Gukesh crashes out of FIDE World Cup after stunning third-round loss as Arjun, Praggnanandhaa advance

D Gukesh’s turbulent run this year continued after the reigning world champion crashed out of the FIDE World Cup in Goa with a defeat in the third round. After playing out a draw in Game 1 of his Round 3 clash against German Grandmaster Frederik Svane on Friday, the 19-year-old chess star lost the second Classical game on the following day despite playing as white, resulting in a 1.5-0.5 victory for his opponent.

While Gukesh – the central attraction in what is the biggest chess event in India since the 2022 Olympiad – will not be taking any further part in the tournament, fellow Indian chess stars Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa progressed to the fourth round.

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Round 3 | After GAME 2 | Top Results | 2025 FIDE World Cup

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— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) November 8, 2025

Arjun completed a 1.5-0.5 victory over Uzbekistan’s Shamsiddin Vokhidov after a draw in the second game of the third round while 2023 World Cup runner-up Praggnanandhaa defeated Armenia’s Robert Hovhannisyan by a similar scoreline after winning the second game. Both Arjun and Pragg registered victories while playing as white.

Among the other Indians advancing to the next round are V Pranav and Pentala Harikrishna, defeating Titas Stremavicius and Daniel Dardha respectively. M Pranesh lost to world No 4 Vincent Keymer  0.5-1.5 while Diptayan Ghosh – who had knocked two-time Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi in the second round – was eliminated by Armenia’s Gabriel Sargissian.

Senior GM Vidit Gujrathi, meanwhile, will be in action in the Round 3 tie-breaks on Sunday after playing out back-to-back draws against USA’s Sam Shankland. The other Indians in action in Sunday’s tie-breaks, which will comprise a series of rapid and blitz games with an Armageddon face-off in the end, are Karthik Venkataraman, S Narayanan,

How Gukesh’s campaign came to an abrupt end on Saturday

After a sedate, 34-move draw in the first Classical game in which neither player was able to extract much of an advantage, Saturday’s meeting began with an ‘Italian Game’ opening with Svane advancing both of his knights early. The game was largely in the balance until Gukesh’s questionable move with his rook (Re1) in the 39th move gave Svane an opening and eventually tilted the balance of the game in his favour.

Gukesh, who had sacrificed his queen in the 30th move, would continue losing ground thereafter, with Svane also well ahead of the top seed on the clock.

Frederik Svane 🇩🇪 stuns the World Champion! Gukesh D 🇮🇳 is out of the FIDE World Cup! #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/OvCJFdOoik

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) November 8, 2025

Gukesh, competing in his first home tournament as world champion, eventually resigned in 55 moves in a knight-pawn endgame, marking another disappointing outing for the world champion whose performance graph has witnessed a steady decline since his runner-up finish at the Tata Steel Chess in February.

His defeat also came after a dominant victory over Kazakhstani GM Kazybek Nogerbek in the second round, which had got his World Cup campaign off to a positive start and raised hopes of the world champion going the distance at Resort Rio, the venue in Arpora, Goa where the event is taking place.

Gukesh, however, isn’t the only major exit in the third round. Anish Giri’s campaign also came to an end with a Game 2 loss against a German GM on Saturday, the world No 5 losing to Alexander Donchenko.

China’s Wei Yi, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were some of the other big names to make a beeline for the exit after the two Classical games in Round 3.