Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi will take on an in-form Levon Aronian of Armenia, while P Harikrishna will have to tackle giant-killer Jose Eduardo Martinez Alacantara of Mexico in the pre-quarterfinals of the World Cup in Panaji, Goa.
The fourth season of the Global Chess League will feature Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen's return and Indian FIDE Women's World Cup champion Divya Deshmukh's debut.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa drew with Alireza Firouzja in the first round of the Super Chess Classics in Bucharest, while other games also ended in draws.
R Praggnanandhaa sealed his spot in the Grand Chess Tour finale after finishing runner-up at the Sinquefield Cup.
FIDE World Cup: Arjun storms into quarterfinals of the World Cup
Aronian sits on six points, followed closely by compatriot Fabiano Caruana on five after two wins and a draw. Gukesh shares the third place with another American, Wesley So, while Vachier-Lagrave and Leinier Dominguez Perez are tied for fifth with three points each.
Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi was held to a draw by 12-year-old Argentine sensation Oro Faustino in the first game of the second round of the FIDE World Cup in Panjim on Tuesday.
Praggnanandhaa held by Sevian; Gukesh draws with Vachier-Lagrave.
With just 16 players out of 206 participants that started the event remaining in the fray, most of the players decided against taking undue risk and decided to wait for the next game.
Hans Niemann quite literally made a splash on Wednesday, winning an underwater chess exhibition as festivities opened for the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals in Cape Town, where the world's elite players gathered ahead of the main competition.
Without Carlsen, the GCT was announced and this is the culmination point wherein the players would qualify for the grand finale slated later this year.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa kept himself in hunt for an overall top four finish in the Grand Chess Tour after a draw with Wesley So of the United States in the eighth and penultimate round of the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis (USA).
Magnus Carlsen has won the first FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, defeating Fabiano Caruana in the final match held in Germany.
Carlsen to fight for third place after wins over Arjun and Praggnanandhaa
World champion Dommaraju Gukesh scored one win and four draws on the opening day to slip to joint-sixth in the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz chess tournament, a part of the Grand chess tour, in St. Louis (USA), on Friday.
In the sixth round Gukesh survived another scare before steering the game to a draw with Firouzja.
Gukesh had another eventful game in a Queen pawn opening with black pieces.
Like Gukesh, Aronian was just able to draw two games and lost one.
World champion D Gukesh overcame a loss against Leinier Dominguez Perez to beat the American duo of Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana to stand at fourth spot.
Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa finished in sixth and seventh position respectively, even as Grandmaster Levon Aronian of the United States reigned supreme in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam.
World champion D Gukesh was held to a draw by the lone wild card Samuel Sevian, while fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa also split the point with Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
'Last year, I messed up some good positions against him, I think I did not beat him (in classical) for almost two years now, so finally it's good to get a win.'
Arjun prevailed over Abdusattorov 1.5-0.5 while Praggnanandhaa lost an intense battle 3-4 against Caruana.
Arjun Erigaisi will start as the favourite against veteran Hungarian Peter Leko, while R Praggnanandhaa faces the inventive Daniil Dubov.
D Gukesh put his opening-round blues behind him and scored an excellent victory over former world rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the second round of the Sinquefield Cup.
India's hopes in the FIDE World Cup 2025 will depend solely on second seed GM Arjun Erigaisi after GM P Harikrishna went down in the fifth round tiebreak against GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara in Panaji, Goa, on Sunday, as per a release from FIDE.
Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and P Harikrishna had another good day as they sent veteran Peter Leko of Hungary and Swede Nils Grandelius packing in the fourth-round tiebreaker at the Chess World Cup, in Panaji on Thursday.
R Praggnanandhaa scored a fluent victory over Frenchman Alireza Firouzja to claim the joint lead after the seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup.
World champion GM D Gukesh finished tied sixth as Levon Aronian of USA convincingly won the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz that concluded in St Louis.
Aravindh Chithambaram had a good second day as he beat former World champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and drew the last two games to find himself on the sole third spot in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz chess tournament.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa took down World No 1 Magnus Carlsen to advance to the top-bracket quarter-finals along with Arjun Erigaisi at the Freestyle Grand Slam Tour.
Praggnanandhaa draws with Aronian, shares top spot at Superbet Classic
D Gukesh put it across Serbia's Alexandr Predke in the fourth round for his first win in the Chennai Grand Masters chess
The victory enabled the Indian ace stay in joint lead after the blindfold game in the 10th and penultimate round of Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa bounced back from a poor start in the rapid section to climb to second place in the overall standings at the end of the first half of the blitz section in the Superbet Rapid & Blitz tournament.
Grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh caused the biggest upset of the World Chess Cup, ousting former world championship challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia after winning the second game of the second round, in Panjim, on Wednesday.
The victory and a full point took Gukesh to 3.5 points and gave him a clear lead in the eight-man field.
World champion D Gukesh will take on Fabiano Caruana of the United States in the two-game quarter-final after the latter picked the Indian in a unique format typical of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, in Hamburg, Germany.
World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered 0.5-1.5 defeat at the hands of leader Levon Aronian of Armenia in the eighth round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament in Nice, France. Anand drew his rapid game but ended up conceding a point in the blindfold, which cost the Indian dear as he slipped to joint fourth spot in the overall standings.
World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a rare setback with white pieces and lost to Levon Aronian of Armenia in the second round of the Morelia-Linares chess tournament in Morelia (Mexico).
