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FIDE Grand Swiss 2025: Indians in action in open & women’s section, format, schedule, pairings, prize money – All you need to know

FIDE Grand Swiss - All you need to know: Here’s all you need to know about the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 set to start in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from Thursday.

By: Sports Desk
Updated: September 3, 2025 07:24 PM IST

6 min read

India's Vaishali Rameshbabu (extreme left), Praggnanandhaa (second from left) and Gukesh D (centre) will be competing at the Candidates this year. Arjun Erigaisi will miss out. (PHOTO: FIDE/Lennart Ootes)

Indians in action at FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, format, schedule, pairings, prize money: With the race for the 2026 Candidates Tournament heating up, the FIDE Grand Swiss is set to take place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from Thursday, September 4th to the 15th.

Although many big names will be absent, including former world champions Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, and Vishy Anand, as well as world number two Hikaru Nakamura and world number three Fabiano Caruana, the Grand Swiss will still showcase exciting talents. These include World Champion D. Gukesh, India No. 1 R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, and former World Rapid Champion and local favourite Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

The FIDE Grand Swiss is a prestigious event where the top two finishers in both the Open and Women’s competitions will qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which determines the challenger for the World Champion title. It was this very event that enabled Vidit Gujrathi and Vaishali Rameshbabu to secure their spots for the Candidates Tournaments in Toronto 2024.

India’s teenage chess sensation, Divya Deshmukh, will also feature in the Open section of this event. FIDE confirmed that, in addition to Divya, Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina will also compete in the Open category.

Here’s all you need to know about the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 ahead of Round 1:

Format

Open Event: The FIDE Grand Swiss Open Event will be an 11-round Swiss tournament. The time control is 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, and 15 more minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move from move one.

Women’s Event: The FIDE Grand Swiss Women’s Event will be an 11-round Swiss tournament. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move from move one.

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Points System

For both the Open and Women’s events, winning a round will fetch one point, a draw 0.5 points, while a loss will result in 0 points.

Schedule

1st Round – 4th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
2nd Round – 5th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
3rd Round – 6th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
4th Round – 7th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
5th Round – 8th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
6th Round – 9th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
Rest day – 23rd August 2025
7th Round – 11th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
8th Round – 12th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
9th Round – 13th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
10th Round – 14th September 2025 (3:30 PM IST)
11th Round – 15th September 2025 (2:30 PM IST)

Prize money

The total prize pool for the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 is US$855,000. The Open Event features a $625,000 prize fund, while the Women’s Event has $230,000 reserved as prize money.

Playing field

Open Event

No.	Name	FED.	Rating
Players qualified by rating
1	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2785
2	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2771
3	Gukesh D	IND	2767
4	Firouzja, Alireza	FRA	2754
5	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2751
6	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	UZB	2748
7	Giri, Anish	NED	2746
8	Aronian, Levon	USA	2744
9	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	FID	2742
10	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2741
11	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2738
12	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2733
13	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2731
14	Sindarov, Javokhir	UZB	2722
15	Yu, Yangyi	CHN	2714
16	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2712
17	Rapport, Richard	HUN	2711
18	Harikrishna, Pentala	IND	2704
19	Liang, Awonder	USA	2698
20	Nihal Sarin	IND	2693
21	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2692
22	Maghsoodloo, Parham	IRI	2692
23	Sevian, Samuel	USA	2692
24	Dubov, Daniil	FID	2691
25	Esipenko, Andrey	FID	2687
26	Sarana, Alexey	SRB	2686
27	Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	2682
28	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	UZB	2681
29	Robson, Ray	USA	2674
30	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2674
31	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2673
32	Bluebaum, Matthias	GER	2671
33	Murzin, Volodar	FID	2670
34	Shankland, Sam	USA	2670
35	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2669
36	Vitiugov, Nikita	ENG	2666
37	Artemiev, Vladislav	FID	2664
38	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	POL	2661
39	Oparin, Grigoriy	USA	2660
40	Sadhwani, Raunak	IND	2658
41	Grischuk, Alexander	FID	2657
42	Saric, Ivan	CRO	2655
43	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2653
44	Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2651
45	Bjerre, Jonas Buhl	DEN	2651
46	Indjic, Aleksandar	SRB	2650
47	Yuffa, Daniil	ESP	2648
48	Grandelius, Nils	SWE	2648
49	Lu, Shanglei	CHN	2647
50	Kollars, Dmitrij	GER	2647
51	Theodorou, Nikolas	GRE	2646
52	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	TUR	2646
53	Rodshtein, Maxim	ISR	2645
54	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	UZB	2645
55	Svane, Frederik	GER	2643
56	Xiong, Jeffery	USA	2640
57	Salem, A.R. Saleh	UAE	2640
58	Puranik, Abhimanyu	IND	2640
59	Chigaev, Maksim	ESP	2638
60	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2637
61	Amin, Bassem	EGY	2636
62	Gurel, Ediz	TUR	2631
63	Ivic, Velimir	SRB	2630
64	Hovhannisyan, Robert	ARM	2629
65	Volokitin, Andrei	UKR	2628
66	Martirosyan, Haik M.	ARM	2628
67	Sjugirov, Sanan	HUN	2627
68	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2627
69	Sargissian, Gabriel	ARM	2626
70	Hakobyan, Aram	ARM	2625
71	Anton Guijarro, David	ESP	2625
72	Donchenko, Alexander	GER	2624
73	Dardha, Daniel	BEL	2624
74	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2622
75	Demchenko, Anton	SLO	2620
76	Svane, Rasmus	GER	2620
77	Santos Latasa, Jaime	ESP	2620
78	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	NOR	2618
79	Korobov, Anton	UKR	2616
80	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2616
81	Xu, Xiangyu	CHN	2615
82	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2615
83	Najer, Evgeniy	FID	2613
84	Mishra, Abhimanyu	USA	2611
85	Maurizzi, MarcAndria	FRA	2610
86	Predke, Alexandr	SRB	2609
87	Lagarde, Maxime	FRA	2609
88	Matlakov, Maxim	FID	2609
89	Ivanchuk, Vasyl	UKR	2608
90	Wagner, Dennis	GER	2608
91	Suleymanli, Aydin	AZE	2602
92	Kuzubov, Yuriy	UKR	2600
93	Daneshvar, Bardiya	IRI	2598
94	Narayanan S L	IND	2591
95	Warmerdam, Max	NED	2591
96	Jobava, Baadur	GEO	2590
97	Gumularz, Szymon	POL	2590
98	Muradli, Mahammad	AZE	2590
99	Aditya Mittal	IND	2589
100	Aryan Chopra	IND	2619
101	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2478
Four Continent spots
1	Olisa, Tennyson Ewomazino	NGR	2287
2	Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal	CHI	2594
3	Moussard, Jules	FRA	2591
4	Pranav, V	IND	2596
Players nominated by the FIDE President
1	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	2652
2	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	FID	2528
3	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	FID	2586
4	Woodward, Andy	USA	2557
5	Samunenkov, Ihor	UKR	2550
6	Bartel, Mateusz	POL	2581
Players nominated by the Organiser
1	Madaminov, Mukhiddin	UZB	2560
2	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	UZB	2521
3	Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid	UZB	2482
4	Nigmatov, Ortik	UZB	2488
5	Abdisalimov, Abdimalik	UZB	2488

Women’s Event

No.	Name	FED.	Rating
Players qualified by rating
1	Muzychuk, Anna	UKR	2535
2	Tan, Zhongyi	CHN	2531
3	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	KAZ	2505
4	Lagno, Kateryna	FID	2505
5	Shuvalova, Polina	FID	2492
6	Muzychuk, Mariya	UKR	2484
7	Osmak, Yuliia	UKR	2478
8	Garifullina, Leya	FID	2477
9	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	SUI	2472
10	Dronavalli, Harika	IND	2467
11	Yip, Carissa	USA	2458
12	Injac, Teodora	SRB	2454
13	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2452
14	Lu, Miaoyi	CHN	2449
15	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	GRE	2445
16	Javakhishvili, Lela	GEO	2434
17	Shukhman, Anna	FID	2420
18	Gunina, Valentina	FID	2418
19	Song, Yuxin	CHN	2409
20	Ushenina, Anna	UKR	2409
21	Danielian, Elina	ARM	2405
22	Kiolbasa, Oliwia	POL	2405
23	Wagner, Dinara	GER	2400
24	Bulmaga, Irina	ROU	2400
25	Stefanova, Antoaneta	BUL	2395
26	Gaal, Zsoka	HUN	2388
27	Girya, Olga	FID	2386
28	Narva, Mai	EST	2386
29	Salimova, Nurgyul	BUL	2386
30	Fataliyeva, Ulviyya	AZE	2385
31	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2381
32	Zhai, Mo	CHN	2380
33	Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra	POL	2379
34	Efroimski, Marsel	ISR	2377
35	Badelka, Olga	AUT	2375
36	Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim	UZB	2372
37	Guo, Qi	CHN	2371
38	Beydullayeva, Govhar	AZE	2368
39	Krush, Irina	USA	2366
40	Kulon, Klaudia	POL	2361
41	Kamalidenova, Meruert	KAZ	2349
42	Ouellet, Maili-Jade	CAN	2348
43	Balajayeva, Khanim	AZE	2331
44	Kaliakhmet, Elnaz	KAZ	2299
Four Continent spots
1	Manko, Mariia	SUI	2313
2	Gomez Barrera, Javiera Belen	CHI	2173
3	Nassr, Lina	ALG	2059
4	Balabayeva, Xeniya	KAZ	2383
Players nominated by the FIDE President
1	Mkrtchian, Lilit	ARM	2393
2	Wafa, Shrook	EGY	2202
3	Arabidze, Meri	GEO	2444
4	Roebers, Eline	NED	2377
Players nominated by the Organiser
1	Khamdamova, Afruza	UZB	2409
2	Omonova, Umida	UZB	2252
3	Karimova, Guldona	UZB	2324
4	Khalilova, Madinabonu	UZB	2148