GM Sam Shankland won a brilliant first game and ended the 2025 FIDE World Cup run of GM Daniil Dubov 2-0 in tiebreaks to reach the Quarterfinals. GM Andrey Esipenko also needed only two tiebreak games to overcome GM Alexey Grebnev, while GM Jose Martinez knocked out former world top-10 GM Pentala Harikrishna in four games. The longest match of the day featured four wins for Black before 61st-seed GM Alexander Donchenko finally beat 13th-seed GM Liem Le with White to clinch the match. Â
The first game of the Quarterfinals is on Monday, November 17, starting at 4:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 CET / 3 p.m. IST.
This is a flash report—come back later for full coverage of all the action!
Round 5 Results
Four matches were decided in classical chess, with the four remaining matches going to tiebreaks.
| Fed | Player 1 | Rating | – | Fed | Player 2 | Rating | G1 | G2 | TB |
| Javokhir SINDAROV (16) | 2721 | – | Frederik Svane (64) | 2640 | 1-0 | ½-½ | |||
| Jose MARTINEZ (57) | 2644 | – | Pentala Harikrishna (24) | 2690 | ½-½ | ½-½ | 2.5-1.5 | ||
| Gabriel Sargissian (76) | 2616 | – | Nodirbek YAKUBBOEV (28) | 2689 | ½-½ | 0-1 | |||
| Alexander DONCHENKO (61) | 2641 | – | Liem Le (13) | 2729 | ½-½ | ½-½ | 3.5-2.5 | ||
| Sam SHANKLAND (46) | 2649 | – | Daniil Dubov (30) | 2674 | ½-½ | ½-½ | 2-0 | ||
| Andrey ESIPENKO (27) | 2681 | – | Aleksey Grebnev (86) | 2617 | ½-½ | ½-½ | 1.5-0.5 | ||
| Samuel Sevian (23) | 2701 | – | WEI Yi (7) | 2753 | ½-½ | 0-1 | |||
| ARJUN Erigaisi (2) | 2769 | – | Levon Aronian (15) | 2728 | ½-½ | 1-0 |
The lineup for the Quarterfinals is complete, with the games beginning Monday.
Bracket
Shankland’s first rapid win over Dubov is our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao will analyze below.
How to watch?
You can watch the event on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on Chess24 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 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 million.
Previous reports:
- Round 5 Game 2: Arjun Beats Aronian To Reach World Cup Quarterfinals
- Round 5 Game 1: 19-Year-Old Sindarov Grabs Only Win
- Round 4 Tiebreaks: Arjun Strides On As Pragg, Keymer, MVL, Rapport Lead World Cup Exodus
- Round 4 Game 2: Donchenko, Martinez Continue Giant-Killing As 11 Matches Go To TiebreaksÂ
- Round 4 Game 1: Aronian, Martinez Strike As Praggnanandhaa Escapes Vs. Dubov
- Round 3 Tiebreaks: Vachier-Lagrave Wins Marathon Match In Armageddon
- Round 3 Game 2: World Champion Gukesh Eliminated By Frederik Svane; Giri, Abdusattorov Also Out
- Round 3 Game 1: Martinez Upsets Abdusattorov With Black Pieces
- Round 2 Tiebreaks: Lodici Knocks Out Niemann, Rasmus Svane Wins In Armageddon
- Round 2 Game 2: Harikrishna Sacs Queen; Nepomniachtchi, Wesley So, Aravindh Eliminated
- Round 2 Game 1: Arjun, Keymer, Wei, Mamedyarov, Vachier-Lagrave Among Early Leaders
- Round 1 Tiebreaks: 12-Year-Old Oro Among 20 Winners In Tiebreaks
- Round 1 Game 2: IM Shixu Wang Pulls Upset, 20 Matches Go To Tiebreaks
- Round 1 Game 1: Saleh Plays Attack Of The Day, Favorites Prevail In Game 1
- 2025 FIDE World Cup Pairings, Venue Revealed
- Divya Among 6 Players Awarded World Cup Wildcard Spots; Firouzja Not In
