Maghsoodloo, Vaishali Take Sole Grand Swiss Lead On 3/3
GM Parham Maghsoodloo called GM Alireza Firouzja's bluff to take the sole lead in the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss, after co-leader GM Anton Demchenko succumbed to GM Arjun Erigaisi's pressure. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu took advantage of GM Boris Gelfand's fighting spirit, and was joined on 2.5/3 by World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Abhimanyu Mishra, and Szymon Gumularz. 14-year-old GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus missed a win over GM Vincent Keymer by the smallest of margins.
We also have a sole leader in the 2025 FIDE Women's Grand Swiss, as GM Vaishali Rameshbabu got into time trouble but pounced on a blunder by IM Olga Badelka to move to 3/3. GM Kateryna Lagno and IMs Song Yuxin and Dinara Wagner are half a point behind, while former Women's World Champions GMs Tan Zhongyi and Mariya Muzychuk have both now won two in a row after losing in round one.
Round four is on Sunday, September 7, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 p.m. IST.
- Standings
- Open: Maghsoodloo Beats Firouzja To Grab Sole Lead
- Women: Vaishali's Grand Swiss Magic Continues
Standings
Just three rounds into the Grand Swiss in Samarkand, we have a sole leader in both the Open and Women's tournaments.
FIDE Grand Swiss Standings After Round 3
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Standings After Round 3
Open: Maghsoodloo Beats Firouzja To Grab Sole Lead
More than half the top-10 games were decisive, and it could have been more, after GMs Frederik Svane and Erdogmus both let winning positions slip.
Round 3 Results: Open
Check out the full games and results.
The big clash in round three was of two leaders and former Iranian teammates, Firouzja and Maghsoodloo. Firouzja had the white pieces, but an offbeat Najdorf saw him end up in a tricky endgame which became a lost one when he went for the tempting but flawed 43.Rb6? after thinking for just five minutes.
Maghsoodloo invested 20 minutes but correctly calculated the one winning line.
On boards two and three, the games lasted into the seventh hour before the Indian youngsters triumphed. GM Levon Aronian, who scored his first win, against GM Mateusz Bartel, commented on the topic:
Youngsters are generally very good recently. They’ve learned to play long games. Back in the day, we used to say blitz is only for youngsters and classical is for older people, but now I think it’s the other way around!
Back in the day, we used to say blitz is only for youngsters and classical is for older people, but now I think it's the other way around!
—Levon Aronian
57-year-old GM Boris Gelfand might dispute that thought after pressing deep into the game against Praggnanandhaa, but his ambition backfired when, on move 60, he blundered with a move played on his last second. After 60.Rg3? 20 minutes was added to the former world championship challenger's clock, but there was no way back as his young opponent wrapped up victory.
Arjun pulled off a similar win, ultimately overcoming heroic defense from Demchenko. That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed below.
The third Indian star, World Champion Gukesh, had a much quicker day at the office, since GM Daniil Yuffa admitted something had already gone wrong when he found himself playing his queen back from a4 to d1 on move eight. By the time 15...e5! appeared on the board, White was well and truly busted, and the fireworks Yuffa went for only provided more fuel for the fire.
The six-player chasing pack on 2.5/3 is completed by local hero Abdusattorov, who ground out a win against GM Abhimanyu Puranik; 23-year-old Polish GM Gumularz, who took down GM Grigoriy Oparin; and 16-year-old Mishra, whose win over GM Yu Yangyi is one of the day's upsets.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 3 Upset Wins
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| GM Alireza Firouzja (4) | 2754 | 0 - 1 | GM Parham Maghsoodloo (21) | 2692 | ||
| GM Robert Hovhannisyan (65) | 2629 | 1 - 0 | GM Vladimir Fedoseev (13) | 2731 | ||
| GM Javokhir Sindarov (14) | 2722 | 0 - 1 | GM Ivan Cheparinov (68) | 2627 | ||
| GM Abhimanyu Mishra (86) | 2611 | 1 - 0 | GM Yu Yangyi (15) | 2714 | ||
| GM Alexey Sarana (26) | 2686 | 0 - 1 | GM Andrei Volokitin (67) | 2628 | ||
| GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi (87) | 2610 | 1 - 0 | GM Vladislav Artemiev (37) | 2664 | ||
| GM Szymon Gumularz (101) | 2590 | 1 - 0 | GM Grigoriy Oparin (39) | 2660 | ||
| GM Raunak Sadhwani (40) | 2658 | 0 - 1 | GM Andy Woodward (108) | 2557 | ||
| GM Nils Grandelius (48) | 2648 | 0 - 1 | GM Aditya Mittal (104) | 2589 | ||
| GM Dmitrij Kollars (50) | 2647 | 0 - 1 | GM Pranav V (96) | 2596 | ||
| GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (91) | 2608 | 1 - 0 | GM Lu Shanglei (51) | 2647 | ||
| GM Ortik Nigmatov (113) | 2488 | 1 - 0 | GM Velimir Ivic (64) | 2630 |
In fact Mishra's win was his 59th classical game unbeaten, and it was surprisingly easy—as well as surprisingly hard! The easy part is that on move 28 Yu grabbed a poisoned pawn and lost his queen. The hard part is that the Chinese star, with a peak rating of 2765, played on until move 92 in the last game of the day to finish.
