Hovhannisyan held, Mendonca exits @ Goa
Grandmaster from Goa Leon Luke Mendonca (2620) suffered an upset loss going down to the Chinese International Master Wang Shixu B (2413) with a 0.5-1.5 score, after completion of game 2 of the 1st round at the FIDE World Cup 2025 at Hotel Resort Rio, Goa, India. Mendonca becomes the first higher rated Grandmaster to exit under the tennis style knock-out system. Highly rated Armenian Grandmaster Robert Hovhannisyan (2633) was held to a draw in both his games against FIDE Master Kavin Mohan (Malaysia, 2346) & along with several GMs moved into tie-break zone. 20 players with a level score of 1-1 will hope to improve their chances in the rapid & blitz tie-break games.
Five time world champion Viswanathan Anand made the symbolic first move inaugurating the round. Having drawn in the first game GM Leon Luke Mendonca exerted pressure on the Chinese International Master Wang Shixu B looking for a win with reversed colors. The Queen’s Indian game didn’t go Mendonca’s way as the slow paced Chinese weaved a subtle but elaborate net. A middle game zug-zwang saw the Goan Grandmaster in trouble and by the time the smoke cleared white had established a clear advantage. From then on Mendonca put up a herculean defence to save the game, but multiple pieces along with rooks did him in. A painful exit for the local boy with more lessons to be learnt.
Earlier, Women World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh went down 0-2 against Greek Grandmaster Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis, unable to even out an early loss. Some consolation will be the offset of the result when Indian women surmounted all challenges winning the ICC Cricket World Cup defeating South Africa,not far from Goa at Mumbai.
15-year-old American Grandmaster Andy Woodward (DOB 2nd May, 2010) is the man of the moment. He’s had a fine run this year and is one of the highly deserved wildcard for this edition of FIDE World Cup. In the first round he dazzled with his flashy chess moves sweeping Indian International Master Himal Gusain (2479) 2-0.
206 participants from 82 countries, including 158 Grandmasters, are vying for the Viswanathan Anand trophy along with three coveted spots for the Candidates 2026. This knock-out FIDE event is one the biggest in the world that carries a handsome total prize money of USD 2,000,000 (Rs. 17.75 crores approx). With 78 first round losers getting USD 3,500 each, this FIDE chess event has some take home prize money for each participant.
Round 1 tie-break rapid & blitz games will start by 5:30 AM ET / 9:30 AM GMT / 2:00 PM IST on Monday, November 3, 2025.
Results: (Round 1 Game 2): Abugenda Nagi lost to Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan 0-2, Xiong Jeffery bt Li Yiheng 1.5-0.5, Qin Oscar Shu Xuan lost to Rodshtein Maxim 0-2, Artemiev Vladislav bt Ndahangwapo Heskiel 2-0, Pranav Venkatesh bt Boulrens Ala Eddine 2-0, Sadhwani Raunak drew with Barrish Daniel 1.5-0.5, Kavin Mohan drew with Hovhannisyan Robert 1-1, Pranesh M bt Akhmedinov Satbek 1.5-0.5, Mendonca Leon Luke lost to Wang Shixu B 0.5-1.5, Rojas Salas Steven drew with Narayanan S L 1-1, Divya Deshmukh lost to Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis 0-2.
Gusain Himal (2479) – Woodward Andy (2605) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 a6 8. a4 Ba7 9. Nbd2 Qe7 10. b4 g5 11. Bg3 Nh5 12. a5 Qf6 13. Qa4 Bd7 14. Qb3 Ne7 15. b5 axb5 16. Bxb5 c6 17. Bc4 Ng6 18. h3 Rb8 19. Rd1 Ngf4 20. Kf1 Nxg3+ 21. fxg3 Nh5 22. Ke1 Nxg3 23. Rh2 h5 24. d4 g4 25. hxg4 hxg4 26. Rxh8+ Qxh8 27. Kf2 gxf3 28. gxf3 exd4 29. Kxg3
29…Qh3+ 0-1
Wang Shixu B (2413) – Mendonca Leon Luke (2620) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. e3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 Be7 9. Bb5+ c6 10. Bd3 O-O 11. O-O c5 12. e4 Qc7 13. h4 Rd8 14. Qe2 h6 15. Bb2 Nd7 16. Rad1 Rac8 17. Rfe1 Nf8 18. h5 Bf6 19. Bb1 Rd7 20. e5 Be7 21. Nd2 f5 22. exf6 Bxf6 23. Ne4 Bxe4 24. Qxe4 Rcd8 25. Ba2 cxd4 26. cxd4 Rd6 27. Rd3 Qd7 28. Red1 Qb5 29. Bc3 a5 30. d5 e5 31. a4 Qe8 32. Bb2 Qxh5 33. Ba3 Be7 34. Rc1 Nd7 35. Rh3 Qg5 36. Rc7 Qd2 37. Bb3 Bf8 38. Rf3 Nf6 39. Qxe5 Re8 40. Qf4 Qe1+ 41. Kh2 Re4 42. Rc1 Qe2 43. Bxd6 Rxf4 44. Bxf4 Bc5 45. d6+ Kh7 46. Rd1 Ng4+ 47. Kg3 Nxf2 48. d7 Ne4+ 49. Kh2 Be7 50. Re3 Qh5+ 51. Kg1 Qf5 52. d8=Q Bxd8 53. Bc2 g6 54. Rxe4 Qc5+ 55. Kh1 Bf6 56. Rd7+ Bg7
57. Be5 1-0
Salem A R Saleh (2620) – Tran Thanh Tu (2407) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. d5 Na5 8. b3 c5 9. Bb2 a6 10. O-O Bf5 11. Nd2 Qd7 12. e4 Bh3 13. a4 h5 14. Qc2 h4 15. Rae1 Rab8 16. Ne2 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 h3+ 18. Kg1 b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bc3 Ra8 21. Nf4 b4 22. Bb2 Bh6 23. e5 dxe5 24. Bxe5 Nb7 25. f3 Nd6 26. g4 Ra5 27. Re2 Rfa8 28. Nxh3 Ra2 29. Qd3 Nxg4 30. Bf4 Bxf4 31. Nxf4 Nf6 32. Kh1 Nf5 33. Ne4 Nxe4 34. fxe4 Nd4 35. Rxa2 Rxa2 36. e5 Qg4 37. e6 f5 38. d6 exd6 39. Qe3 Kf8 40. h3 Qg5 41. Rg1 Qf6 42. Nxg6+ Ke8 43. Nf4 Qh8 44. Nd5 Re2 45. Ra1 Nxe6 46. Ra8+ Kd7 47. Rxh8 Rxe3 48. Nxe3 Nd4 49. h4 f4 50. Nd5 f3 51. Rf8 Nxb3
52. h5 1-0
Photos Courtesy: Michal Walusza / Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Official Site: https://worldcup2025.fide.com/
