The FIDE World Cup 2025 begins in Goa on Friday, with some of the best chess players vying for the title that was last won by Magnus Carlsen in 2023. This will be the biggest chess tournament held on Indian soil since the Olympiad in 2022 and provides an opportunity for players to book their spots at next year’s FIDE Candidates tournament, the winner of which will challenge Gukesh Dommaraju for the World Championship next year.
This will be the 11th edition of the World Cup in its current format, and with three spots available for the Candidates here, it is a hugely significant tournament for the players. Defending champion Carlsen won’t play in it, in line with his stance of minimising the amount of classical chess that he wishes to play. World numbers two and three – Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana – won’t be in Goa either, with both having already guaranteed themselves a place at next year’s Candidates tournament.
So, who are the contenders to win the tournament? We take a look at the top five:
Gukesh Dommaraju
The world champion plays his first big tournament at home since winning the crown in Singapore last year and is clearly the one to watch out for. It’s been a tough 2025 for Gukesh, particularly in the last few months. After starting the year well at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands, he has struggled with juggling formats between Freestyle, faster time controls, and classical chess.
He had a woeful time at the FIDE Grand Swiss in September, where he eventually finished 44th, scoring 6 points in 11 rounds. However, his recent form has been encouraging. He won the gold medal on the top board at the European Club Cup 2025, beating the likes of Anish Giri and Vincent Keymer. He has also beaten Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana in rapid chess at the Clutch Chess showdown in St. Louis, USA. In fact, Gukesh will be playing that tournament until a couple of days before the World Cup begins.
He has a bye in the opening round but could face a tricky third round clash against young Turkish GM Ediz Gurel, before potential matches against two Chinese opponents. If Gukesh gets that far, he could face Nodribek Abdusattorov in the quarterfinal and Anish Giri in the semifinal.
R Praggnanandhaa
Praggnanandhaa may not really need the World Cup spot to make it through to the Candidates, but he has unfinished business at this tournament. In 2023 he lost the final to Carlsen, after a superb run that included impressive wins against Nakamura and Caruana.
Praggnanandhaa has had a superb year, with three wins in big tournaments – the Tata Steel Masters, Superbet Chess Classic and the UzChess Cup. He also only lost out on the title at the Sinquefield Cup on tie-breaks to Wesley So. It is that run which puts him top of the 2025 FIDE Circuit leaderboard. Should he finish the year there, he will qualify for the Candidates through that route, although he will be looking to lock his spot down by finishing in the top three here in Goa.
As the third seed, Praggnanandhaa has a bye in the first round and should have a straightforward path through to the fourth round, where last year’s World Rapid Champion Volodar Murzin could await him.
Vincent Keymer awaits in a potential blockbuster quarterfinal, before possibly Arjun Erigaisi in the semifinal. So, despite having a fairly straightforward path through the early rounds, Praggnanandhaa’s route to the title, should he get there, will be a challenging one.
Vincent Keymer
Keymer is another player has had a superb 2025 season. He is currently fourth in the live ratings list, after gaining 18 rating points through the European Club Cup and the European Team Championships in the last month. He also won the Chennai Grand Masters in August, beating the likes of Erigaisi, Anish Giri and Vidit Gujrathi, in a comfortable run to the title.
Keymer won silver on the top board at the European Club Championships as well, behind Gukesh, another clear sign that his form is in a really good place ahead of the World Cup. Keymer’s Grand Swiss performance was impressive, but just short of what was needed to finish in the top two there and qualify for the Candidates. In fact, he finished with 7.5 points, the same as Matthias Bluebaum, who finished second. Keymer only lost out on tie-break criteria.
Before a potential quarterfinal against Praggnanandhaa, Keymer could have a few Indian obstacles to deal with as well, with Nihal Sarin and Karthikeyan Murali both in the German’s section of the draw.
Anish Giri
Giri has already qualified for the Candidates, by virtue of winning the Grand Swiss, and it is exactly that kind of form which makes him a big threat to the other players at this World Cup.
What will once again help Giri is his defensive game. On most days in classical chess, it is impossible to beat Giri. It’s what he has worked on as well. If his bad days end in draws, then he raises his floor to a level where he can compete for the biggest honours, he had told ESPN on the sidelines of the Chennai Grand Masters in August.
Giri has an interesting draw as well, as a fourth-round clash with Bluebaum awaits, in a clash of the top two finishers from the Grand Swiss tournament in September. A quarterfinal against Wesley So could be in the offing, and then a semifinal against Gukesh, if the tournament proceeds as the seedings dictate.
Wesley So
Wesley So has been in and around the top echelons of elite chess for an extended period but has only made the Candidates once in his career so far, back in 2018. So has an excellent opportunity to do so here and comes into this tournament in superb form as well.
He has just played in the US Championships, where he finished second behind Caruana, with a score of 7.5 in 11 rounds. So didn’t lose a single game throughout that tournament and showed that his Sinquefield Cup win wasn’t just a flash in the pan this year. He didn’t lose a single game at that tournament either, against elite opponents like Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Caruana, Alireza Firouzja and Abdusattorov.
There’s a potential blockbuster fifth-round clash that awaits So against Ian Nepomniachtchi, so he will need to get through a rather big obstacle before that potential quarterfinal against Giri.
