 "Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa served reality check in FIDE Grand Swiss Round 5; Vaishali remains in joint-lead")
Indian No 1 R Praggnanandhaa suffered a setback in his quest to qualify for next year’s Candidates Tournament via the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Samarkand, suffering his first defeat in the fifth round on Monday. Also registering his first loss of the tournament on Monday was reigning world champion D Gukesh, who is participating in the event purely to test himself in the world’s strongest Swiss-style tournament.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Indians in action at the event that carries a prize money of $625,000 in the ‘Open’ section, with world No 5 Arjun Erigaisi making defeating Russian-English GM Nikita Vitiugov in 37 moves while playing as white to remain joint second along with three others.
Additionally, R Vaishali remained in joint-lead in the women’s section along with Ulviyya Fataliyeva, Kateryna Lagno and Dinara Wagner. The 24-year-old GM held Lagno, ranked 10th in FIDE Women’s Classical Ratings, to collect her second draw on the trot after starting her campaign with a hat-trick of victories.
Setback for Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh
Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa lost to American GM Abhimanyu Mishra and Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum respectively. Both players lost while playing as black. Gukesh lost to Mishra – the youngest-ever Grandmaster in chess history, in battle that lasted 61 moves that developed from an Italian Game opening and witnessed both players commit blunders along the way. Mishra, however, capitalised on his opponent’s blunder more efficiently to seal the biggest win of his career in a rook endgame.
Bluebaum, meanwhile, caused the biggest upset of the tournament so far with a victory over the highest-ranked player at the event. Pragg went for an unusual opening by advancing his bishop as early as the third move, using it to give the white king a check and knock a knight off the board before getting captured.
The game was in the balance until the world No 4 decided to advance his c-file pawn in his 36th move. Bluebaum quickly capitalised on the error and continued to strengthen his position thereafter, eventually sealing his victory in 55 moves in a minor piece endgame and collecting his third victory on the trot after starting with two draws.
Erigaisi, however, faced no such difficulty against Vitiugov, following a precise plan after a Reti Opening, strengthening his position by capturing his opponent’s Queen in the 19th move before capitalising on a rook blunder (24. Rb5) to steer them game towards victory.
Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo currently leads the ‘Open’ standings with 4.5 points out of a possible five after a hard-fought victory over Hungarian GM Richard Rapport in his latest outing.
How things stand in Samarkand after Round 5
🇮🇷 Parham Maghsoodloo keeps his sole lead with a Round 5 win over 🇭🇺 Richard Rapport. #FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/JXSFepD13I
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 8, 2025
Important and Indian results round 5 open (Indians unless specified): Richard Rapport (Hun, 3) lost to Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 4.5); Matthias Blubaum (Ger, 4) beat R Praggnanandhaa (3); Arjun Erigaisi (4) beat Nikita Vitiugov (Eng, 3); Abhimanyu Mishra (4) beat D Gukesh (3); Marcandria Maurizzi (Fra, 4) beat Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 3) Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur, 3); Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 3.5) drew with Szymon Gumularz (Pol, 3.5); Sam Shankland (Usa, 2.5) lost to Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 3.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 2.5) Grigoriy Oparin (Usa, 2.5); Levon Aronian (3) drew with Shant Sargsyan (Arm, 2.5); Vidit Gujrathi (3) drew with Ivan Cheparinov (Bul, 3); Nihal Sarin (3.5) beat Leon Luke Mendonca (2.5); V Pranav (2.5) playing Andrey Esipenko (Fid, 2.5); Abhimanyu Puranik (3) beat Vlaldimir Fedoseev (Slo, 2); Andrei Volokitin (Ukr, 2.5) drew with P Harikrishna (2); Raunak Sadhwani (2.5) drew with Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr, 2.5); Daniil Yuffa (Esp, 2.5) drew with Aditya Mittal (2.5); S L Narayanan (2) drew with Lu Shanglei (Chn, 2.5); Divya Deshmukh (2) lost to Shamsiddin Vakhidov ((Uzb, 3); Aryan Chopra (1.5) playing Alexander Grischuk (Fid, 1.5); Anton Korobov (Ukr, 2) beat Murali Karthikeyan (1).
Women: R Vaishali (4) drew with Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 4); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 3.5) drew with Afruza Khamdamova (Uzb, 3.5); Irina Bulmaga (Rou, 3) lost to Dinara Wagner (Ger, 4); Alexandra Kosteniuk (Sui, 2.5) lost to Ulviyya Fataliyeva (Aze, 4); Elina Danielian (Arm, 2.5) lost to Tan Zhongyi (Chn, 3.5); Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 3.5) beat Nurgyul Salimova (Bul, 2.5); Carissa Yip (Usa, 2.5) lost to Olga Girya (Fid, 3.5); Meruert Kamalidenova (Kaz, 2.5) drew with Dronavalli Harika (2.5); Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 2.5) beat Vantika Agrawal (1.5).
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