Grand Swiss: Nihal channels his inner Tal

by Shahid Ahmed - 06/09/2025

Nihal Sarin played arguably the most exciting game of the second round of FIDE Grand Swiss 2025. He channeled his inner Tal when he sacrificed an exchanged followed by his knight simply based on his instinct. It goes without saying that he was right. The World Champion, D Gukesh had some chances against Turkiye's youngest GM, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. However, the game ended in a draw. Abhimanyu Puranik drew against the defending champion, Vidit Gujrathi. R Praggnanandhaa won against Ivan Zemlyanskii as the latter made a simple tactical error. Arjun Erigaisi won a wild battle against Haik Martirosyan (ARM). Among the women, IM Vantika Agrawal missed good chances in the endgame against the two-time World Blitz Women champion, GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ). The defending champion among the Women, GM R Vaishali crushed IM Eline Roebers (NED) in 22 moves. Round 3 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST. Photos: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Arjun Erigaisi wins a wild battle against Haik Martirosyan

After joining forces with GM Vishnu Prasanna, the one who made Gukesh a World-Class player, GM Nihal Sarin has been able to play freely, true to his original style. His play against GM Aram Hakobyan (ARM) was an inkling to how creative and fierce Nihal can get on the board.

Gukesh - Yagiz: 0.5-0.5

This was the first-ever rated game between the World Champion, GM D Gukesh (2767) and Turkiye's youngest GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (2646).

Position after 27...c4+

At a first glance, 27...c4+ seems to be an interesting break. However, a careful calculation reveals that it only helps White 28.bxc4 Nb6 29.Ra2 Nxc4 30.fxe6 fxe6 31.Nf4 Re8 32.Bc1 Kc6 33.Rf1 Rg8 34.Kc2 Be7 35.Nxe6 g6 36.g5 Kd7 37.Nf4+- Rgf8 38.Rg1 Bxg5 39.Nxd5 Kc6 40.Bxg5? was White's final mistake as Kxd5 and White's winning chances are gone. 40.Nf6 Bxf6 41.Bxh6 would have maintained the advantage.

GM D Gukesh - GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (TUR), Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

The World Champion, D Gukesh had great chances to win against GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (TUR)

GM Abhimanyu Puranik - GM Vidit Gujrathi: 0.5-0.5

Praggnanandhaa - Zemlyanskii

Position after 30...Rc7??

It is not every day we get to see a Grandmaster making a simple tactical mistake which GM Ivan Zemlyanskii (2586) did against GM R Praggnanandhaa (2785). Find out the winning continuation which Praggnanandhaa played in the game.

GM Ivan Zemlyanskii - GM R Praggnanandhaa, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

The pressure of playing against the World no.4 R Praggnanandhaa got to Ivan Zemlyanskii

Haik - Arjun: 0-1

GM Haik M Martirosyan (ARM, 2628) and GM Arjun Erigaisi (2771) have played plenty of Classical rated games against each other, six to be exact. Arjun won one and the remaining five ended in draws. The game arising out of King's Indian Defence got exciting in a hurry. Haik was the first to get a decisive advantage.

Position after 30...Nd3

31.Rd4 would have maintained the upper hand for White. 31.g6? fxg6 32.Rf1 Nxe5 Black is out of danger. 33.Rd1 Ra7 34.Nxd5 cxd5 35.Rxd5 Qb8 Black went on to use his extra material advantage into a win.

GM Arjun Erigaisi won an exciting battle against GM Haik Martirosyan (ARM)

Aram - Nihal

Position after 19...Nxg2!

GM Nihal Sarin (2693) played a fantastic game against GM Aram Hakobyan (ARM, 2625). He made some sacrifices which is not something a computer would understand. 18...Qf6 offering an exchange 19.Bxf8 Nxg2! there is nothing definitive for Black immediately. Computer can defend almost every situation, in this case, it was a human who was defending it. Just like the great Tal, he felt that his opponent will not be able to defend it and he will be the one navigating his path to victory. He was 100% right about it. 20.Nh2 Bxh3 21.Bc5 Nh4 22.Be2 g4 23.Rfd1 Qg6 24.Nf1?? Qxe4-+ Black went on to win the game comfortably.

