GM Parham Maghsoodloo drew against GM Arjun Erigaisi to remain sole leader of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss going into the only rest day, while GMs Anish Giri and Nihal Sarin both won sharp games to join a six-player pack half a point behind. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju sank to a second loss in a row, this time against Greek GM Nikolas Theodorou, with GM Vincent Keymer the only star losing in round five to score a bounce-back win—he defeated GM Robert Hovhannisyan in 114 moves and almost 7.5 hours.
GMs Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno are back as co-leaders of the 2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss after defeating IMs Ulviyya Fataliyeva and Dinara Wagner respectively. GM Antoaneta Stefanova joins IM Guo Qi half a point behind after winning the battle of the former world champions against GM Tan Zhongyi.
This is a flash report—come back later for full players quotes and analysis!
Round seven is on Thursday, September 11, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 p.m. IST.
Standings
Maghsoodloo maintained the sole lead with a draw, but the pack of players half a point behind grew to six.
FIDE Grand Swiss Standings After Round 6
In the Women’s Grand Swiss, meanwhile, the four-way tie for the lead was reduced to two again, with Lagno and Vaishali both winning their games.
FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss Standings After Round 6
Open: Giri, Nihal Join Chasing Pack As Gukesh Loses 2nd Game
After only three draws in the top-10 games in round five, we saw a reversal with only three wins, but once again that included a loss for the world champion.
Round 6 Results: Open
Check out the full games and results.
Our Game of the Day was the board-three win for Giri over French Champion GM Marc’Andria Maurizzi which GM Rafael Leitao will analyze below.
The list of upsets was led by losses for Gukesh and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 6 Upset Wins
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| GM Gukesh Dommaraju (3) | 2767 | 0 – 1 | GM Nikolas Theodorou (53) | 2646 | ||
| GM Shant Sargsyan (43) | 2653 | 1 – 0 | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (11) | 2738 | ||
| GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (29) | 2674 | 0 – 1 | GM Leon Luke Mendonca (83) | 2615 | ||
| GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (38) | 2661 | 0 – 1 | GM Anton Korobov (81) | 2616 | ||
| GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre (45) | 2651 | 0 – 1 | GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra (97) | 2594 | ||
| GM Aleksandar Indjic (47) | 2650 | 0 – 1 | GM Evgeniy Najer (85) | 2613 | ||
| GM Andy Woodward (108) | 2557 | 1 – 0 | GM Daniil Yuffa (49) | 2648 | ||
| GM Haik M. Martirosyan (66) | 2628 | 0 – 1 | GM Ortik Nigmatov (113) | 2488 |
After the rest day it’s Nihal who will get a shot at Maghsoodloo on top board, while Gukesh, two points behind the leader, faces 16-year-old Turkish prodigy GM Ediz Gurel.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 7 Pairings (Top 21)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Nihal Sarin (4.5) | 2693 | – | GM Parham Maghsoodloo (5) | 2692 | ||
| 2 | GM Arjun Erigaisi (4.5) | 2771 | – | GM Matthias Bluebaum (4.5) | 2671 | ||
| 3 | GM Anish Giri (4.5) | 2746 | – | GM Abhimanyu Mishra (4.5) | 2611 | ||
| 4 | GM Alireza Firouzja (4) | 2754 | – | GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (4) | 2681 | ||
| 5 | GM Nikolas Theodorou (4) | 2646 | – | GM Vincent Keymer (4) | 2751 | ||
| 6 | GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (4) | 2748 | – | GM Amin Tabatabaei (4) | 2673 | ||
| 7 | GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (4) | 2741 | – | GM Shant Sargsyan (4) | 2653 | ||
| 8 | GM Hans Moke Niemann (4) | 2733 | – | GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (4) | 2646 | ||
| 9 | GM Vidit Gujrathi (4) | 2712 | – | GM Marc’Andria Maurizzi (4) | 2610 | ||
| 10 | GM V Pranav (4) | 2596 | – | GM Jorden van Foreest (4) | 2692 | ||
| 11 | GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (3.5) | 2785 | – | GM Maxim Rodshtein (4) | 2645 | ||
| 12 | GM Levon Aronian (3.5) | 2744 | – | GM Abhimanyu Puranik (3.5) | 2640 | ||
| 13 | GM Rauf Mamedov (3.5) | 2651 | – | GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (3.5) | 2742 | ||
| 14 | GM Leon Luke Mendonca (3.5) | 2615 | – | GM Yu Yangyi (3.5) | 2714 | ||
| 15 | GM Richard Rapport (3.5) | 2711 | – | GM Ivan Cheparinov (3.5) | 2627 | ||
| 16 | GM Samuel Sevian (3.5) | 2692 | – | GM Szymon Gumularz (3.5) | 2590 | ||
| 17 | GM Daniil Dubov (3.5) | 2691 | – | GM Andy Woodward (3.5) | 2557 | ||
| 18 | GM Alexei Shirov (3.5) | 2616 | – | GM Andrey Esipenko (3.5) | 2687 | ||
| 19 | GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra (3.5) | 2594 | – | GM Nikita Vitiugov (3.5) | 2666 | ||
| 20 | GM Ivan Saric (3.5) | 2655 | – | GM Mateusz Bartel (3.5) | 2581 | ||
| 21 | GM Ediz Gurel (3) | 2631 | – | GM Gukesh Dommaraju (3) | 2767 |
Women: Stefanova Shocks Tan As Lagno, Vaishali Lead
There were just three draws on the top boards in the Women’s section, with Lagno and Vaishali currently occupying the two Candidates spots.
Round 6 Results: Women
Check out the full games and results.
Tan is already qualified to the Candidates, which lessens the blow of her being the top seed to suffer an upset defeat in round six.
FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss Round 6 Upset Wins
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| GM Tan Zhongyi (2) | 2531 | 0 – 1 | GM Antoaneta Stefanova (27) | 2395 | ||
| IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (37) | 2379 | 1 – 0 | IM Yuliia Osmak (7) | 2478 | ||
| WGM Anna Shukhman (18) | 2420 | 0 – 1 | IM Irina Bulmaga (25) | 2400 | ||
| IM Oliwia Kiolbasa (24) | 2405 | 0 – 1 | GM Irina Krush (44) | 2366 |
As Lagno and Vaishali have already played each other (a draw), then face the players half a point behind, Stefanova and Guo.
FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss Round 7 Pairings (Top 10)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Antoaneta Stefanova (4.5) | 2395 | – | GM Kateryna Lagno (5) | 2505 | ||
| 2 | GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (5) | 2452 | – | IM Guo Qi (4.5) | 2371 | ||
| 3 | GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (4) | 2505 | – | IM Irina Bulmaga (4) | 2400 | ||
| 4 | GM Mariya Muzychuk (4) | 2484 | – | WIM Afruza Khamdamova (4) | 2409 | ||
| 5 | IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (4) | 2445 | – | GM Olga Girya (4) | 2386 | ||
| 6 | IM Song Yuxin (4) | 2409 | – | IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (4) | 2385 | ||
| 7 | IM Dinara Wagner (4) | 2400 | – | GM Tan Zhongyi (3.5) | 2531 | ||
| 8 | IM Carissa Yip (3.5) | 2458 | – | IM Leya Garifullina (3.5) | 2477 | ||
| 9 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (3.5) | 2472 | – | GM Harika Dronavalli (3.5) | 2467 | ||
| 10 | GM Irina Krush (3.5) | 2366 | – | WGM Zsoka Gaal (3) | 2388 |
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 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 select 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 ($40,000). The time control is 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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