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The Top 10 Chess Games of 2025
Alireza Firouzja and Fabiano Caruana played one of the best games of 2025, but who won and where does it rank? Photo: Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (TMGCL).

The Top 10 Chess Games of 2025

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GM GMRafpig
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It's time to remember the most remarkable chess games of 2025. Some memorable classical events gave us magnificent games, such as the traditional Tata Steel Chess tournament, the FIDE Grand Swiss, and the FIDE World Cup, to name three of the main ones. But we will see in this list that rapid games can also produce exceptional content. Three of the chosen games were played at an accelerated time control. This may displease some purists, but I believe that the beauty of ideas is more important than a completely perfect execution, and I'm certain that rapid games also deserve careful study, especially since faster time controls are a trend in modern chess.

As always, choosing only 10 games was very difficult. In 2025, unless I'm mistaken in my calculations, I analyzed 226 games for the Game of the Day section of the tournament recaps on Chess.com. I had a few hours of fun reviewing these games to choose the ones which deserved to on this best-of list. In these games we find spectacular sacrifices, great opening preparation, bloody battles, attacks where a king dances in the middle of the board, exotic checkmate ideas.

A Few Spoilers

All the games were played by strong GMs, which is natural, as it's from these players that we expect the best action. One of the greatest prodigies in chess history is on the list. Only one player has two winning games—and I think it's very difficult to guess who. The final score is five wins for White and five for Black, but curiously all of the the top three ended in a win for the second player. 

One last comment that I hope will further develop your appetite to start reading: In this article, the best was truly saved for last. Something I had no doubt about, right from the beginning, was which game should be number one. It's a sublime masterpiece, enough to bring tears to the eyes, and I consider it one of the best games ever.

My suggestion is that the reader calmly review each of these games, savoring not only the moves played, but also the analysis. In some cases, what happened behind the scenes is even more beautiful than what occurred on the board. Enjoy!

10. Van Foreest 0-1 Abdusattorov, Tata Steel

One of the first great games of the year... but not the last. Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess.

Our first game is a delightful battle between two players known for their fighting spirit. They start a big fight right from the opening and the result is a game of attack, defense and counterattack. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov plays with machine-like precision to take the point in the end. A suggestion for coaches: the position that occurs in the middlegame is the type that legendary coach IM Mark Dvoretsky liked to use as an initial position for two students to face each other in a training session, one where many difficult moves need to be found by both sides.

9. Harikrishna 1-0 Warmerdam, Tata Steel

Next is another game played at Tata Steel Chess, and that's not a coincidence. This is one of my favorite tournaments, and I'm certainly not alone in this opinion, as the organizers take special care in inviting players committed to entertaining the spectators. In the introduction, I mentioned that only one player had two winning games in the list, and here's the mystery revealed: it's the veteran GM Pentala Harikrishna, who had an excellent performance in 2025. Although this is a relatively short game, a lot happens: an important opening for development of theory; many complications, despite the absence of queens; creative attacking and defensive moves; a devastating attack and a pretty final mating theme.

8. Giri 0-1 Aravindh, Prague Chess Festival

India today is to chess what Brazil once was to soccer: a breeding ground for stars. GM Aravindh Chithambaram started the year with excellent results, although unfortunately he slowed down in the second half. In this game, he faces one of the best players of 2025, whom I consider to be one of the favorites in next year's Candidates Tournament. Not only that, but GM Anish Giri is very solid and rarely loses, especially with the white pieces. This gives an idea of the extraordinary feat achieved by Aravindh, even more so considering how it happened, with sacrifices and a brilliantly-conducted use of the initiative.

7. Harikrishna 1-0 Nesterov, FIDE World Cup

The time has come for  Harikrishna's second game on the list. This victory had great impact on social media, and the reason is simple: everyone loves a game with a positional queen sacrifice. Some may argue that the sac was the result of home preparation (a topic that will be addressed again later), but preparation alone isn't enough. It takes courage to play like this in the decisive game of one of the most important tournaments of the year. Fortune favors the brave, and Harikrishna was rewarded with a beautiful victory that will be remembered for a long time.