There were many notable wins, including a first for GM Hans Niemann, who slowly outplayed GM Rasmus Svane in 75 moves. The American explained the time it took as being connected to the extremely long time control in Samarkand:
Obviously with this time control you’re going to need a bit of help from your opponent. I felt at so many moments I’m breaking through, and then he gets an extra 50 minutes! So I was just waiting, pretending I was doing something, until he got into time pressure, and then when time got low, I would try and create something. That’s the only way to win games.
Niemann talked about the publicity he attracts and said, "Ideally the main focus would be on my chess," while saying of his vow to become world champion: "Unlike my colleagues, I don’t feign humility, so the notion that saying you want to become world champion... I assure you that every other player who’s around my age and rating feels the exact same thing, but perhaps they proclaim it with a bit more tact."
Unlike my colleagues, I don't feign humility.
—Hans Niemann
As well as the wins there were, of course, some near misses. 14-year-old Erdogmus had got lucky the previous day when Gukesh missed a win on move 40, while in round three it was an exact role reversal.
The young star outplayed world number-10 Keymer, correctly dodged a draw by repetition in mutual time trouble, but then, with around 20 seconds on his clock, went for a forcing option on move 40 that was only enough for a draw.
There were missed chances for GM Nihal Sarin against GM Yuriy Kuzubov and GM Frederik Svane against GM Anish Giri, but the most unfortunate miss of the day was perhaps that of GM Daniil Dubov. With 25 minutes on his clock, he spent just 25 seconds in the critical position.
We still have eight rounds to go in Samarkand, with Maghsoodloo-Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa-Mishra, and Gukesh-Arjun the top pairings for round four.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 4 Pairings (Top 20)
| White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | |
| 1 | GM Parham Maghsoodloo (3) | 2692 | - | GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2.5) | 2748 | ||
| 2 | GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2.5) | 2785 | - | GM Abhimanyu Mishra (2.5) | 2611 | ||
| 3 | GM Gukesh Dommaraju (2.5) | 2767 | - | GM Arjun Erigaisi (2.5) | 2771 | ||
| 4 | GM Alireza Firouzja (2) | 2754 | - | GM Szymon Gumularz (2.5) | 2590 | ||
| 5 | GM Vincent Keymer (2) | 2751 | - | GM Frederik Svane (2) | 2643 | ||
| 6 | GM Ivan Cheparinov (2) | 2627 | - | GM Anish Giri (2) | 2746 | ||
| 7 | GM Saleh Salem (2) | 2640 | - | GM Levon Aronian (2) | 2744 | ||
| 8 | GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2) | 2742 | - | GM Robert Hovhannisyan (2) | 2629 | ||
| 9 | GM Anton Demchenko (2) | 2620 | - | GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2) | 2741 | ||
| 10 | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2) | 2738 | - | GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi (2) | 2610 | ||
| 11 | GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2) | 2615 | - | GM Hans Moke Niemann (2) | 2733 | ||
| 12 | GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2) | 2608 | - | GM Vidit Gujrathi (2) | 2712 | ||
| 13 | GM Alexandr Predke (2) | 2609 | - | GM Richard Rapport (2) | 2711 | ||
| 14 | GM Pranav V (2) | 2596 | - | GM Nihal Sarin (2) | 2693 | ||
| 15 | GM Andrey Esipenko (2) | 2687 | - | GM Aydin Suleymanli (2) | 2602 | ||
| 16 | GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2) | 2600 | - | GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2) | 2681 | ||
| 17 | GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra (2) | 2594 | - | GM Matthias Bluebaum (2) | 2671 | ||
| 18 | GM Jules Moussard (2) | 2591 | - | GM Nikita Vitiugov (2) | 2666 | ||
| 19 | GM Aditya Mittal (2) | 2589 | - | GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (2) | 2646 | ||
| 20 | GM Andy Woodward (2) | 2557 | - | GM Maxim Rodshtein (2) | 2645 |
Women: Vaishali's Grand Swiss Magic Continues
Just as in the Open section, six of the top-10 boards saw decisive results in the Women's section.
Round 3 Results: Women
Check out the full games and results.
