Chess World Cup: Top seed Gukesh, Anish Giri crash out in third round
Seeds are falling fast at Resort Rio. The biggest of them fell on Saturday night.
The World champion D. Gukesh was stunned by Germany’s Frederik Svane in the second game of the third round at the chess World Cup. After drawing the first game the top seed from Chennai, who had become the youngest World champion in history last year, had needed at least a raw with white pieces to stay alive in the tournament, but he resigned after 56 moves in a hopeless knight-and-pawn ending.
The day also saw the fourth seed Anish Giri crashing out. Like Gukesh, the Dutchman also needed at least a draw from Alexander Donchenko of Germany, but lost.
On the top boards, Arjun Erigaisi and R. Praggnanandhaa ensured the Indian flag flew high. Arjun drew with Uzbekistan’s Shamsiddin Vokhidov – it was his first draw here after three straight wins – and Praggnanandhaa beat Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia to win their matches 1.5-0.5.
Among the top five seeds, only those two remain in the competition. The eighth and ninth seeds, Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, were also by Mexico’s Jose Martínez Alcantara and Sweden’s Nils Grandelius, respectively.
Besides Praggnanandhaa and Arjun, two other Indians have made it to the fourth round – V. Pranav and P. Harikrishna. But it was the end of the road for M. Pranesh and Diptayan Ghosh, after losing to Vincent Keymer, the sixth seed from Germany, and Gabriel Sarissian of Armenia respectively.
Three more Indians are still in with a chance, though: Vidit Gujrathi, S.L. Narayanan and Karthik Venkataraman will play the Sunday’s tie-breakers.
After ensuring his place in the fourth round, Praggnanandhaa admitted it has been a tough tournament for the seeds.
“I also could have joined the list of fallen seeds; I was close to being sent home,” he said. “I managed to get lucky in my first match here (the second round). My opponent (Temur Kuybokarov of Australia) played really well. He is a much better player than his rating of 2500-odd.”
About his game on this day, he said: “It was complicated; I was pushing for a win though I was exchanged down.”
He admitted his experience from the last World Cup certainly helped. He had reached the final at Baku in 2023.
Important results (third round):
D. Gukesh 0.5 lost to Frederik Svane (Ger) 1.5; Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzb) 0.5 lost to Arjun Erigaisi; R. Praggnanandhaa 1.5 bt Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm) 0.5; Anish Giri (Ned) 0.5 lost to Alexander Donchenko (Ger) 1.5; Titas Stremavicius (Ltu) 0.5 drew with V. Pranav 1.5; M. Pranesh 0.5 lost to Vincent Keymer (Ger) 1.5; Wei Yi (Chn) 1 drew with Benjamin Gledura (Hun) 5; Jose Martínez Alcantara (Mex) 2 bt Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) 0; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) 0.5 lost to Nils Grandelius (Swe) 1.5; Michael Adams (Eng) 0.5 lost to Lorenzo Lodici (Ita) 1.5; Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) 1 drew with Vladilsav Artemiev (Rus) 1; Gabriel Sarissian (Arm) 1.5 bt Diptayan Ghosh 0.5; Le Quang Liem (Vie) 1.5 drew with Jeffrey Xiong (USA) 0.5; Yagiz Erdogmus (Tur) 1 drew with Richard Rapport (Hun) 1; Levon Aronian (USA) 1.5 bt Salem Saleh (UAE) 0.5; Nikolas Theodorou (Gre) 0.5 lost to Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) 1.5; Vidit Gujrathi 1 drew with Sam Shankland (USA) 1; Yu Yangyi (Chn) 1 drew with S.L. Narayanan 1; Radoslaw Wjtaszek (Pol) 2 bt Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo) 0; Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Gre) 1 drew with Karthik Venkataraman 1; Daniel Dardha (Bel) 0.5 drew with P. Harikrishna 1.5; Kirill Alekseenko (Rus) 0.5 lost to Peter Leko (Hun) 1.5.
Published on Nov 08, 2025