GM Nihal Sarin played quite possibly the game of the round against GM Aram Hakobyan (ARM)

Eljanov - Leon

Position after 23...Nc2

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR, 2682) has no good way to keep the rook. However, he could have opted to give up his rook for GM Leon Luke Mendonca's (2615) rook 24.Rc1 Ba3 25.Qxb5 Bxc1 26.Bxc1 Qc6 would have minimized the damage. 24.Qxb5?? directly gave Black a substantial advantage Nxe1 25.Nxe1 Bd5 26.Qd7 Kf7 27.f4 gxf4 28.Kf2 Rg8 and Black won the game in the next few moves.

GM Leon Luke Mendonca scored a fine victory against GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR)

GM Pranav Venkatesh - GM Nikita Vitiugov (ENG): 0.5-0.5

GM Shant Sargsyan (ARM) - GM S L Narayanan: 0.5-0.5

GM Aditya Mittal played a 112-move long marathon draw against the Germany no.3 - GM Dmitrij Kollars

GM Aryan Chopra got the better of GM Karthikeyan Murali

GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) - GM Divya Deshmukh: 0.5-0.5

Women: Vantika misses a win against Bibisara

Vantika - Bibisara: 0.5-0.5

This was the first-ever rated game between IM Vantika Agrawal (2381) and two-time consecutive former World Blitz Women champion, GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ, 2505).

Position after 50...Kd7

51.Bf1 and f5, both are winning for White. Vantika opted for 51.f5 gxf5 52.Bh3 Ke7 53.Bxf5 and White eventually misplayed when she captured the h5-pawn with her bishop instead of her king. It allowed the GM to escape with a draw.

IM Vantika Agrawal was on the verge of winning against GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ)

Eline - Vaishali: 0-1

For the second consecutive edition, IM Eline Roebers (NED, 2377) faced GM R Vaishali (2452) at the same round with same color. The only key difference was Vaishali became a GM now and hence much stronger. Eline went wrong early in the game.

Position after 11...f5

12.Nxf5? spelled doom for White d5 13.Bb3 Nxf5 14.exf5 Bxf5 15.Bxd5+ Kh8 16.Bf2?? was the final mistake Qe7+ 17.Kf1 Bxf2 18.Kxf2 Nxf4 19.Bf3 Rad8 20.Nd2 Qc5+ 21.Kg3 Nd3 22.Qd1 Qd6+ and Black won.

IM Eline Roebers (NED) got crushed in 22 moves by GM R Vaishali

Round 2 in progress

For more photos, please click here and here.

Schedule

Every day game starts at 30 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST from 4th to 15th September 2025. Rest day is on Wednesday 10th September 2025. The last round on 15th September will start at 2 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST.

Time Control

The time control for each game is: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1 in the Open section. For Women, the time control is 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Qualification

Open: The winner and the runner-up of Grand Swiss shall qualify for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026. If any of these players is the FIDE World Champion as of 1 January 2025 or have already qualified for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 at the moment of the beginning of the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2025, or withdraws the qualification spot(s) shall be awarded, in the order of priority, to the player ⁃ in the 3rd place in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2025; ⁃ in the 2nd place according to the FIDE Circuit 2024 ranking list; ⁃ who is next yet unqualified in the FIDE Circuit 2025 ranking list.

Women: The winner and the runner-up of WGS shall qualify for the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2024. If one or both these players has (-ve) already qualified to the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 at the moment of the beginning of WGS via different qualification track or do (-es) not need to qualify for the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026, the qualification spot(s) shall go to the highest-placed player(s) in the final standings who has/have not yet qualified to the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 at the moment of the beginning of WGS.

Prizes

The total prize fund in the Open is US$ 625000 with the first prize being $90000. For Women's the total prize fund is $230000, first prize $40000. Total numbers of prizes are 73, Open - 50 and Women - 23.

Watch live stream

Replay FIDE Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss 2023 Round 2 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 2 Open games

Replay Round 2 Women games

Round 2 Open results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	3	GM	Gukesh, D	2767	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	2646	52
2	54	GM	Rodshtein, Maxim	2645	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	2754	4
3	56	GM	Svane, Frederik	2643	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2748	6
4	7	GM	Giri, Anish	2746	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	2640	58
5	57	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	2640	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2712	16
6	21	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2692	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Anton Guijarro, David	2625	71
7	76	GM	Demchenko, Anton	2620	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Shankland, Sam	2670	34
8	93	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	2602	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Gelfand, Boris	2652	44
9	1	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2785	½	1 - 0	1	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	2586	105
10	66	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	2628	½	0 - 1	½	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2771	2

