Pragg, Keymer, MVL, Rapport out of World Cup Goa
2023 World Cup runner-up GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu made his way out losing to former World Rapid Champion GM Daniil Dubov after the 4th round tie-breaks at $ 2 million FIDE World Cup at Hotel Resort Rio, Goa. In a day that almost spelt a death knell for the seeds, also making their exit were higher rated GMs viz., Vincent Keymer, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Awonder Liang respectively.
19-year-old Russian Grandmaster Aleksey Grebnev continued his golden run shocking seasoned French veteran Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2.5-1.5 winning his rapid white game and made solid Petroff draw with black pieces.
The knock-out format of the World Cup keeps consuming seeds one after the other. FIDE Circuit front runner GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu had an off-day in office going down to GM Daniil Dubov with a narrow 1.5-2.5 score. On the brighter side, Praggnanandhaa has built up a big lead for the Candidates 2026 spot under FIDE Circuit. Catching up with the Indian in the FIDE Circuit points table with just a month to go, is highly unlikely.
With some powerful yet steady show, GM Erigaisi Arjun, the highest seed left yet, swept past 46-year-old veteran GM Peter Leko. While the Hungarian legend held himself 1-1 in the classical portion, the younger Indian Grandmaster less than half his age undid Leko in the rapids. The 0-2 rapid defeat doesn’t justify the way Leko graced himself right through. More work remains for the top rated Indian Grandmaster who now needs to win his next three rounds to lock the Candidates spot.
At the halfway mark, just two of the world’s top ten remain. In addition to the big share of $ 2 million total prize money, the winner along with second & third placed players qualify for the FIDE Candidates tournament scheduled for March 2026 in Cyprus. In honor of Indian legend & five time world champion Vishy Anand, FIDE shall be awarding the World Cup Goa winner with the “Viswanathan Anand Cup”.
The first classical game of round five starts by Friday, 14th November at 4:30 AM ET / 10:30 AM CET / 3:00 PM IST.
Pairings (Round 5 Game 1): Javokhir Sindarov – Svane Frederik, Erigaisi Arjun – Levon Aronian, Sam Shankland – Daniil Dubov, Alexander Donchenko – Le Quang Liem, Gabriel Sargissian – Nodirbek Yakubboev, Andrey Esipenko – Aleksey Grebnev, Samuel Sevian – Wei Yi, José Martínez Alcántara – Pentala Harikrishna.
Results (Round 4 Tie-breaks): Svane Frederik beat Sargsyan Shant 2.5-1.5, Peter Leko lost to Erigaisi Arjun 1-3, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu lost to Daniil Dubov 1.5-2.5, Andrey Esipenko beat Vincent 4-2, Wei Yi beat Parham Maghsoodloo 5-3, Grandelius Nils lost to Pentala Harikrishna 1.5-2.5, Samuel Sevian beat Lodici Lorenzo 6-5, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave lost to Aleksey Grebnev 1.5-2.5, Awonder Liang lost to Gabriel Sargissian 1.5-2.5, Yu Yangyi lost to Javokhir Sindarov 1.5-2.5, Sam Shankland beat Richard Rapport 3-1.
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2768) – Daniil Dubov (2674) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 d6 5. d5 Nb8 6. Nc3 Be7 7. a4 a5 8. Qe2 c6 9. h3 Na6 10. O-O O-O 11. Rd1 Qc7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Nd2 Nc5 15. Ba2 Be7 16. Nc4 Bd7 17. Rab1 Rad8 18. b4 axb4 19. Rxb4 Ra8 20. Nb6 Ra7 21. Nxd7 Qxd7 22. Qf3 Raa8 23. Qf5 Qc7 24. Qg4 Kh7 25. h4 Bd8 26. h5 Qe7 27. dxc6 bxc6 28. Bb3 Ba5 29. Rc4 Rad8 30. Qf3 Kh8 31. Ne2 d5 32. exd5 cxd5 33. Rg4 e4 34. Qf5 e3 35. Bxd5 exf2+ 36. Qxf2 Bb6 37. Kh1 Nd3 38. Qxb6 Qxe2 39. Rxd3 Qxg4 40. Kg1 Qxa4 41. c4 Qa1+ 42. Kf2 Qe5 43. Qd4 Qxh5 44. Rg3 Qf5+ 45. Kg1 f6 46. Kh2 Rfe8 47. Qb6 Qh5+ 48. Rh3 Qe5+ 49. Rg3 Qd6 50. Qa7 Re7 51. Qf2 Re5 52. Kg1 Rde8
53. Kf1 0-1
Photos Courtesy: Michal Walusza / Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Official Site: https://worldcup2025.fide.com/