The clash of the leaders didn't disappoint in the Women's section either, with defending champion Vaishali playing the bold 25.g4! with just 11 seconds on her clock. Badelka had over six minutes, but a move later fell into a trap by grabbing a poisoned pawn! There was no way to escape.
Vaishali has a perfect 3/3, while there are three players half a point behind: Lagno, Wagner, and Song, who played one of the most astonishing games of the day.
When Vantika played the losing move, 16...Rdf8?, she had under six minutes on her clock, while Song had over six minutes more than the 90 minutes she started with! It wasn't immediately clear why Black was in so much trouble, but it was soon demonstrated over the board—more evidence that 19-year-old Song, who recently reached the Women's World Cup Quarterfinals, is a new star in the making.
The favorites dominated, with Tan and Mariya Muzychuk in particular recovering from their round-one losses to win second games in a row, though top-seed GM Anna Muzychuk was again frustrated as she let a win slip against WCM Madinabonu Khalilova and is struggling in 46th place.
In fact there were just three games where the lower-rated player won:
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Round 3 Upset Wins
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| IM Nurgyul Salimova (32) | 2386 | 1 - 0 | IM Leya Garifullina (8) | 2477 | ||
| GM Irina Krush (44) | 2366 | 1 - 0 | IM Lu Miaoyi (14) | 2449 | ||
| IM Khanim Balajayeva (48) | 2331 | 1 - 0 | IM Meri Arabidze (16) | 2444 |
IM Nurgyul Salimova described her win over IM Leya Garifullina as "smooth, more or less," and in fact it would look much less of an upset if she hadn't dropped over 60 rating points in the last year. Of her slump, the 2023 Women's World Cup runner-up said, "It was Candidates pressure. I got tired, I lost motivation, also some other things happened," but added that she now has the motivation to get back to where she was and beyond.
Salimova is in the 17-player group on 2/3, well within range of the leader with eight rounds to go.
She faces a tough game with Black against Tan on board three in round four, while the top clashes are Wagner-Vaishali and Lagno-Song.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Round 4 Pairings (Top 18)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | IM Dinara Wagner (2.5) | 2400 | - | GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (3) | 2452 | ||
| 2 | GM Kateryna Lagno (2.5) | 2505 | - | IM Song Yuxin (2.5) | 2409 | ||
| 3 | GM Tan Zhongyi (2) | 2531 | - | IM Nurgyul Salimova (2) | 2386 | ||
| 4 | GM Olga Girya (2) | 2386 | - | GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (2) | 2505 | ||
| 5 | IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (2) | 2385 | - | GM Mariya Muzychuk (2) | 2484 | ||
| 6 | IM Olga Badelka (2) | 2375 | - | IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (2) | 2445 | ||
| 7 | GM Anna Ushenina (2) | 2409 | - | WGM Zhai Mo (2) | 2380 | ||
| 8 | WIM Afruza Khamdamova (2) | 2409 | - | GM Irina Krush (2) | 2366 | ||
| 9 | WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet (2) | 2348 | - | IM Irina Bulmaga (2) | 2400 | ||
| 10 | WIM Guldona Karimova (2) | 2324 | - | GM Antoaneta Stefanova (2) | 2395 | ||
| 11 | GM Harika Dronavalli (1.5) | 2467 | - | IM Khanim Balajayeva (2) | 2331 | ||
| 12 | IM Vantika Agrawal (1.5) | 2381 | - | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (1.5) | 2472 | ||
| 13 | WGM Shrook Wafa (1.5) | 2202 | - | IM Carissa Yip (1.5) | 2458 | ||
| 14 | IM Teodora Injac (1.5) | 2454 | - | IM Guo Qi (1.5) | 2371 | ||
| 15 | WGM Anna Shukhman (1.5) | 2420 | - | IM Marsel Efroimski (1.5) | 2377 | ||
| 16 | IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (1.5) | 2379 | - | GM Elina Danielian (1.5) | 2405 | ||
| 17 | WGM Zsoka Gaal (1.5) | 2388 | - | IM Meruert Kamalidenova (1.5) | 2349 | ||
| 18 | WCM Madinabonu Khalilova (1.5) | 2148 | - | WGM Xeniya Balabayeva (1.5) | 2383 |
How to watch?
You can watch the day's broadcast on the Chess24 YouTube or Twitch channels. The games can also be reviewed from our dedicated events page.
The broadcast was hosted by GM Judit Polgar, GM David Howell, and John Sargent.
The 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women's Grand Swiss are 11-round Swiss tournaments taking place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 4-15. Each will decide two places in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournaments that select the next world championship challengers. The Open tournament has a $625,000 prize fund, with $90,000 for first place, while the Women's is $230,000 ($40,000). The time control is classical, with a longer time control for the Open of 100 minutes/40 moves + 50 min/20 + 15 min, with a 30-second increment from move 1.
Previous coverage:
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
