Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun win in FIDE Grand Swiss Round 3 as Vaishali moves into sole lead among women

The Indian trio of D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi registered victories in Round 3 of FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Samarkand, Uzbekistan to remain among the top-10 in the overall standings.

Both Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, who currently occupy the fourth and fifth positions respectively, won their respective games with black pieces while Arjun won with white pieces. Among the other Indians in action, R Vaishali moved into the sole lead in the women’s section by completing a hat-trick of wins on Saturday.

Praggnanandhaa, who is hoping to seal his qualification for next year’s Candidates tournament with a top-two finish in the ongoing tournament, defeated Israeli Grandmaster Boris Gelfand in a hard-fought contest that lasted 65 moves.

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Pragg capitalised on a blunder by Gelfand – who had unsuccessfully challenged Viswanathan Anand for the World Championship in 2012 – in the 60th move (Rg3) to steer the game towards victory from what appeared a certain draw at one point.

The 20-year-old GM collected back-to-back wins, as did Arjun, who also forced a resignation from Russian GM Anton Demchenko in 65 moves, albeit while playing with white pieces. And just like Praggnanandhaa vs Gelfand, Arjun vs Demchenko was in the balance until the latter’s error in the 61st move (Rc4) turned the tide in the Indian’s favour.

Gukesh bounces back with a 35-move victory

Reigning world champion Gukesh, however, ended up defeating Russian-Spanish GM Daniil Yuffa in just 35 moves with a massive gulf between the two in terms of remaining time – the Indian GM having 43 minutes left compared to a little under five for his opponent.

Yuffa had gone berserk with his attack in the middle game after Gukesh opted for a Ragozin defense. Gukesh, however, had the advantage of a rook over his opponent while both players had their Queens on the board along with a bishop.

With his Queen boxed into a corner, Yuffa ended up raising the white flag of surrender.

Standings | After Round 3 | 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss

Two players stand alone at the top:
🇮🇷 Parham Maghsoodloo in the Open Section
🇮🇳 Vaishali Rameshbabu in the Women’s Section

📷 Michal Walusza#FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/nLMUv9nHD2

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 6, 2025

Among the other Indians in action in the ‘Open’ section, Abhimanyu Puranik lost to home favourite Nodirbek Abdusattorov while the likes of Vidit Gujrathi, Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh were among those held to a draw.

For wildcard entry Deshmukh, who recently earned her Grandmaster title by winning the FIDE Women’s World Cup, it was her second draw on the trot after she began her campaign with a loss against Puranik.

As for the women’s section, Vaishali moved into the sole lead by defeating Austria’s Olga Bedelka in Round 3. Vaishali played as white and forced her opponent to surrender in 38 moves.

Among the other Indians in the section, GM Harika Dronavalli played out a draw against China’s Guo Qi while Vantika Agrawal lost to Yuxin Song – also from China.

Important and Indian results round 3 (Indians unless specified); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 2) lost to Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 3); Arjun Erigaisi (2.5) beat Anton Demchenko (Slo, 2); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 1.5) R Praggnanandhaa (1.5); Daniil Yuffa (Esp, 1.5) lost to D Gukesh (2.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 2.5) beat Abhimanyu Puranik (1.5); Leon Luke Mendonca (2) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2); Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2) drew with Alexandr Predke (Srb, 2); Nihal Sarin (2) drew with Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr, 2); Aryan Chopra (1.5) drew with Amin Tabatabaei (Iri, 1.5); Raunak Sadhwani (1) lost to Andy Woodward (Usa, 2); Nils Grandelius (Swe, 1) lost to Aditya Mittal (2); Dmitrij Kollars (Ger, 1) lost to V Pranav (2); S L Narayanan (1.5) drew with Theodorou Nikolas (Gre, 1); Jakhongir Vakhidov (Uzb, 1) lost to P Harikrishna (1.5); Divya Deshmukh (1) drew with Murali Karthikeyan (0.5).

Women: R Vaishali (3) beat Olga Bedelka (Aut, 2); Yuxin Song (Chn, 2.5) beat Vantika Agrawal (1.5); Guo Qi (Chn, 1.5) drew with D Harika (1.5).