FIDE Chess World Cup 2025, Round 1 Tiebreakers Results and Standings Highlights: The 11th edition of the FIDE World Cup (official) is underway in Arpora, Goa, with 206 players from around the world taking part in the knockout biennial event.
After the first two games of the opening round, Divya Deshmukh crashed out of the event after losing to Greek Grandmaster Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis in back-to-back games. The top 50 seeded players, which also included eight Indians, were given byes for the first round, resulting in 16 Indians being in action for the opening round.
FIDE CHESS WORLD CUP 2025 ROUND 1 GAME 2: LIVE STREAMING CHECK HERE
After the two classical games, five Indians — Divya, Neelash Saha, Luke Leon Mendonca, Himal Gusain and Harshavardhan GB — have made an early exit from the event. Seven Indians, which included the likes of Pranav V, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Pranesh M, have directly qualified for Round 2 without needing to play tiebreaks.
Five Indians are in action on Monday for the tiebreaks.
From 206 players in the opening round, we are left with 128 players for the second round. Top seed and 2024 Classical World Champion, India's D. Gukesh, will take on 2024 World Junior Champion Kazybek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan.
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GM D Gukesh (2752) vs GM Kazybek Nogerbek (KAZ) 2543
GM Arjun Erigaisi (2773) vs GM Martin Petrov (BUL) 2540
GM R Praggnanandhaa (2771) vs GM Temur Kuybokarov (AUS) 2535
GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2573) vs GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2737
GM Diptayan Ghosh (2573) vs GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID) 2732
IM Ghosh Aronyak (2514) vs GM Levon Aronian (USA) 2722
GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2716) vs IM Faustino Oro (ARG) 2509
GM Venkataraman Karthik (2579) vs GM Chithambaram Vr. Aravindh (IND) 2711
GM Chithambaram Vr. Aravindh (2711) vs GM Venkataraman Karthik (IND) 2579
GM Sarin Nihal (2700) vs GM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (GRE) 2583
GM Pentala Harikrishna (2697) vs GM Arseniy Nesterov (FID) 2584
GM Murali Karthikeyan (2662) vs GM Pouya Idani (IRI) 2601
GM Pa Iniyan (2599) vs GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) 2664
GM S L Narayanan (2617) vs GM Nikita Vitiugov (ENG) 2654
GM Pranesh M (2630) vs GM Dmitrij Kollars (GER) 2642
GM Pranav V (2641) vs GM Aryan Tari (NOR) 2631
GM Raunak Sadhwani (2641) vs GM Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM) 2633
And the road for Lalit Babu MR and Raja Rithvik R ends here. They failed to convert their second blitz game, which was a must-win clash for them. They put up a brilliant fight before going down.
Raja Rithvik R also suffers a loss in the first blitz game from Kazybek Nogerbek.
Trouble for Lalit, he loses the first blitz game of 3rd tiebreak segment. Again, in a must-win situation for him against Warmerdam.
From five to three to two Indians are left in this tiebreak tie. The third segment is 5'+3'' blitz.
A clean sweep from the Indians in this round. After Aronyak, Lalit Babu and Rithvik Raja have also won their games but they did it under pressure in a must-win clash. This means, both Lalit and Rithvik have enforced third tiebreak and they are still in contention. What a fightback!
A win for Aronyak Ghosh! He upsets a GM, beats Mateusz Bartel in the second tiebreak 2-0 to qualify for Round 2. Third Indian to qualify from tiebreaks, 9th Indian from the first round and overall the 17th Indian to make it into the next round.
Aronyak Ghosh is the only Indian to win this round. He beat Mateusz Bartel to get a 1-0 lead. A draw is enough for his qualification.
Rithvik Raja, who enforced the second segment of tiebreaks after beating Kazybek Nogerbek on demand, has lost the first 10'+10'' match. He also finds him in a must-win match fot a second time.
Things are going South for Lalit Babu, as he has been handed a defeat by Max Warmerdam in the first game of the second tiebreak segment. From just requiring a draw for qualification. Lalit is now in a must-win situation.
