GM Anish Giri played a perfect slow, grinding game to defeat GM Hans Niemann and win the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss with 8/11. Giri takes the $90,000 top prize and earns a spot in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, where he’ll be joined by GM Matthias Bluebaum, who drew with GM Alireza Firouzja and had the best tiebreaks of the three players on 7.5/11. His spot was confirmed when GM Vincent Keymer was unable to convert a promising position against GM Arjun Erigaisi.
GM Vaishali Rameshbabu won the 2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss for a second time in a row after making a draw against GM Tan Zhongyi. She had better tiebreaks than GM Kateryna Lagno, who also scored 8/11 after making a lightning fast draw against IM Ulviyaa Fataliyeva.
This is a flash report—come back later for full player quotes and analysis!
Final Standings
Giri was ultimately the only player to win on the top boards, making his first place richly deserved, while the three-player tiebreak for third was decided by the rating of the players’ opposition during the event—lower-rated Bluebaum had faced tougher opposition and takes the Candidates spot!
FIDE Grand Swiss Final Standings
Lagno and particularly Vaishali had dominated the Women’s event, so that it was fitting that they both secured their spots in the 2026 FIDE Candidates, where they’ll join Zhu Jiner, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy, Tan, and one more player still to be decided.
FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss Final Standings
Open: Dream Day For Giri And Bluebaum
In the end it was only Giri who managed to win on the boards that matter for Candidates qualification.
Round 11 Results: Open
Check out the full games and results.
Giri’s win over Niemann, a demonstration of how to exploit the bishop pair, is our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao will analyze below.
Giri took the biggest prize, but Bluebaum earned his first ever shot at the Candidates and a potential world championship match against GM Gukesh Dommaraju.
Firouzja misses out on the Candidates, Giri is IN, and Bluebaum will also qualify if Keymer doesn’t beat Arjun! https://t.co/aTwSmtPd6E pic.twitter.com/ejfLyth3bf
— chess24 (@chess24com) September 15, 2025
Women: Vaishali Does It Again
All four games that mattered for the Women’s Candidates were drawn.
Round 11 Results: Women
Check out the full games and results.
The draw on board two was lightning fast, but Vaishali ended up a pawn down against Tan and her Candidates spot was in jeopardy when GM Bibisara Assaubayeva looked on course to beat GM Anna Muzychuk. In the end, however, it all worked out perfectly for the Indian star.
The moment 🇮🇳 GM Vaishali Rameshbabu won the Women’s Grand Swiss for a 2nd time in a row and qualifies for the 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament with a draw vs. Tan Zhongyi! 🏆 https://t.co/xi8GPZpRhq pic.twitter.com/OdFYUVzRuN
— chess24 (@chess24com) September 15, 2025
This is a flash report—come back later for full player quotes and analysis!
The 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss were 11-round Swiss tournaments that took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 4-15. Each decided two places in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournaments that select the next world championship challengers. The Open tournament had a $625,000 prize fund, with $90,000 for first place, while the Women’s was $230,000 ($40,000). The time control was classical, with a longer time control for the Open of 100 minutes/40 moves + 50 min/20 + 15 min, with a 30-second increment from move 1.
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