of 44.Kf3 Kd4 45.Kg4 Kc3.
Instead, Vidit faltered with 43…c6? after which Black’s position is beyond repair.
After 44.c4! Kf5 45.Kf3 Kf6 46.Ke4 Ke6 47.d4! White went on to clear the queenside for his a-runner and won.
This victory pushed Keymer into the group of eight players trailing Sarin and Bluebaum by half a point. Another joiner is Jorden van Foreest, who defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Turkish youngster Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus continued with his impressive performance, this time beating the seasoned Levon Aronian in the French.
White is already better here thanks to his strong knight on g6. Despite being in time trouble, Erdogmus played a great move here – 33.Re4! attacking the d4-pawn. Black cannot take the rook with the knight because of checkmate 34.Rc8+ Rf8 35.Rxf8+ Kh7 36.Rh8#.
Aronian played 33…e5 and after 34.Rxe5 White is winning. The d4-pawn fell pretty soon afterwards and White was confident in securing his victory. Erdogmus is now on 5/8, while Aronian is on four points.
World Champion Gukesh D managed to end his losing streak by securing a draw as White. Playing on the penultimate board against Divya Deshmukh (who this summer won the Women’s World Cup), Gukesh was not his best self, as he missed chances and struggled.
The Women’s event
A big shift occurred in the Women’s Grand Swiss, as Bibisara Assaubayeva handed Vaishali Rameshbabu her first loss in the tournament.
The position was even until move 25, when Vaishali lost her way.
25…Rad8? Overlooking the e5-pawn. Instead, 25…Nd5! would have maintained equality.
26.Nxe5 If 26…Rxd3 27.Rxc6 bxc6 28.Nxd3 and White would have been two pawns up.
Vaishali struggled to find the right plan and spent the following moves shuffling pieces on the board, eventually trapping the knight and queen in a pin.
Black is completely paralyzed and cannot effectively prevent the deadly 35.e4.
Vaishali tried with 34…Rd6 but after 35.e4 Qd7 36.Qd2 Nf4+ 37.Qxf4 Rxd4 38.Rc7 Rexe4 39.Rxd7 and Black is a piece down.
Assaubayeva is now on 6/8, together with Vaishali and Yuxing Song who also won today.
While Vaishali faltered, the runner-up from round seven, Kateryna Lagno, used her chance to score and emerge as the tournament leader.
Lagno defeated the former Women’s World Champion Mariya Muzychuk in the Anti-Meran. Playing as White, Lagno steadily coordinated her pieces and maintained initiative thanks to a strong centralised knight.
On move 21 Mariya Muzychuk weakened the e-pawn with f7-f6 but went for this position, hoping for 23…Bc4, covering it. However, she missed a brilliant refutation by Lagno: 24.d5!!
Black can capture the pawn in four different ways, but neither of them work, and White is already winning.
24…Bxd5 25.Rxd5!! exd5 26.Ne7+ Kh8 27.Qe6! Now the queen joins the mating attack.
27…Qd7 28.Qf7 Rb7 29.Ng6+ Kh7 30.Rd7 Black has to give up the queen to avoid checkmate.
31.Qxd7 Nxd7 and Muzychuk resigned.
A great achievement by Lagno, who said after the game that she is not thinking about the results and standings, but just wants to “play chess the best I can”.
Today was a great day for Yuxin Song as she got a lucky break as Black against the former Women’s World Champion, Antoaneta Stefanova. In a drawn rook endgame, Stefanova made a blunder and gave her position away. This victory got Yuxin Song to 6/8 and a shared second place with Bibisara Assaubayeva and Vaishali Rameshbabu.
The full results of Round 8 and pairings for Round 9 can be found here:
Women: grandswiss2025.fide.com/grand-swiss-women/
Open: grandswiss2025.fide.com/open/
Round 9 will take place on Saturday, 13th September at 3 PM local time.
Written by Milan Dinic
Photos: Michal Walusza
Torsten Cmiel zum Stand der Dinge vor Runde 10:
