FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 Chess Tournament Round 2 Highlights: World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju was held to a draw by the 14-year-old prodigy from Turkey, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, in the second round of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 chess tournament in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Friday. Both players had won their first round games to be paired off in the second round. While Gukesh held the edge in the game for plenty of the middle game, Erdogmus managed to hold off the world champion to a draw!
ALSO READ: How Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus pulled off a draw against Gukesh
Meanwhile, Vaishali Rameshbabu, the defending champion in the women’s section, and her brother Praggnanandhaa won their second round games. While Vaishali defeated Eline Roebers to surge into an early lead in the tournament, top seed Pragg defeated Ivan Zemlyanskii. Arjun Erigaisi also ground out a victory.
Scroll down, past the interactive boards, for our live updates from the games involving Indian stars in the second round of the FIDE Grand Swiss:
Fresh from her success in the recently concluded FIDE Women’s World Cup, which made Divya Deshmukh only the 4th Indian female Grandmaster, the Nagpur prodigy’s campaign got off to a poor start as she was handed a loss by her good friend and her second, Abhimanyu Puranik. On Friday, she was held to a draw.
The world champion Gukesh held an advantageous position from very early on against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, but could not convert.
The draw is a significant result for the Turkish prodigy, who has also racked up some significant results over players like Magnus Carlsen in recent years, albeit in faster time controls like blitz.
Here's how the game played out
What a turnaround from Arjun in the game against Haik M Martirosyan. The Armenian grandmaster held a superior position over Arjun from the 18th move. But Arjun has managed to not just equalise the position, but also now holds an edge, with an additional knight on the board!
He was held to a draw in the first game, which means if he wins here, all three of the Indian golden gen prodigies --- Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun --- will be on 1.5 points each after two rounds.
A draw for Vidit Gujrathi, who was among the players to get a win yesterday. He's held to a draw by statemate Abhimanyu Puranik, who had defeated Divya Deshmukh yesterday.
A draw in 38 moves and both players get some well-earned rest as they restock their energies for tomorrow's game!
Here's how the game played out.
The world champion Gukesh Dommaraju currently holds a slight edge over the 14-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus.
"It's clear that white (Gukesh) is having the upper hand here in the game. Very clear that white will be torturing black for a very long time," said Judit Polgar on Chess24 as both players cross the 20-move mark with Erdogmus playing 20...Kc7. "There is no good spot for the black knight, for example."
"It's not a game that black will be happy with," Polgar added. "It's going to be a very long game."
Meanwhile, GM David Howell points out that Erdogmus is down to 20 minutes on his clock after 20 moves. This leaves him 20 minutes to play 20 more moves before he gets an extra gulf of oxygen to breathe in the time control.
This is what the board looks like right now:
What a victory for the defending champion from India, who surges into an early lead in the tournament by winning both her games in the first two rounds.
Roebers, an international master from the Netherlands, played an inaccuracy while playing with white pieces on move 10 and never really recovered. By move 13, she had played a few more inaccuracies in a row to find herself in dire straits. She resigned on move 22.
Here's how the game played out:
Hans Niemann and Ivan Cheparinov have played out a quick draw and its the first game of the open section to end in a result.
So Hans now has one point after two draws in the first two games of the Grand Swiss.
Here's how the Hans Niemann vs Ivan Cheparinov game played out:
Vaishali, who comes into the event as the defending champion in Women's Grand Swiss tournament, is currently on the path to win her second game in a row. Her opponent Eline Roebers has played some questionable moves at the start of the game and is now suffering.
Vaishali is down a pawn, while her opponent has lost a knight.
"This game will haunt her for a sometime," chess legend Judit Polgar says on Chess24 about Eline Roebers, who is facing an uphill battle against India's Vaishali Rameshbabu. "You're not ready to play with the white pieces and getting a lost position after move 10. This shows that you made the wrong prep or a wrong decision at a very early stage of the game."
Here's a look at how the game has evolved.
"I'm worried a bit for Arjun's position," declares Judit Polgar on the Chess24 commentary. Despite the Indian players having twice as much time on his clock compared to his opponent, there are dark clouds of trouble gathering over the board.
Here are the first 21 moves from the game between Arjun and Haik M Martirosyan.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. h3 Re8 9. e4 exd4 10. Nxd4 Nc5 11. Re1 h6 12. Nb3 Ne6 13. f4 a5 14. a4 h5 15. Be3 h4 16. g4 g5 17. fxg5 Nd7 18. Nd4 Ne5 19. Nf5 Nxc4 20. Bc1 c6 21. Nxg7 Kxg7
Here's how the game has developed
A look at how world champion Gukesh Dommaraju has played against the 14-year-old prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus.
Vantika has started off well against Bibisara Assaubayeva, pocketing her opponent's bishop while losing one of her knights. We have had 12 moves from both players so far, and while Vantika contemplates her next move, we have plenty of players, including Ian Nepomniachtchi standing and admiring the game.
Once again, Gukesh is deep in meditation as his opponent Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus takes his place in front of the world champion.
After the ceremonial first move, Gukesh pulls back the pawn and plays 1. d4. Rather than reply with a 1...e5, he opts for a 1...d5
Gukesh plays 2. c3 quickly which sends the Turkish GM into a long phase of thought! He eventually plays 2... Nf6
We have a Queen's Pawn Game in the Gukesh vs Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus game!
Here are all the moves so far: 1. d4 d5 2. c3 Nf6 3. Bg5
The Turkish teenager is already five minutes behind by the third move.
Day 2 of the FIDE Grand Swiss will bear witness to one of the most exciting clashes!
Call it a clash of generations if you're feeling cheeky: the 19-year-old world champion Gukesh takes on 14-year-old prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus.
Erdogmus is gaining quite a rep in chess circles, having beaten players like Magnus Carlsen in blitz, a format the world no 1 currently relishes.
On the top board, we have Gukesh vs Erdogmus, followed by Israel's Maxim Rodshtein vs Alireza Firouzja's battle on the second board. Local favourite Nodirbek Abdusattorov will take on Germany's Frederik Svane while Anish Giri will be up against the UAE's Salem Saleh on Board 4. Vidit Gujrathi and Abhimanyu Puranik will clash in the all-India battle.
Hello and welcome to our continued live coverage of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 Chess Tournament, happening in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. On Friday, the second round will see Indian chess star, reigning World Champion D. Gukesh, in action against 14-year-old Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus.
Stay tuned as we bring you all the live updates from the event, which holds significance in the World Championship cycle, as the top two finishers in both the Open and Women’s sections will earn a place in the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which decides the challenger for the World Champion title.
World champion Gukesh Dommaraju started off his FIDE Grand Swiss campaign with a victory over French grandmaster Etienne Bacrot in 45 moves, while R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, the other two members of India’s golden gen of chess prodigies, were held to draws in the first round. Pragg, the top seed at the open section, was held by Jeffery Xiong, while Erigaisi played a draw versus Maksim Chigaev.
Hardcore chess fans will do well to remember Bacrot for one of the most unusual acts moments before the start of a chess game. Earlier this year, Bacrot, an eight-time French national champion, had asked Magnus Carlsen for a selfie right before they had faced off in a game at the Grenke Freestyle Chess event. On Thursday, in Samarkand, Bacrot found himself seated in front of another world chess champion. This time, there were no selfies, barely the hint of a smile, and a defeat in 45 moves against Gukesh.
