Samarkand is ready for Grand Swiss 2025
Who will be next two to join Fabiano Caruana for the Candidates 2026. The question will be answered in the next 11 days when the winner & the runner-up of the $ 855,000 FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 will be identified. For, they earn the right to play the next Candidates tournament that lead up to the World Championship.
From the total prize fund pool of $ 855,000 the Open section of the Grand Swiss gets $625,000 allocated as prize money, while $230,000 goes to the Women’s Grand Swiss. FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2025 organised by FIDE & Uzbekistan Chess Federation runs from 4th to 15th September, 2025 at Samarkand, Uzbekistan. One of the strongest Opens ever this Candidates qualifier tournament boasts of 114 Grandmasters from 33 countries.
Prominently missing from the event will be the top 3 in the World rankings viz., Carlsen, Caruana and Nakamura respectively. But, the participation of World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju adds glitter to the tournament, while fellow Indian and FIDE Circuit leader Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu will take off as the top seed. Completing the top trio of seeds will be GM Erigaisi Arjun who will look forward to locking his Candidates spot here.
Some of the favorites who will be hungry to make the cut will be GMs Firouzja, Keymer, Abdusattorov, Giri, Aronian, Nepomniachtchi, Mamedyarov, MVL, Niemann among others.
The press meet elaborated the significance of the tournament and the history being made repeatedly in Uzbek soil. Speaking on the occasion, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said “The Grand Swiss is the strongest open competition in the two-year World Championship cycle, allowing all top players to fight for the spots in the Candidates tournaments. There are no weak opponents here and everything is usually decided in the last round, which will bring huge excitement for the spectators”.
World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju elaborated, “I’m happy to be back here in Samarkand. I was here in 2023 for the World Rapid and Blitz. It’s nice to be back here. 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”.
Present in the dais on the occasion of the press meet were World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and Adham Ikramov, the Minister of Youth Policy and Sports of Uzbekistan, Alisher Sadullaev, the First Vice-President of Uzbekistan Chess Federation and WIM Afruza Khamdamova.
FIDE commentator for the event, GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko gave five reasons to watch and not miss this gala viz., (1) Reigning world champion, ex-world champion, Candidates players in action, (2) There’s always going to be something going on, (3) Unpredictability, (4) Young upcoming players will impress, (5) Longest time control possible – 7 hours.
Key 1st round pairings: Xiong – Pragg, Erigaisi – Chigaev, Bacrot – Gukesh, Firouzja – Bassem, Gurel – Keymer, Abdusattorov – Ivic, Hovhannisyan – Giri, Aronian – Martirosyan, Volokitin – Nepomniachtchi, Mamedyarov – Cheparinov, Sjugirov – MVL, Niemann – Sargissian
Photo Courtesy: Michal Walusza / FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Complete Round 1 Pairings
Open Event Participants
Women’s Event Participants
Official Site: https://grandswiss2025.fide.com/