Barring the three Indians who are left in the field to grind for their qualification, the youngest player in the event, the "Messi of Chess". Faustino Oro is also fighting for his Round 2 qualification. He is playing Croatia's Andre Brkic.
- Pic Credit: Lichess
The second tiebreak is underway. There is a total of five matches left in this round.
Now this is some comeback from Rithvik. He completely decimates Nogerbek in a must-win clash to enforce another tiebreak. We will have three Indians -- him, Aronyak and Lalith Babu -- in the 10'+10'' segment.
Same fate for Lalit Babu MR, who loses to Max Warmerdam. They will also move to the 10’+10” segment. We only have Rithvik Raja left, who is still in action in a must-win game against Kazybek Nogerbek.
Aronyak couldn't finish it off. He needed just a draw against Poland's Bartel and ended up losing the game. Now, the duo moves to the 10'+10'' segment.
Diptayan Ghosh joins SL Narayanan as he handed Peng Xiongjian a loss in two consecutive games and with this, qualified for Round 2.
Diptayan Ghosh is a pawn up against Peng Xiongjian. A promising position which looks convertable for the like of Diptayan.
SL Narayanan is through to Round 2. He had to toil hard for it but became the first Indian to qualify from the tiebreaks. Clean set of games from SL here.
– Pic Credit: Chessbase India
The second rapid games have begun now. Four out of the five Indians just need a draw to qualify for the next round. For Rithvik Raja, it is a must-win clash.
GM Narayanan S L (IND) vs IM Rojas Salas Steven (PER) - Win - 1-0
GM Lalit Babu M R (IND) vs GM Warmerdam Max (NED) - Win - 1-0
IM Aronyak Ghosh (IND) vs GM Bartel Mateusz (POL) - Win - 1-0
GM Ghosh Diptayan (IND) vs GM Peng Xiongjian (CHN) - Win - 1-0
GM Raja Rithvik R (IND) vs GM Nogerbek Kazybek (KAZ) - Loss - 0-1
Four out of five Indians have converted their first tiebreak into a win as Diptayan Ghosh gets the better off Peng Xiongjian in their clash.
In a battle of equals (of sorts), the 2024 World Junior Champion, Kazybek Nogerbek, has beaten Rithvik R Raja in their first tiebreaks match. Raja needs to win on demand to take this tiebreaks into the 10'+10'' section.
And Rojas Salas Steven folds. Smooth win to start the tiebreaks for SL Narayanan.
SL Narayanan is putting pressure on Rojas Salas Steven. He has two minutes on the clock while his opponent is left with just 20 seconds.
Bartel, after his blunder, also resigns instantly as Aronyak Ghosh starts with a win as well.
Big result for Lalit Babu MR. His opponenet, exciting Dutch talent Max Warmerdam blunders his queen and lost from almost an equal position. His queen retireve to f4 was the key move as he missed white's rook to g8 sacrifice in order to win black's queen. A lottery for the Indian here.
IM Aronyak Ghosh is already having a winning position against GM Mateusz Bartel after his opponent misplaced his queen to h4, handing out almost a completely winning position to the Indian IM.
Bartel's face turns pale as he ponders his mistake. Aronyak should convert this.
- Pic Credit: Chessbase India
SL Narayanan with black pieces against Peru's Rojas Salas Steven in the first 15' +10'' tiebreak match. Narayanan is having an edge on the clock as we head into the middle game. White has a light-squared bishop and a knight whereas black is left with dark-squared bishop and a knight.
Divya Deshmukh
Neelash Saha
Luke Leon Mendonca
Himal Gusain
Harshavardhan GB
The FIDE World Cup 2025 Round 1 will be streamed live on the FIDE YouTube + Chess.com as well as Chessbase.
