 "Gukesh lost to youngest Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra in the previous round. Image: FIDE")
World Champion D Gukesh faced his second straight defeat at the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Tuesday, September 9. He lost to Greece’s Nikolas Theodorou in the sixth round, a day after he suffered a loss to the youngest Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra .
Gukesh tried too hard to win against Theodorou as he went on to lose from a drawing position. He made a rare mistake in the rook and pawns endgame, which eventually cost him the game. Now Gukesh will need to win at least four of his remaining five games to stay in the competition.
Meanwhile, other Indian players had mixed results. R Praggnanandhaa registered a draw against Azerbaijan’s Rauf Mamedov, while Nihal Sarin took advantage of a tactical mistake by his Polish opponent Szymon Gumularz to secure a win. Vidit Gujrathi won against Russian GM Anton Demchenko, who plays for Slovenia.
Arjun Erigaisi drew against sole leader Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran from the black pieces. Despite sharing the points, Erigaisi is still in the race to challenge Maghsoodloo for the top spot in the standings.
V Pranav, Abhimanyu Puranik, P Harikrishna, Aditya Mittal, SL Narayanan, Aryan Chopra, Divya Deshmukh, and Murali Karthikeyan drew their respective games.
In the women’s section, R Vaishali defeated Ulviyya Fataliyeva of Azerbaijan, Dronavalli Harika beat Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova of Uzbekistan, and Vantika Agrawal won against Lina Nassr of Algeria.
The tournament will take a rest day on Wednesday and continue on Thursday. The top two players from each section will qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which will decide the challenger for the next World Championship in both men’s and women’s events.
2025 FIDE Grand Swiss: Top 10 standings
| Rank | Name | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parham Maghsoodloo | IRI | 4.5 |
| 2 | Abhimanyu Mishra | USA | 4 |
| 3 | Marcandria Maurizzi | FRA | 4 |
| 4 | Arjun Erigaisi | IND | 4 |
| 5 | Matthias Bluebaum | GER | 4 |
| 6 | Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | TUR | 3.5 |
| 7 | Szymon Gumularz | POL | 3.5 |
| 8 | V Pranav | IND | 3.5 |
| 9 | Alireza Firouzja | FRA | 3.5 |
| 10 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | UZB | 3.5 |
2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss: Top 10 standings
| Rank | Name | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rameshbabu Vaishali | IND | 5 |
| 2 | Kateryna Lagno | FID | 5 |
| 3 | Guo Qi | CHN | 4.5 |
| 4 | Antoaneta Stefanova | BUL | 4.5 |
| 5 | Ulviyya Fataliyeva | AZE | 4 |
| 6 | Olga Girya | FID | 4 |
| 7 | Dinara Wagner | GER | 4 |
| 8 | Afruza Khamdamova | UZB | 4 |
| 9 | Yuxin Song | CHN | 4 |
| 10 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | KAZ | 4 |