Gukesh’s ‘year of transition’ suffers another setback as world champion is knocked out of Chess World Cup in Round 3
Journalism of Courage
FIDE Chess World Cup 2025, Round 3 Game 2 Results and Standings Highlights: An exciting day awaits Indian chess, with 10 players looking to secure their spots Round 4 in the ongoing FIDE Chess World Cup 2025 in Goa. On Saturday, Arjun Erigaisi, Pentala Harikrishna, and Pranav V need only a draw to confirm their qualification for the fourth round, while the seven remaining Indians require a win for direct qualification.
All seven of the other players — D. Gukesh, Diptayan Ghosh, Karthik Venkataraman, R. Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, M. Pranesh, and S.L. Narayanan — drew their first game in the third round. A loss for any of these players would result in elimination, while another draw in the second game would send the match to tiebreakers.
The top three finishers in this event will get spots for Candidates 2026, a challenger tournament where the winner of the event gets to challenge the reigning World Champion.
You can check out the move-by-move action from Chess World Cup and also play along in the interactive below.
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Gukesh’s ‘year of transition’ suffers another setback as world champion is knocked out of Chess World Cup in Round 3
SL Narayanan, Vidit Gujrathi and Karthik Venkataraman will be in action on Sunday for the tiebreaks.
All three players -- Vidit Gujrathi against American Sam Shankland, Narayanan against Chinese GM Yu Yangi and Karthik against Romanian Grandmaster Bogdan-Daniel Deac -- played draws to enforce tiebeaks.
Gukesh isn't the only top player to get eliminated from the World Cup 2025. Candidates qualified Anish Giri and former World Rapid Champion, Uzbek No. 1 Nodirbek Abdusattorov have also been shown the exit door.
Harikrishna has also made his way through to the fourth round. All he needed was just a draw against Belgium's Daniel Dardha with black pieces and he did that comfortably.
After holding Vincent Keymer to a draw with black pieces, Pranesh M goes down with white pieces in Game 2, thus crashing out of the event.
Diptayan Ghosh has also been eliminated from the event after losing a key match against Armenia's Gabriel Sargissian.
Serious threat for Gukesh, who has a -3.1 position against Frederik Svane. In a knight endgame with equal pawns, Gukesh has a losing position with white pieces.
Big news coming in. Arjun Erigaisi, Pranav V and R. Praggnanandhaa have qualified for the next round. Praggnanandhaa beat Robert Hovhannisyan with white pieces, while Arjun and Pranav made comfortable draws to get the required 1.5 points from two games.
Solid as ever, SL Narayanan made another draw. He held China's Yu Yangi to a draw and moved to tiebreaks. First Indian to finish his game today.
The Arjun vs Vokhidov game has started very similarly to Gukesh vs Svane's game. Both entering to Giuoco Piano Game.
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Bc5
4. d3 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6
6. O-O d6
7. a4 h6
8. Be3 O-O
9. Bxc5 dxc5
10. Nd5 Be6
Petrov's Defense in Praggnanandhaa vs Hovhannisyan game.
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nf6
3. d4 Nxe4
4. Bd3 d5
5. Nxe5 Nd7
6. O-O Nxe5
7. dxe5 Nc5
8. Be2 Be7
9. Be3 O-O
10. c3
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Nf6
4. d3 Bc5
5. O-O d6
6. c3 a5
7. Re1 O-O
8. h3 h6
Gukesh has the white pieces today. He opened with e4, and Germany's Svane replied with e5. Knights were developed from both sides in knight to f3 from Gukesh and Knight to c6 from Svane. Gukesh goes on to develop his bishop to c4 and after Svane's other knight to f6, d3 from Gukesh, the clash entered Giuoco Piano Game as Svane plays bishop to c5.
We are underway in Game 2 of Round 3. The first ceremonial move was made by Ajit Roy (IAS), Secretary to Governor Mizoram, on Board 1 for Gukesh against Svane.
