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Giri, Aronian, Nihal, Sindarov Grab Final Spots In Esports World Cup

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GMs Anish Giri, Levon Aronian, Nihal Sarin, and Javokhir Sindarov have taken the final four spots in the $1.5 million main chess event of the 2025 Esports World Cup. Giri won in the most dramatic fashion, flagging GM Hans Niemann in a losing position, while Aronian fought back from losing to Giri in the first match of the day to defeat GM Andrey Esipenko in the last to finish. Nihal qualified first by beating Esipenko in the Winner’s bracket, while Sindarov came from behind to defeat Niemann. 

The main event of the Esports World Cup begins on Tuesday, July 29, starting at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CEST / 5:30 p.m. IST.

Last Chance Qualifier Bracket

Going into the final day of the Last Chance Qualifier there were still 16 players vying to snatch one of the last four spots in the Esports World Cup.

It was another gruelling eight-hour day, consisting of a double-elimination bracket that stopped when we were down to the final four. Nihal and Sindarov made it through from the Winners or Upper Bracket.

Every player had a second chance, however, and it was ultimately Aronian (who played five matches) and Giri who took the last two spots via the Losers or Lower Bracket.

Each knockout match consisted of two games of 10+0, with a bidding armageddon game if the score was tied 1-1, except for matches where the winner would qualify to the Esports World Cup, which were played as best-of-four. Let’s take a look at those crucial matches and how the players got there. 

Nihal 2.5-1.5 Esipenko

Nihal (Team S8UL) was the first player to qualify for the Esports World Cup, and the first to sign his “key”—a metal triangle that all players in the main event receive and will either get to insert in the final trophy or see crushed by an opponent! 

Nihal did it in just three matches, of which the first was arguably the toughest. After a draw in the first game against GM Denis Lazavik he found himself lost and 12 seconds behind on the clock toward the end of the second. Nihal then switched on beast mode, however, to trick and catch Lazavik before delivering checkmate.

Giri was then dispatched with the fine blow 23.Nxf7!! in the first game…

…and a well-judged exchange sacrifice to make a draw in the second.

That set up a title match against Esipenko, who had defeated GMs Bassem Amin and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and was the one person to inflict a loss on Nihal in Riyadh—in the final game of their qualifying group.

The first knockout game was a quiet draw, before in the second Esipenko missed a tricky win near the end of a minor-piece endgame. It was in game three that Nihal pounced. Esipenko had earlier correctly sacrificed a knight on g4, but now the Indian star sacrificed a rook and soon took complete control.

That meant the next game was must-win for Esipenko, but Nihal never gave a chance as he made a rock-solid draw. 

The other player to qualify in just three matches was Sindarov.

Sindarov 2.5-2.5 Niemann (Sindarov wins in armageddon)

Both Sindarov and Niemann came through their groups unbeaten, while Sindarov then continued that run to defeat GMs Alexey Sarana and Alexander Grischuk 1.5-0.5.

Niemann defeated GM Ahmed Adly 1.5-0.5 but then traded wins with GM Yu Yangyi. It was only in armageddon that Niemann exploited a moment’s hesitation by Yu to take over and clinch victory.

Egyptian GM Adly was close to taking Niemann to armageddon, but stumbled into a mating net in what had been an equal position.

Niemann struck first in the qualification match, celebrating with a double fist pump after he’d used the clock and practical skills to grind out a win where he’d earlier been in trouble.

Niemann was close to almost wrapping up overall victory with a win in the second game, but had to settle for a 79-move draw.

That missed chance proved costly, as Sindarov defended against Niemann’s attack in the next game then gradually picked up pawns to level the score, before the final game ended in a draw. That meant armageddon, with Sindarov winning the bidding war by offering to play Black with just seven minutes and 24 seconds to his opponent’s 10 minutes. 

Sindarov handled the game perfectly, forcing Niemann into multiple positions where his best option was to go for a repetition of moves and a draw—which as White in armageddon would mean defeat. Sindarov, representing Team Vitality, took the qualification spot…



…and the key.

That wasn’t the end of the road for the two losers in those matches in the Winners Bracket, however, since they would get to play once more for a qualification spot against the players who battled their way through the Losers Bracket.

Giri 2.5-0.5 Niemann

Giri started the day in fine form, grabbing a pawn against Aronian and easily brushing off his opponent’s desperate attempt at a swindle at the end.

Giri then fell to Nihal, however, as we’ve seen, and had to plot a comeback in the Lower Bracket.

