 "Indian GMs D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi shake hands after playing out a draw in Round 4 of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss. Image credit: FIDE")
Reigning world champion D Gukesh and Arjun Erigiasi played out a stalemate in a highly-anticipated all-Indian battle in the fourth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand on Sunday. Fellow Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali, meanwhile, remained in joint lead in the ‘Women’ section after playing out a draw against Germany’s Dinara Wagner.
Also playing out a draw in Round 4 of the tournament that features 172 players and carries a total prize money of $855,000 across both categories was R Praggnanandhaa against 16-year-old American GM Abhimanyu Mishra.
Gukesh, Arjun shake hands at the end of an eventful encounter
The spotlight, however, was on the highly-anticipated battle between Arjun and Gukesh, ranked fifth and sixth respectively in the FIDE Classical ratings, with the former playing with black pieces.
The game developed from a Catalan opening and saw pawn exchanges take place from the 10th move, with both players losing a bishop and a knight each by Move 14. And by the 21st move, both sets of rooks were off the board. The two Indian stars later opted for a Queen exchange, and slowed the pace of the game down after being left with a knight each on the board along with pawns.
They eventually shook hands after agreeing to a stalemate via repetition.
Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo is the sole leader in the ‘Open’ section currently with 3.5 points out of a possible 4, having been held to a draw by home favourite Nodirbek Abdusattorov after collecting a win in each of the three previous rounds.
Gukesh, Arjun and Pragg, meanwhile, share the second spot with nine others including Nodirbek and Abhimanyu.
As for the women’s section, Vaishali remains in joint lead with Russian GM Kateryna Lagno after a 31-move draw against Wagner while playing as black. Senior GM Harika Dronavalli is joint-fourth after playing out four consecutive draws while International Master Vantika Agrawal has fallen behind after suffering two consecutive defeats.
How things stand in Samarkand after Round 4
Important and Indian results - Round 4 Open (Indians unless specified): Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 3.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 3); R Praggnanandhaa (3) drew with Abhimanyu Mishra (USA, 3); D Gukesh (3) drew with Arjun Erigaisi (3); Alireza Firouzja (Iri, 2.5) drew with Szymon Gumularz (Pol, 3); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2) lost to Marcandria Maurizzi (Fra, 3); Leon Luke Mendonca (2.5) drew with Hans Niemann (USA, 2.5); Vasly Ivanchuk (Ukr, 2) lost to Vidit Gujrathi (3); Alexandr Predke (Srb, 2) lost to Richard Rapport (Hun, 3); V Pranav (2.5) drew with Nihal Sarin (2.5); Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr, 2) lost to Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 3); Henriquez Villagra Cristobal (Chi, 2) lost to Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 3); Jules Moussard (Fra, 2) lost to Nikita Vitiugov (Sui, 3): Aditya Mittal (2) lost to Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur, 3); Yangyi Yu (Chn, 2) drew with Abhimanyu Puranik (2); P Harikrishna (2) Jeffery Xiong (USA, 2); Awonder Liang (USA, 2.5) beat Aryan Chopra (1.5); Volodar Murzin (Fide, 2) drew with S L Narayanan (2); Jon Ludvig Hammer (Nor, 1) lost to Raunak Sadhwani (2); Murali Karthikeyan (1) drew with Xiangyu Xu (Chn, 1); Amin Bassem (Egy, 1) lost to Divya Deshmukh (2).
Women: Dinara Wagner (Ger, 3) drew with R Vaishali (3.5); Kateryna Lagno (Fide, 3.5) beat Yuxin Song (Chn, 2.5); Ulviyya Faualiyeva (Aze, 3) beat Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr, 2); Afruza Khamdamova (Uzb, 3) beat Irina Krush (USA, 2); Ouellet Maili-Jade (Can, 2) lost to Irina Bulmaga (Rou, 3); Guldona Karimova (Uzb, 2) lost to Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 3); Dronavalli Harika (2) drew with Khanim Balajayeva (Aze, 2); Vantika Agrawal (1.5) lost to Alexandra Kosteniuk (Sui, 2.5).