As the sun sets on the Goan village of Arpora and another day at the FIDE World Cup ends, the road to Resort Rio, the venue where most of the players are also staying, gets busy. Not with vehicles, but Grandmasters. They set off in little groups, many wearing shorts and tracksuits that are a far cry from their usual attire of custom-fitted suits.
Where are they headed? Well, wherever their feet take them.
For a sport that demands hours of being seated at one place, walking has spawned its own folklore in chess. Some Grandmasters talk about five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand once ending up in another village while he went for a walk. It’s a fable that makes even Anand chuckle while dismissing it. He did add though that whenever he played the Tata Steel Chess event in the Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee, he always walked on the rest days to the neighbouring town of Beverwijk.
Recently, Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi criticised FIDE and the playing conditions in Goa after being knocked out of the event in Round 2 by Indian GM Diptayan Ghosh.
This prompted a response from former Indian No. 1 Pentala Harikrishna. “He has been criticising a lot of things lately, but it would be better if he clearly pointed out what he dislikes, rather than making statements that are open to numerous interpretations and speculation,” Harikrishna told The Indian Express from Goa.
“When you don’t like something, and if it can be improved or if it’s perhaps not as it appears, it can be discussed and rectified. That’s not an issue,” he added.
GM D. Gukesh (2752) vs GM Frederik Svane (GER) 2638
GM Arjun Erigaisi (2773) vs GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB) 2640
GM Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM) 2633 vs GM R. Praggnanandhaa (2771)
GM V. Pranav (2641) vs GM Titas Stremavicius (LTU) 2531
GM Vincent Keymer (GER) 2755 vs GM M. Pranesh (2630)
GM Pentala Harikrishna (2697) vs GM Daniel Dardha (BEL) 2605
GM Sam Shankland (USA) 2654 vs GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2716)
GM S L Narayanan (2617) vs GM Yangyi Yu (CHN) 2720
GM Diptayan Ghosh (2573) vs GM Gabriel Sargissian (ARM) 2624
GM Venkataraman Karthik (2579) vs GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU) 2655
1. D. Gukesh
2. Arjun Erigaisi
3. Pentala Harikrishna
4. Diptayan Ghosh
5. Karthik Venkataraman
6. Vidit Gujrathi
7. Pranav V
8. Pranesh M
9. R. Praggnanandhaa
10. SL Narayanan
Hello and welcome to The Indian Express' LIVE coverage of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025, which is taking place in Arpora, Goa. The 10 Indians will again be in action on Saturday for Game 2 of the third round, where the likes of Arjun Erigaisi, Harikrishna Pentala and Pranav V only require a draw for their next round qualification after having won their Game 1.
D. Gukesh, Diptayan Ghosh, Karthik Venkataraman, R. Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, M. Pranesh, and S.L. Narayanan would head into the tiebreaks if they draw their Game 2; a win for any one of them would directly push them to Round 4, whereas a loss would result in an exit.
Stay tuned as we bring you all the live action straight from the Indian coastal state.
FIDE World Cup: Arjun Erigaisi reiterates the class he showed at Chess Olympiad with blistering win to start third round
It was during the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest that the Indian men’s team attracted a lot of eyeballs, not particularly for the immense firepower that the team possessed, but also for the board order in which the team would play. The top three names for India were R. Praggnanandhaa, D. Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi, with each having the calibre to take the top board. Arjun was the highest-ranked Indian at that time and, naturally, an ideal fit to take the top board against the world’s best.
Cut to the end of the event, India had won their historic maiden gold medal, and Arjun also won an individual gold medal for the best performance on his board. It wasn’t the top board, nor was it board No. 2. Arjun played on the third board behind Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa and ran through the opposition like a blitzkrieg. Not that Arjun playing on Board No. 3 was a demotion, but the highest-ranked Indian not taking the top board was somewhat not mainstream. The rationale behind this move was to cash in on Arjun’s superiority over players rated lower than him, India’s coach at that time, N. Srinath had explained.