His 2-1 victory over Adly was a little shaky, since he missed wins in both of the first two games, but he got the job done in armageddon. Then came a big clash against Praggnanandhaa, who was being watched by his Team Liquid colleague GM Magnus Carlsen.

The match was every bit as intense as you could hope for, with Giri a pawn up for most of a 92-move draw in the first game, before the second game was a spectacular 25-move draw by repetition. 

Giri won the bid to have the black pieces, seemed to be in complete control, but needlessly complicated matters and was losing for one move before finally wrapping up the draw he needed to reach a match for qualification. Praggnanandhaa was out.

The final match began perfectly for Giri after Niemann’s 22.g5? overlooked a nice trick to win a pawn. Giri took over and won a fine game, even if at times he overcomplicated matters.

The next game was a 21-move draw by repetition, while the third looked destined to be a comeback for Niemann from the very first moves. Giri is a feared opening theoretician, but he found himself in a dire position, with Niemann’s unstoppable wave of pawns, supported by powerful bishops, set to wash the Dutchman off the board.

It never quite happened, however, since Giri dug in to put up maximum resistance. Niemann also handled things well, keeping a winning advantage, but when the players traded down into an endgame it was possible to imagine a successful outcome for Giri. The problem was the clock, where Niemann still had a 15-second advantage as late as move 59, but when Niemann invested most of his edge to look for a win he lost control.

The position on the board was still good to totally winning for White, but Giri brililantly played on the clock, and ultimately flagged his fearsome opponent. If ever a player was going to slam the table this was that moment! 

Niemann was out, while Giri, representing Team Secret, goes through to the main event.

When that was over, there was just one match left in play.

Aronian 3-2 Esipenko

Aronian has been in brilliant form recently, but his round-one loss to Giri left him needing to eliminate four players in a row to qualify to the Esports World Cup—which is just what he did!

First was Lazavik, who was ground down in a two vs. one rook endgame that was theoretically equal until Lazavik gifted his pawn in what looks like it might have been a mouse-slip. Then Yu was dispatched 1.5-0.5 with a minimum of fuss, before a dramatic match against Aronian’s long-time rival Grischuk. Aronian won the first game, but would have been taken to armageddon if Grischuk had grabbed the b5-pawn when he had the chance.

Instead Grischuk played 44.Qd6? and the black b-pawn ultimate gave Aronian another win to reach a qualification match.

The first game of that match saw Aronian pick up one of the most convincing wins of the day, sacrificing pieces for a ferocious attack. That’s our Game of the Day, which has been analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao below.

Then Esipenko’s despair was obvious when Aronian moved to 2-0 with a fine technical conversion of an extra pawn in an opposite-colored bishop endgame.

Aronian only needed to draw one of the remaining two regular games… but he didn’t! In the third, 9.c5? was a blunder, as Esipenko showed with 9…Bxc5!!.

In the next game Aronian at times came agonizingly close to the draw he needed to clinch the match, but Esipenko struck again to win in 63 moves and force armageddon.

The armageddon was a fitting finale to the match and day as a whole, with Aronian getting Black and playing a sharp opening system he’d used recently against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in the World Blitz Team Championship in London. Aronian got a good position out of the opening there but lost, which is almost what happened in Riyadh.

In the end it came down to one move, however, with 43.Qxf5! the one winning move in this position.

43.Ke2? instead allowed Aronian’s cunning plan to work out perfectly, and he went on to deliver checkmate.

Aronian, representing Team Reject, was the final player to pick up his key to the main event.

There are two days to recover from all the qualification action before the main event starts on Tuesday, with the likes of Carlsen, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Fabiano Caruana, and GM Arjun Erigaisi joining the show. By Friday, someone will have picked up the $250,000 top prize! 

How to watch?

You can follow the 2025 Esports World Cup games on our Events Page. You can watch live commentary on the Chess.com YouTube and Twitch channels.

The 2025 Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, features chess for the first time, with a $1.5 million prize fund and $250,000 for first place, while chess players are also part of esports teams that share a $27 million prize fund. Twelve players qualified for the main event via the Champions Chess Tour, while four will qualify in the Last Chance Qualifier (July 24-26) in Riyadh. That event has a $50,000 prize fund, with four Swiss tournaments, then a 16-player Playoffs to decide the final four. The main event (July 29-August 1) is first split into four groups of four players. Half of the players will be eliminated before the top eight compete in a knockout Playoff for the top prizes. The time control for all games is 10 minutes, with no increment.    

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