'They always go for lowest-hanging fruit': Anish Giri takes a jab at Carlsen and Kasparov after Grand Swiss win

Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri recently won the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Giri defeated American GM Hans Niemann to win the title as he scored an unbeaten 8/11 and took $90,000 first prize. This victory also helped the 31-year-old secure a place in next year’s Candidates Tournament.

This will be the third time Giri will compete in the coveted Candidates Tournament after his previous appearances in 2016 and 2020. Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum finished second in the FIDE Grand Swiss and also qualified for the Candidates alongside Giri.

Anish takes a dig at Carlsen and Kasparov

Meanwhile, Giri took a playful dig at former World Champions Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov. Speaking to Chessbase India, he said, “It’s funny when the GOATs like Carlsen and Kasparov are asked for their opinion, they always go for the lowest-hanging fruit. When they’re asked to pinpoint who impressed them the most, they go for the most obvious names. Of course, they pick the youngest and the strongest, but there’s no creativity at all. Mention somebody people didn’t notice."

“Kasparov, my biggest childhood hero… a great player who is very good at predicting, but he always takes the easiest prediction. Whenever Carlsen was playing, he always predicted Carlsen to win. Always the easiest. I mean, they want to be right all the time. They don’t want to take any risk. ‘Who impressed you the most?’ Okay, I don’t know… Abhimanyu Mishra’s H7 pawn, or something. Say something unusual,” he added.

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When asked who he would have chosen, Giri replied, “There were so many creative players, so many interesting thoughts… I don’t know, I didn’t think about it, but they’re the GOATs, I expect something more from them.”

Carlsen had earlier commented on Giri and Bluebaum’s securing Candidates spots via Grand Swiss performance. “For sure. I think Bluebaum had an incredible tournament. And to be fair, it is a bit easier when you come up like he got a few games and then he did really well against Arjun Erigaisi to win that and after that he could kind of cruise like a little bit like the others are forced to beat him. So he’s in a good position. Giri, I think got the friendliest pairings in the whole tournament for a long time, but then in the end he took his chances while um the others didn’t. So, it was very deserved.

In the women’s event of the FIDE Grand Swiss, Indian GM R Vaishali made history by winning the tournament for the second time in a row. She drew her final game against the 16th Women’s World Champion, GM Zhongyi Tan from China, and successfully defended her title. She also earned a spot in the FIDE Women’s Candidates 2026. GM Kateryna Lagno also qualified for the Candidates from the women’s category.