Gukesh, Giri, Nodirbek, Shaks, Fedoseev leave World Cup Goa

On a bloodbath Saturday, several top seeds including World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, made their way back home after the second classical game of round 3 at the $ 2 million FIDE World Cup at Hotel Resort Rio, Goa. Big heads were rolling at the drop of the hat, as giant-killers keep emerging in the knock-out format.

Scalping big heads began at the top board where German GM Svane Frederik eliminated World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju with a 1.5-0.5 score. The Guioco Piano game between Gukesh & Frederik started off quietly with no indication of the upset in the offing. Late into the middle game the world champion found himself into a bind that slowly became a zug zwang. In the two knights and rook ending hopes of draw hung by a thread. The trade-off of rooks on the 40th turn spelled doom for the Indian. GM Svane Frederik employed the double black knights with subtle harmony. Not able to stand the (k)nightmare the Indian gave up on the 55th move.

Upsetting the apple-cart of the favorites were some unsung hero’s who chose this occasion to etch their names in history. GM Svane Frederik (Germany) started it all with a stunning top board victory over World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Following suit were GMs Donchenko Alexander (Germany), Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo (Mexico), Grandelius Nils (Sweden) who all accounted for GMs Anish Giri (Netherlands), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) respectively.

A do-or-die situation awaits some top GMs who stood at 1-1 score after the second game of the 3rd round. Higher rated favorites viz., GMs Wei Yi (China), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Richard Rapport (Hungary), Yu Yangyi (China), Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (India) have the speed barrel staring down at them in the tie-breaks. In the end, it’s the skill, nerves and experience that separates the survivors from the rest.

The third round tie-break games starts by Sunday, 9th November at 4:30 AM ET / 10:30 AM CET / 3:00 PM IST.

Key tie-break duels: Wei Yi – Benjamin Gledura, MVL – Vladislav Artemiev, Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan – Richard Rapport, Yu Yangyi – S L Narayanan, Sam Shankland – Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Karthik Venkataraman – Deac Bogdan-Daniel, Evgeniy Najer – Samuel Sevian, Alexey Sarana – Jorden van Foreest, Andrey Esipenko – Idani Pouya, Nguyen Thai Dai Van – Nodirbek Yakubboev, Georg Meier – Daniil Dubov, Salem A R Saleh lost to Levon Aronian 0.5-1.5, Peter Leko beat Kirill Alekseenko 2-0.

Results: (Round 3 Game 2): Svane Frederik beat Gukesh Dommaraju 1.5-0.5, Erigaisi Arjun beat Vokhidov Shamsiddin 1.5-0.5, Robert Hovhannisyan lost to Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu 0.5-1.5, Anish Giri lost to Alexander Donchenko 0.5-1.5, Pranav Venkatesh beat Stremavicius Titas 1.5-0.5, Vincent Keymer beat Pranesh Munirathinam 1.5-0.5, Benjamin Gledura drew with Wei Yi 1-1, Nodirbet Abdusattorov lost to José Martínez Alcántara 0.5-1.5, Lodici Lorenzo beat Michael Adams 1.5-0.5, Vladislav Artemiev drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 1-1.

Gukesh Dommaraju (2763) – Svane Frederik (2640) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O d6 6. c3 a5 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 h6 9. Nbd2 Bb6 10. a4 Bd7 11. b3 Be6 12. Bb2 Kh8 13. Ra2 Nh5 14. Nf1 Nf4 15. Bc1 Qf6 16. Ng3 g5 17. Nh2 Qg6 18. Be3 d5 19. exd5 Bxd5 20. Bxb6 cxb6 21. Nf3 Rad8 22. Rd2 Bxc4 23. dxc4 f6 24. Ne4 Rxd2 25. Qxd2 Rd8 26. Qe3 f5 27. Ng3 Nd3 28. Rd1 f4 29. Qe4 Kh7 30. Qxg6+ Kxg6 31. Ne4 Kf5 32. Nfd2 Nc5 33. Re1 Nd3 34. Rb1 h5 35. Kf1 Nc5 36. f3 Rd3 37. Kf2 g4 38. hxg4+ hxg4 39. Re1 g3+ 40. Ke2 Re3+ 41. Kd1 Rxe1+ 42. Kxe1 Ke6 43. Kd1 Ne7 44. Ke2 Nf5 45. Ng5+ Ke7 46. Nge4 Ke6 47. Ng5+ Kf6 48. Nge4+ Ke7 49. Nxc5 bxc5 50. Ne4 b6 51. Kd3 Nh4 52. b4 Nxg2 53. bxc5 bxc5 54. Nxc5 Ne3 55. Ke2

55…Nxc4 0-1

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2768) – Hovhannisyan Robert (2629) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. O-O Nxe5 7. dxe5 Nc5 8. Be2 Be7 9. Be3 O-O 10. c3 b6 11. Nd2 Bb7 12. f4 f6 13. b4 Ne4 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Qb3+ Kh8 16. Rad1 Qe8 17. e6 f5 18. Rd7 Bc8 19. Rfd1 Bxd7 20. Rxd7 c5 21. b5 Bf6 22. a4 Qg6 23. a5 Rfe8 24. a6 Re7 25. Qd5 Rb8 26. Rxe7 Bxe7 27. Qd7 Qe8 28. Qxa7 Qd8 29. Kf2 Bd6 30. Qf7 Qh4+ 31. Kf1 Rf8 32. Qb7 Qxh2 33. e7 Rg8 34. e8=Q Rxe8 35. Qd7 Rg8 36. Qxd6 Qg3 37. Qd2 Qh4 38. Bc4 Rd8 39. Bd5 Qh1+ 40. Bg1 Qh6 41. a7 Qd6

42. Be3 1-0

Alexander Donchenko (2641) – Anish Giri (2769) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 Re8 6. Ne2 d5 7. O-O Bf8 8. e4 dxe4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Nd7 11. Qc2 f5 12. Bf3 c6 13. g3 e5 14. Bg2 exd4 15. Nxd4 Ne5 16. Rd1 Qf6 17. c5 a5 18. b3 Qf7 19. h3 h6 20. Re1 Bd7 21. f4 Ng6 22. Be3 Re7 23. Bf2 Rae8 24. Rxe7 Nxe7 25. Re1 Nd5 26. Rxe8 Qxe8 27. Nxf5 Nb4 28. Qb1 Qh5 29. Nd6 Bxh3 30. Bxh3 Qxh3 31. Qg6 Qd7 32. f5 Nd5 33. Bd4 Qe7 34. Kf1 b5 35. a4 bxa4 36. bxa4 Qd7 37. f6 Nxf6 38. Bxf6 Qe6 39. Ne4 Qc4+ 40. Kg2 Qe2+ 41. Kh3 Qf1+ 42. Kg4 Qd1+ 43. Kf5 Qd7+ 44. Kf4 Qe6 45. g4 Qc4 46. Bc3 Qf1+

47. Ke5 1-0

Complete Results

Photos Courtesy: Michal Walusza / Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE (International Chess Federation)

Official Site: https://worldcup2025.fide.com/