Emirati GM Salem Saleh won with a brilliant and sacrificial combination, in a heated Najdorf battle against Japanese IM Thanh Tu Tran, to earn our Game of the day distinction. The favorites mostly prevailed in round one, game one of the 2025 FIDE World Cup, though the standout upset was Mongolian IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg‘s win, in a rook and bishop vs. rook endgame, against Chilean GM Cristobal Henriquez.
This is a flash report. The full article, featuring game analysis, photos, interviews, and more will be added to this page soon.
The FIDE World Cup, which has taken place every two years since 2005, takes place in India for the first time, at the five-star luxury Rio Resort in Goa.
It is a 206-player single-elimination knockout. The lengthy tournament, which runs from November 1 to November 26, consists of eight rounds. Each round features a one-on-one match between two players, with two classical games (90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move, plus an additional 30 minutes after move 40) plus rapid and blitz tiebreaks if needed. Â
There is a $2,000,000 prize fund.
2025 FIDE World Cup Prizes
| Place | Players | Prize ($) | Total ($) |
| Round 1 Loser | 78 | 3,500 | 273,000 |
| Round 2 Loser | 64 | 7,000 | 448,000 |
| Round 3 Loser | 32 | 11,000 | 352,000 |
| Round 4 Loser | 16 | 17,000 | 272,000 |
| Round 5 Loser | 8 | 25,000 | 200,000 |
| Quarterfinals Loser | 4 | 35,000 | 140,000 |
| 4th Place | 1 | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| 3rd Place | 1 | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| Runner-up | 1 | 85,000 | 85,000 |
| Winner | 1 | 120,000 | 120,000 |
More importantly for the world championship cycle, this tournament is essentially the last chance for three players to qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, which will then determine who will challenge GM Gukesh Dommaraju for the world championship title. The other spots are either already taken or are expected to be taken.
2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament Participants
| Qualification Method | Player | World Ranking |
| 2024 FIDEÂ Circuit winner | Fabiano Caruana | 3 |
| Top two finishers of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss | Anish Giri (winner) | 5 |
| Matthias Blubaum (runner-up) | 43 | |
| Top three finishers of the 2025 FIDE World Cup | TBD | |
| TBD | ||
| TBD | ||
| 2025 FIDE Circuit winner | Expected: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 7 |
| Highest average rating (Aug 2025 – Jan 2026) | Expected: Hikaru Nakamura | 2 |
You can read more about anticipated pairings and stakes in our preview article. Readers should note that the top 50 seeds receive a bye for round one and only start the tournament on Tuesday, in round two. Gukesh, though he is number nine in the world by rating, is seeded as number-one as the world champion.
We will add GM Rafael Leitao‘s analysis of the Game of the Day as well as the rest of the report soon!
You can watch the event on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on Chess24, on Twitch or YouTube. Games from the event can be viewed on our events page.
The 2025 FIDE World Cup, which takes place from November 1 to November 26 in Goa, India, determines three spots in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. It is a 206-player single-elimination knockout tournament with eight rounds. Each match consists of two classical games followed by rapid and blitz tiebreaks if needed. The prize fund is $2,000,000.
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