Vaishali & Maghsoodloo lead 3/3 @ Samarkand
GMs Vaishali Rameshbabu & Parham Maghsoodloo with 3/3 score led the Women’s & Open section of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 at Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Following sole leader Maghsoodloo at 2.5 points were GMs Erigaisi Arjun, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Gukesh Dommaraju, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gumularz Szymon and Abhimanyu Mishra. In the women’s section GM Lagno Kateryna, IM Song Yuxin and IM Wagner Dinara stayed right behind the defending champion Vaishali Rameshbabu at 2.5 points.
In another good day for the top seeds – Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh & Erigaisi – won their games against Gelfand, Yuffa and Demchenko respectively. The win propels the trio to the second spot which they share with Abhimanyu Mishra – the youngest Grandmaster in the history of chess – among others. While the world champion Gukesh won his game against Yuffa without breaking a sweat, Pragg & Erigaisi fought for seven hours before conquering their opponents.
The game of the day, between Alireza Firouzja and Parham Maghsoodloo turned out to be connoisseur’s delight. The Sicilian Najdorf between former Iranian team-mates had entertainment written all over.
Both, Alireza and Parham, stretched every ounce of energy to get one up on the other. Finally when the French Iranian crossed the danger line with 43. Rb6?! ceding his rook for bishop the result got written. From then on Parham was all precision making “only moves” in time scripting a famous victory on the sixth hour of play. The winner will savor the flavor for long even as the bigger task of going for the Candidates spot await him.
World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju put behind his give away the earlier round, coming up with a sound victory over GM Daniil Yuffa in the very next round. The Queen’s Gambit Declined game showed little indication of the fireworks in store, as white kept on pressing the attack buttons. The Russian-Spanish Grandmaster was full of aggression right from the start. He sacrificed a knight early in the game going all out against the black monarch. But, the world champion was up to the task, defending with precision and counter-attacking when required. Facing imminent loss Yuffa resigned on the 35th move.
Top board battles for the 4th round will see leader Maghsoodloo facing local star Abdusattorov, while Praggnanandhaa takes on Abhimanyu Mishra. In the third board, world champion Gukesh Dommaraju faces fellow Indian Erigaisi Arjun, in what promises to be an engrossing encounter.
Defending women’s Grand Swiss champion Vaishali known for her daring play, kept the chess loving public entertained. With her clock winding down to the last minute, Vaishali showed little signs of nervousness, before putting it across Austrian Olga. GM Lagno Kateryna, IM Song Yuxin and IM Wagner Dinara stayed right behind the tournament leader Vaishali Rameshbabu at 2.5 points. In key fourth round pairings, in-form Vaishali faces German Dinara, while second placed Lagno and Yuxin cross swords in the next board.
Round four starts by Sunday, 7th September, at 6 AM ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 PM IST.
Round 3 Results (Open): Firouzja Alireza (2.0) lost to Maghsoodloo Parham (3.0), Erigaisi Arjun (2.5) beat Demchenko Anton (2.0), Gelfand Boris (1.5) lost to Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2.5), Yuffa Daniil (1.5) lost to Gukesh Dommaraju (2.5), Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan (2.0) drew with Keymer Vincent (2.0), Abdusattorov Nodirbek (2.5) beat Puranik Abhimanyu (1.5), Mendonca Leon Luke (2.0) drew with Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (2.0), Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2.0) drew with Predke Alexandr (2.0).
Round 3 Results (Women): Vaishali Rameshbabu (3.0) beat Badelka Olga (2.0), Assaubayeva Bibisara (2.0) drew with Fataliyeva ULviyya (2.0), Balabayeva Xeniya (1.5) lost to Lagno Kateryna (2.5), Song Yuxin (2.5) beat Vantika Agrawal (1.5), Kamalidenova Meruert (1.5) lost to Wagner Dinara (2.5), Guo Qi (1.5) drew with Dronavalli Harika (1.5)
Firouzja Alireza (2754) – Maghsoodloo Parham (2692) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. h3 Be6 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O a5 11. a4 Na6 12. f4 Rc8 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. Qxd8 Rfxd8 15. Rxd8+ Bxd8 16. Bxa6 bxa6 17. Rd1 Be7 18. Nd5 Bb4 19. Bb6 Nxe4 20. Nxa5 Bd6 21. Nb7 Bf8 22. a5 g6 23. c3 h5 24. Kc2 g5 25. Nc7 Bf5 26. Kb3 Rb8 27. Nd8 Nc5+ 28. Ka2 Bc2 29. Rd2 Bb3+ 30. Kb1 e4 31. Nd5 f5 32. g4 hxg4 33. hxg4 f4 34. Bxc5 Bxc5 35. Nf6+ Kg7 36. Nxe4 Be7 37. Nc6 Rh8 38. Nf2 Bc5 39. Rd7+ Kg6 40. Rb7 Bxf2 41. Rxb3 Kf6 42. Kc2 Rh4 43. Rb6 Bxb6 44. axb6 Rh7 45. c4 Rd7 46. Nb4 f3 47. Nd3 Ke7 48. c5 Rd8 49. c6 Kd6 50. c7 Re8 51. Kc3 Kc6
52. Kd4 0-1
Yuffa Daniil (2648) – Gukesh Dommaraju (2767) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. Bg5 dxc4 7. e4 Bd7 8. Qd1 b5 9. a4 a6 10. e5 h6 11. exf6 hxg5 12. fxg7 Rg8 13. h4 g4 14. Ng5 Rxg7 15. g3 e5 16. Bg2 exd4 17. O-O dxc3 18. axb5 axb5 19. Re1+ Be7 20. Rxa8 Qxa8 21. bxc3 Qa3 22. Ne4 Ne5 23. Qd2 Qa6 24. Qd5 f6 25. h5 Be6 26. Nxf6+ Bxf6 27. Rxe5 Re7 28. Rxe6 Qxe6 29. Qxb5+ Kf8 30. Bd5 Qf5 31. Qc6 Kg7 32. Qa8 Qxh5 33. Qg8+ Kh6 34. Qf8+ Kg6 35. Qg8+
35…Bg7 0-1
Vaishali Rameshbabu (2452) – Badelka Olga (2375) 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 a6 6. a4 Nc6 7. Be2 O-O 8. Nf3 e5 9. d5 Ne7 10. h3 Nh5 11. O-O Qe8 12. Nh4 f5 13. exf5 gxf5 14. Qd1 Nf6 15. f4 e4 16. Qd2 Kh8 17. Kh2 Qf7 18. Rad1 b6 19. Rg1 Bb7 20. Bc4 Qh5 21. Qf2 Rae8 22. Bd4 Rg8 23. Be3 Bc8 24. Be2 Qf7 25. g4 fxg4 26. hxg4 Nfxd5 27. Nxd5 Nxd5 28. Rxd5 Bxb2 29. Rh5 Rg7 30. g5 d5 31. g6 Qf6 32. Rxh7+ Rxh7 33. gxh7 d4 34. Ng6+ Kxh7 35. Rg5 dxe3 36. Qh4+ Kg7 37. Ne5+ Kf8
38. Rg8+ 1-0
Photo Courtesy: Michal Walusza / FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Official Site: https://grandswiss2025.fide.com/