6. Firouzja 1-0 Caruana, Global Chess League

This is one of the two games played in December that made it onto the list at the last minute. It's also one of the three games played at a rapid time control. It features two of my favorite chess players. GM Alireza Firouzja, a fearless attacker, is always ready to throw his pieces at the opponent's king, whether in a rapid or a classical game, in a casual tournament or the most important event of the year. And GM Fabiano Caruana, one of the all-time best, has a classical and universal style and excellent opening preparation.

Here, we see a Dragon Sicilian with the traditional castling on opposite sides, with both players going on the attack in a race to see who gets there first, full of surprising moves and positions that are useful for calculation training.

5. Dubov 1-0 Meier, FIDE World Cup

Two players looking to advance to the next knockout stage. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE.

Another game played in a rapid time control, but still of great sporting importance, as it decided qualification in one of the World Cup stages. GM Daniil Dubov is one of the great artists of opening preparation, unafraid to employ gambits that have been carefully studied. Here he faces GM Georg Meier, known for a very well-studied, more conservative repertoire. This battle of styles has an air of romantic chess, reminiscent of the great games of the late 19th century. Black managed to solve the opening problems, but an error at the end allowed a beautiful finish.

4. Giri 1-0 Wei, Global Chess League

Another rapid game played in December that deserved a place on the list. This time Giri is on the winning side. He had a brilliant performance in 2025, qualifying for the Candidates Tournament and showing that he could even become world champion. Giri is known for having a solid style, but this time his fantastic opening preparation (another of his trademarks) leads him to an attacking position. It's important to highlight that the victim is himself a great attacking player: the Chinese GM Wei Yi, who also qualified for the Candidates Tournament. Once again, some may object that much of this game was prepared at home, but in this case it seems to me to be an added merit: imagine the extraordinary level of preparation required to have so much analysis in such a rare line. Perhaps even more incredible is having such a good memory to remember all the details.

I wonder what Giri will show us in more conventional variations during the Candidates Tournament. It's worth pointing out that not everything was decided with preparation: it was also necessary to find good moves over the board to carry out this work of art, undoubtedly one of the best games of the year.

3. Tran 0-1 Saleh, FIDE World Cup

Finally we've reached the podium, and given the level of the games that didn't make it this high on the list, you can probably guess that something truly special is needed to be among the top three. Third place goes to another game in the Sicilian Defense with castling on opposite sides, fertile ground for drama and brilliance.

For quite some time, it seems that White's attack will arrive first, but never underestimate the power of Black's counterplay in the Sicilian. The game ends with a beautiful and surprising mating idea. GM Salem Saleh loves complicated games and it's worth remembering that he won the silver medal on last year's list, thanks to his unforgettable win as Black against GM Vladimir Fedoseev. I wonder if he will again be present in the list of 2026's best games.

2. Aditya 0-1 Erdogmus, FIDE Grand Swiss

The silver medal game was won by a prodigy, who none other than GM Magnus Carlsen called the best 14-year-old player the world has ever seen. It's a bold statement, but hard to disagree with after looking at the results and games of the young Turkish GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus in 2025. His participation in the Grand Swiss was nothing short of sensational, and his best game is extraordinary, with great tactical complications and a mouth-watering finish involving a queen sac as the opponent's king is forced to dance across the board.

1. Praggnanandhaa 0-1 Rapport, UzChess Cup

No one could quite yet imagine what this game would turn into. Photo: UzChess Cup.

Finally we've reached the gold medal, the best game of 2025. Would it be an exaggeration to say this is one of the greatest games ever, or at least one of the best of the 21st century? It has many elements to be considered as such: the victim is an elite player (who might even become the world champion) with the white pieces; the chosen defense is the King's Indian, one of the most beloved; there's a cascade of extremely difficult sacrifices that rivals GM Garry Kasparov's best games in the same opening.

On top of all that, the game is by GM Richard Rapport, one of the most creative players in the world elite. As I wrote in the introduction, from the very beginning of the article's conception, that phase where I think of all the games that can make the list, I was already absolutely certain which one I would choose as the number one. I hope you enjoy this game as much as I do.

What do you think the best game of 2025 was? Do you agree with Rafa's list? Let us know in the comments!

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