World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju was among only 17 of 116 players to win in the first round of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, with other stars getting off to a quick start including GMs Alireza Firouzja, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Anish Giri. The game of the day came from 20-year-old GM Aydin Suleymanli, who unleashed some brilliant home-cooked analysis to follow up a queen sacrifice against GM Karthikeyan Murali.
It was mayhem in the 2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss, with only four higher-rated players winning, while 11 lost, including top seeds GMs Anna Muzychuk and Tan Zhongyi. Anna was close to winning against 18-year-old IM-elect Zsoka Gaal, but completely forgot about her clock and lost on time.
This is a flash report—come back later for full analysis of round one!
Round two is on Friday, September 5, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 p.m. IST.
The Grand Swiss Comes To Samarkand
The race for the 2026 FIDE Candidates heats up with one of the toughest events of the world championship cycle, the FIDE Grand Swiss. The 11-round event is taking place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, an ancient Silk Road city that hosted the 2023 World Rapid & Blitz and will host the 2026 FIDE World Chess Olympiad.
This is the fourth edition of the Grand Swiss, with the top-two players in both sections set to qualify for the eight-player 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournaments that decide the next world championship challengers.
| Year | Location | Open Winner | Open Runner-up | Women’s Winner | Women’s Runner-up |
| 2019 | Isle of Man | Wang Hao | Fabiano Caruana | ||
| 2021 | Riga, Latvia | Alireza Firouzja | Fabiano Caruana | Lei Tingjie | Elisabeth Paehtz |
| 2023 | Isle of Man | Vidit Gujrathi | Hikaru Nakamura | Vaishali Rameshbabu | Anna Muzychuk |
The $625,000 Open section ($90,000 for first place) has 116 players, with the field topped by the Indian triumvirate of GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Arjun Erigaisi, and Gukesh.
The main way to qualify was by being in the top-100 on the June 2025 FIDE rating list, though there was also a rating requirement of playing 30 classical games over the year. That formally excluded stars such as GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Viswanathan Anand, though if they’d wanted to play it’s almost certain they would have been given a wildcard, as, for instance, was former world championship challenger GM Boris Gelfand.
The games requirement may have stopped players such as GMs Leinier Dominguez, Peter Svidler, and Liem Le taking part, but others, including former World Champion Ding Liren, GM Wesley So, and GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda have chosen not to take part. There’s also no GM Fabiano Caruana, the one player already to have stamped his ticket to the Candidates in the Open section.
One player very notably taking part, however, is the World Champion, who explained his decision at the opening press conference:
Although there’s no need for me to qualify, I think this is still a great tournament. There are not many super strong open Swiss tournaments. It’s an opportunity for me to play in a different format and prove myself.
It’s an opportunity for me to play in a different format and prove myself.
—Gukesh Dommaraju
If he finishes in the top-two then third place will be enough for a Candidates spot.
One player who will be competing with Gukesh is local star Abdusattorov, who will be looking to bounce back after a tough event in St. Louis. Asked for an unpopular chess opinion he came up with, “Gukesh will lose his title in the next match.”
🔥 Nodirbek Abdusattorov shared his unpopular chess opinion… and it’s about Gukesh 👀
Both stars are set to clash at the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 — don’t miss it!Full interview 🔗 https://t.co/ZWghK2UHQY
♟️ FIDE Grand Swiss 2025
📍 Samarkand 🇺🇿
🗓 September 4–15
📺 Live on… pic.twitter.com/Vpokhf2q0i
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 2, 2025
There’s every chance Gukesh and Abdusattorov might meet later in the event.
The Women’s FIDE Grand Swiss is half the size, with 56 players (the top-44 by rating were invited), but is more impacted by the Candidates qualification cycle, since five players have already qualified: GMs Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina via the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix, and GMs Divya Deshmukh, Tan, and Koneru Humpy via the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
Only Tan out of those players will still play in the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss, with world number-six Anna Muzychuk the top seed.
That doesn’t mean all the other Candidates are absent, however—Divya and Goryachkina play in the Open section!
The one big difference between the two sections in terms of format is the time control, with the main event featuring a very long three-part control (no longer used in the world championship match itself), while the women’s event features the most standard FIDE time control.
One difference from previous FIDE events, however, is that the dress code has been relaxed to allow jeans and one-color sneakers—a victory for the absent Carlsen and players such as Zhu who had suffered from dress-code incidents.
❗️FIDE Grand Swiss 2025: Updated dress code offers more flexibility❗️
FIDE is pleased to publish the dress code for the FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss, reflecting a modern and inclusive approach while preserving the elegance of our sport.
Appropriate jeans are… pic.twitter.com/B43hasQkGZ
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) August 29, 2025
2025 FIDE Grand Swiss: Open
Four of the top-10 boards saw decisive results, all for the favorites.
Round 1 Results: Open
Check out the full games and results.
Our Game of the Day featured a remarkable queen sacrifice by Suleymanli, and will be analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao below.
2025 FIDE Grand Swiss: Women
Despite seven decisive games on the top-10 boards, GM Bibisara Assaubayeva was the only favorite to win!
Round 1 Results: Women
Check out the full games and results.
This is a flash report—come back later for full analysis of round one!
The 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss are 11-round Swiss tournaments taking place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 4-15. Each will decide two places in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournaments that decide the next world championship challengers. The Open tournament has a $625,000 prize fund, with $90,000 for first place, while the Women’s is $230,000, with a $40,000 top prize. The time control is classical, with a long 100 minutes/40 moves, then 50 min/20 + 15 min for the Open, with a 30-second increment from move 1, while the Women’s is the FIDE standard 90/40 + 30.
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