Niemann shocked, Svane brothers through @ Goa
GM Lorenzo Lodici (Italy) shocked GM Hans Moke Niemann (USA) 2.5-1.5 in the second round tie-breaks of the FIDE World Cup at Hotel Rio Resort, Goa. Also shown the door were higher rated GMs Bu Xianghzhi (China) & Nihal Sarin (India) against GMs Mustafa Yilmaz (Turkey) & Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (Greece) respectively. Joining the tie-break survivors will be World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju along with top GMs Erigaisi Arjun, Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer, Wei Yi, MVL and Richard Rapport. The round of 64 promises more excitement as every knock-out round keeps taking its toll.
Home favorite GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2768) survived a stiff challenge from GM Kuybokarov Temur (2535) overcoming the Australian 5-3 in a tense second round tie-break encounter. It was a good day in office for the Indian Grandmasters viz., Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Pranav Venkatesh, Pranesh Munirathinam, S L Narayanan who all survived the challenging tie-breaks along with Praggnanandhaa moving into the third round.
Showing the famed resilience that he’s known for, FIDE Circuit leader Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu came up strongly from 2-3 deficit, when the chips were alarmingly down. Facing a must win situation, Pragg did just that, overcoming the stubborn Australian GM Kuybokarov Temur winning the final three rapid & blitz games taking the match 5-3. Pragg has sent a strong reminder for his opponents in the coming rounds and has served an inspiration for the younger generation to take a leaf out of his book.
A minor error late into a rapid tie-break game proved costly for the US Grandmaster Hans Moke Niemann (2729). Italian GM Lorenzo Lodici (2572) was upto to the task hanging on to the lead that carried him through. A tough result to digest for the American who’s known to work harder and bounce back. The FIDE Wold Rapid & Blitz 2025 Doha and TATA Steel Wijk aan Zee 2026 are waiting for this champion from California to come with a rejuvenating performance.
The Grandmaster brothers from Germany Svane Frederik and Svane Rasmus made it to the third round albeit differently. The younger of the siblings, GM Svane Frederik coasted to a 2.5-1.5 win over GM Ediz Gurel of Turkey, getting an extra day of rest. The elder brother GM Svane Rasmus went through a marathon set of 10 games, consisting of standard, rapid and blitz before prevailing over GM Mamedov Rauf of Azerbaijan. In the next round, GM Svane Frederik with white pieces, faces the world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in the top board, while further down his brother GM Svane Rasmus takes on GM Liang Awonder of USA.
In a great advertisement for age and consistency, 53-year-old English Grandmaster Michael Adams advanced past GM Ivan Cheparinov in the tie-breaks with a 6-4 score. A reigning nine time British Chess Champion, GM Adams has been on top of the world rankings for more than three decades. He’d narrowly lost the knock-out FIDE World Championship 2004 title to GM Rustam Kazimdzhanov at Tripoli. A former World Senior Champion (over 50 category) GM Michael Adams, sealed the match the match from a 4-4 position, winning the final two blitz games over the Bulgarian.
The third round games starts by Friday, 7th November at 4:30 AM ET / 10:30 AM CET / 3:00 PM IST.
Key pairings (Round 3 Game 1): Svane Frederick – Gukesh Dommaraju, Erigaisi Arjun – Vokhidov Shamsiddin, Hovhannisyan Robert – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Anish Giri – Alexander Donchenko, Pranav Venkatesh – Stremavicius Titas, Vincent Keymer – Pranesh Munirathinam.
Results: (Round 2 Tie-breaks): Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu beat Kuybokarov Temur 5-3, Makhnev Denis lost to Abdusattorov Nodirbek 1.5-2.5, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar beat Kantor Gergely 3-1, Lodici Lorenzo beat Hans Moke Niemann 2.5-1.5, Yu Yangyi beat Blohberger Felix 4.5-3.5, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi beat Faustino Oro 2.5-1.5, Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis beat Nihal Sarin 2.5-1.5, Samuel Sevian beat Tin Jingyao 3-1, Bai Jinshi lost to Dubov Daniil 2-4, Narayanan S L beat Nikita Vitiugov 5-3, Adams Michael beat Ivan Cheparinov 6-4.
Lodici Lorenzo (2572) – Hans Moke Niemann (2729) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Re1 Nd7 8. c3 c5 9. d4 exd4 10. cxd4 O-O 11. Nc3 b5 12. a4 b4 13. Nd5 Bb7 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. d5 Rfe8 16. Bg5 Qd6 17. Qd2 a5 18. Bf4 Qb6 19. Rac1 Rad8 20. Qc2 Ba6 21. Nd2 Rc8 22. b3 Qf6 23. Bg3 c6 24. d6 Rcd8 25. Nf3 Qg6 26. Nh4 Qe6 27. Nf5 c4 28. Nd4 Qf6 29. e5 Qg6 30. Qxg6 hxg6 31. bxc4 c5 32. Nc6 Ra8 33. Nxa5 Bc8 34. Nb3 Rxa4 35. f4 Ra3 36. Rb1 Ba6 37. Bf2 Rc8 38. Nxc5 Nxc5 39. Bxc5 Bxc4 40. Bxb4 Rd3 41. Rbd1 Rxd1 42. Rxd1 Be6 43. Ba5 Bd7 44. Rb1 Kf8 45. Bc7 Ke8 46. Ra1 Be6 47. Kf2 Kd7 48. h3 Bd5 49. g4 Ra8 50. Ba5 Ke6 51. f5+ gxf5 52. gxf5+ Kd7 53. Ke3 Rh8 54. Kd4 Bb7 55. Be1 f6 56. Bg3 fxe5+ 57. Kxe5 Re8+ 58. Kf4 Kxd6 59. Kg5+ Kc6 60. Rc1+ Kb6 61. h4 Bc8 62. Bc7+ Kb7 63. Bd6 Kb6 64. Bc5+ Kb7 65. Bd4 Re4 66. Rxc8 Kxc8 67. Bxg7 Kd7 68. h5 Ke7 69. h6 Kf7 70. Bf6 Kg8 71. Kg6 Rg4+ 72. Bg5 Rg1 73. f6 Rf1 74. Be3 Rf3 75. h7+ Kh8 76. f7 Rg3+
77. Bg5 1-0 (Rapid)
Kuybokarov Temur (2535) – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2768) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nge7 5. c3 Ng6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. exd5 Qxd5 9. Nc3 Qh5 10. O-O Bg4 11. d5 O-O-O 12. Bxc6 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Qxf3 14. gxf3 bxc6 15. dxc6 Nh4 16. Bf4 Nxf3+ 17. Kg2 Nd4 18. Rac1 Bb4 19. Na4 Bd6 20. Be3 Nf5 21. Ba7 Rhe8 22. Rc4 Re5 23. Nc3 Ne7 24. b4 Re8 25. a4 Nd5 26. Nxd5 Rxd5 27. Rb1 Rg5+ 28. Kh1 Rh5 29. h4 Ree5 30. b5 axb5 31. Rg4 g6 32. Bd4 Re2 33. axb5 f5 34. Ra1 Kd8 35. Bf6+ Ke8 36. Rd4 Be7 37. Rd7 Kf7 38. Bxe7 Rxe7 39. Re1 Rxd7 40. cxd7 Rxh4+ 41. Kg2
41…Rd4 0-1 (Blitz)
Complete Results
Photos Courtesy: Michal Walusza / Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Official Site: https://worldcup2025.fide.com/
