FIDE Grand Swiss 2025: Schedule, time control, tournament format top seeds, live streaming info — All you need to know

FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, one of the highest-rated tournaments in the chess calendar, will get underway on Thursday, at the Silk Road EXPO in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

There will be 172 players in action – 116 in the Open and 56 in the Women’s tournament.

The top two finishers in both the Open and the Women’s competition will qualify for the 2026 Candidates tournament, which will determine the challenger for the title of World Champion.

FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 schedule

The FIDE Grand Swiss takes place between September 4 and 15. There will be 11 rounds, with all of them starting at 3:30 p.m. IST, except for the final day, when the action will get underway at 2:30 p.m..

Time Control

The time control for FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 is 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, and 15 more minutes for the rest of the game. There is a 30-second increment per move from move one. 

For the women’s event, it will be 90 minutes for the first 40 moves with an addition of 30 minutes after that. There is a 30-second increment per move from move one. 

Tournament Format

The FIDE Grand Swiss is an 11-round tournament, played over a Swiss Format.

What is Swiss Format?

Swiss format is a prominent way of conducting a chess tournament, in which players/teams aren’t eliminated over the course of the competition.

In the opening round, teams/players with a higher rating are manually paired with lower-rated ones.

After this, pairings are based on the performance in the initial round: teams/players who win are matched with other winners, and losers with losers, with an effort to avoid colour repetition. Eventually, the participant with most points wins the tournament.

Top Seeds

India’s R Praggnanandhaa will be the highest-rated player in the Open category. He is followed by compatriots D Gukesh, the reigning world champion, and Arjun Erigaisi.

In the Women’s section, China’s Tan Zhongyi is the top-ranked player, with Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk second and Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva third.

FULL LIST OF PLAYERS

Prize Money

In addition to its importance as a Candidates qualifier, FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 will feature an increased prize fund.

The Open prize fund has been boosted from USD 460,000 to USD 625,000, a 36 per cent increase. Meanwhile the Women’s prize fund sees an even larger jump, from USD 140,000 to USD 230,000, up 64 per cent.

Defending Champions

In 2023, the FIDE Grand Swiss, saw India making it a double win, with Vidit Gujrathi winning the Open section and Vaishali Rameshbabu claiming the title in the Women’s competition.

Live Streaming Info

FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 will be streamed live on the FIDE YouTube channel.

Published on Sep 02, 2025