Details

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	76	GM	Demchenko, Anton	SLO	2620	2	2704	1	1,5
2	4	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	FRA	2754	2	2645	1	2
3	21	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	IRI	2692	2	2625	1	2
4	52	GM	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	TUR	2646	1,5	2767	1,5	2
5	56	GM	Svane, Frederik	GER	2643	1,5	2748	1,5	2
6	58	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	UAE	2640	1,5	2746	1,5	1,5
7	57	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	IND	2640	1,5	2712	1,5	2
8	83	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2615	1,5	2687	1,5	2
9	86	GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	USA	2611	1,5	2686	1,5	2
10	90	GM	Predke, Alexandr	SRB	2609	1,5	2674	1	1,5

Details

Round 3 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	4	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	2754	2		2	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2692	21
2	2	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2771	1½		2	GM	Demchenko, Anton	2620	76
3	44	GM	Gelfand, Boris	2652	1½		1½	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2785	1
4	49	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2648	1½		1½	GM	Gukesh, D	2767	3
5	52	GM	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	2646	1½		1½	GM	Keymer, Vincent	2751	5
6	6	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2748	1½		1½	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	2640	57
7	7	GM	Giri, Anish	2746	1½		1½	GM	Svane, Frederik	2643	56
8	58	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	2640	1½		1½	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	2742	9
9	83	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2615	1½		1½	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	2738	11
10	86	GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	2611	1½		1½	GM	Yu, Yangyi	2714	15

Details

Round 2 Women results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	35	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2381	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	2505	3
2	39	IM	Roebers, Eline	2377	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2452	13
3	22	WIM	Khamdamova, Afruza	2409	1	½ - ½	1	WGM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	2383	34
4	26	IM	Wagner, Dinara	2400	1	½ - ½	1	WGM	Zhai, Mo	2380	36
5	29	WGM	Gaal, Zsoka	2388	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Badelka, Olga	2375	40
6	47	WGM	Ouellet, Maili-Jade	2348	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Girya, Olga	2386	30
7	33	IM	Fataliyeva, Ulviyya	2385	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Kamalidenova, Meruert	2349	46
8	4	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2505	½	1 - 0	1	WIM	Omonova, Umida	2252	52
9	43	WGM	Beydullayeva, Govhar	2368	½	½ - ½	½	GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2472	9
10	10	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2467	½	½ - ½	½	IM	Salimova, Nurgyul	2386	32

Details

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	40	IM	Badelka, Olga	AUT	2375	2	2454	1	2
2	13	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2452	2	2377	1	1
3	30	GM	Girya, Olga	FID	2386	1,5	2531	1,5	2,5
4	35	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	IND	2381	1,5	2505	1,5	2
5	33	IM	Fataliyeva, Ulviyya	AZE	2385	1,5	2492	1,5	2
6	34	WGM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	KAZ	2383	1,5	2484	1,5	2,5
7	36	WGM	Zhai, Mo	CHN	2380	1,5	2477	1,5	2,5
8	49	WIM	Karimova, Guldona	UZB	2324	1,5	2434	1,5	2
9	46	IM	Kamalidenova, Meruert	KAZ	2349	1,5	2420	1,5	2
10	47	WGM	Ouellet, Maili-Jade	CAN	2348	1,5	2418	1,5	1,5

Details

Round 3 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	13	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2452	2		2	IM	Badelka, Olga	2375	40
2	3	GM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	2505	1½		1½	IM	Fataliyeva, Ulviyya	2385	33
3	34	WGM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	2383	1½		1½	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2505	4
4	21	IM	Song, Yuxin	2409	1½		1½	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2381	35
5	36	WGM	Zhai, Mo	2380	1½		1½	WIM	Khamdamova, Afruza	2409	22
6	46	IM	Kamalidenova, Meruert	2349	1½		1½	IM	Wagner, Dinara	2400	26
7	27	GM	Stefanova, Antoaneta	2395	1½		1½	WGM	Ouellet, Maili-Jade	2348	47
8	30	GM	Girya, Olga	2386	1½		1½	WIM	Karimova, Guldona	2324	49
9	6	GM	Muzychuk, Mariya	2484	1		1½	WGM	Wafa, Shrook	2202	53
10	28	IM	Mkrtchian, Lilit	2393	1		1	GM	Tan, Zhongyi	2531	2

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations: Open and Women

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