Game 1: WIN vs Ala Eddine Boulrens
Game 2: WIN vs Ala Eddine Boulrens
Final Match Score: 2-0 – ADVANCES
Game 1: DRAW vs Daniel Barrish
Game 2: WIN vs Daniel Barrish
Final Match Score: 1.5-0.5 – ADVANCES
Game 1: WIN vs Satbek Akhmedinov
Game 2: DRAW vs Satbek Akhmedinov
Final Match Score: 1.5-0.5 – ADVANCES
Game 1: DRAW vs Shixu B Wang
Game 2: LOSS vs Shixu B Wang
Final Match Score: 0.5-1.5 – ELIMINATED
Game 1: DRAW vs Steven Rojas Salas
Game 2: DRAW vs Steven Rojas Salas
Final Match Score: 1-1 – Tiebreaks Pending
Game 1: WIN vs Dylan Isidro Berdayes Ason
Game 2: DRAW vs Dylan Isidro Berdayes Ason
Final Match Score: 1.5-0.5 – ADVANCES
Game 1: LOSS vs Mustafa Yilmaz
Game 2: DRAW vs Mustafa Yilmaz
Final Match Score: 0.5-1.5 – ELIMINATED
Game 1: LOSS vs Andy Woodward
Game 2: LOSS vs Andy Woodward
Final Match Score: 0-2 – ELIMINATED
Game 1: DRAW vs Max Warmerdam
Game 2: DRAW vs Max Warmerdam
Final Match Score: 1-1 – Tiebreaks Pending
Game 1: LOSS vs Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis
Game 2: LOSS vs Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis
Final Match Score: 0-2 – ELIMINATED
Game 1: LOSS vs Georg Meier
Game 2: DRAW vs Georg Meier
Final Match Score: 0.5-1.5 – ELIMINATED
Game 1: DRAW vs Roberto Garcia Pantoja
Game 2: WIN vs Roberto Garcia Pantoja
Final Match Score: 1.5-0.5 – ADVANCES
Game 1: LOSS vs Mateusz Bartel
Game 2: WIN vs Mateusz Bartel
Final Match Score: 1-1 – Tiebreaks Pending
Game 1: DRAW vs Xiongjian Peng
Game 2: DRAW vs Xiongjian Peng
Final Match Score: 1-1 – Tiebreaks Pending
Game 1: WIN vs Ahmad Ahmadzada
Game 2: WIN vs Ahmad Ahmadzada
Final Match Score: 2-0 – ADVANCES
Game 1: DRAW vs Kazybek Nogerbek
Game 2: DRAW vs Kazybek Nogerbek
Final Match Score: 1-1 – Tiebreaks Pending
GM Narayanan S L (IND) vs IM Rojas Salas Steven (PER)
GM Lalit Babu M R (IND) vs GM Warmerdam Max (NED)
IM Aronyak Ghosh (IND) vs GM Bartel Mateusz (POL)
GM Ghosh Diptayan (IND) vs GM Peng Xiongjian (CHN)
GM Raja Rithvik R (IND) vs GM Nogerbek Kazybek (KAZ)
SL Narayanan, Lalit Babu MR, Rithvik R Raja, Diptayan Ghosh and Aronyak Ghosh are the five Indians who will be in action in Round 1 Tiebreaks.
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025, taking place in Arpora, Goa. On Monday, the tiebreakers of the opening rounds will be played, with a total of five Indians in action. Out of the 16 Indians who featured in the opening round, six have directly qualified for Round 2, while five of them crashed out of the event.
Stay tuned as we bring you all the live updates straight from the Resort Rio Convention Centre in Goa.
Grandmasters’ getaway: India’s vacation capital Goa turns into chess arena as it prepares to host the World Cup
“Even the grandmasters need a holiday. Preferably before facing each other,” reads a board at Goa’s Resort Rio, a five-star hotel in the tony village of Arpora that will host the FIDE World Cup, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the sport. When the action starts from Saturday in a state that has become India’s vacation capital, ideas like ‘holiday’ and ‘relaxation’ will be a luxury for the players in attendance — one that they cannot afford with three spots for Candidates on the line and a brutal path to the title in front of anyone who fancies making it to the semi-finals.
The players are not the only ones working tirelessly. A day before the FIDE World Cup kicks off in earnest, a small battalion of about 200 people is working tirelessly at the Resort Rio Convention Centre. For many members of this hidden workforce, the past four days have been a blur of tasks and sleepless nights as they went about transforming the convention centre with grandiose chandeliers into an arena fit for chess. The land of fish, feni and football is gearing up for a month of chess, involving 156 players. And is keen to impress.
