Magnus Carlsen has won the first FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, defeating Fabiano Caruana in the final match held in Germany.
FIDE World Cup: Arjun storms into quarterfinals of the World Cup
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Arjun Erigaisi will start as the favourite against veteran Hungarian Peter Leko, while R Praggnanandhaa faces the inventive Daniil Dubov.
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.
Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov beat China's Wei Yi to win the FIDE World Cup in Panaji on Wednesday, becoming, at 19, the youngest ever player to achieve the feat.
R Praggnanandhaa sealed his spot in the Grand Chess Tour finale after finishing runner-up at the Sinquefield Cup.
Praggnanandhaa held by Sevian; Gukesh draws with Vachier-Lagrave.
FIDE World Cup 2025: Praggnanandhaa survives scare; Arjun, Karthik, Harikrishna also draw first game of Rd 4
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.
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 Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa played out solid draws while P Harikrishna wriggled out of a difficult situation to head into a tie-break in the fourth round of the Chess World Cup, in Panjim on Wednesday.
Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi bowed out of the World Chess Cup after a 2.5-3.5 loss to Sam Shankland of United States in the second set of tie-break games of third round, in Panjim on Sunday.
The FIDE World Cup will be held at a resort in North Goa from October 31 to November 27, 2025, offering a total prize fund of US$2 million.
In the sixth round Gukesh survived another scare before steering the game to a draw with Firouzja.
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.
Gukesh had another eventful game in a Queen pawn opening with black pieces.
Harikrishna continued his success story with the seasoned Grandmaster, who famously assisted Gukesh in the World Championship title match, showcasing his skills as a brilliant attacker.
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).
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 D Gukesh bowed out of the Chess World Cup, losing the third-round match to Frederik Svane of Germany, while Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa made it to the last-32 stage, in Panjim on Saturday.
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.
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.
'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.'
Carlsen to fight for third place after wins over Arjun and Praggnanandhaa
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.
Like Gukesh, Aronian was just able to draw two games and lost one.
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.
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.
Arjun prevailed over Abdusattorov 1.5-0.5 while Praggnanandhaa lost an intense battle 3-4 against Caruana.
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.
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.
India hosts the event from a position of unprecedented strength with a string of titles under its belt.
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.
Praggnanandhaa draws with Aronian, shares top spot at Superbet Classic
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.
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