16-Year-Old Mishra Youngest Player Ever To Beat World Champion
Sixteen-year-old GM Abhimanyu Mishra beat World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in round five of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss, becoming the youngest player ever to defeat a reigning champion in a game of classical chess. GM Parham Maghsoodloo remains the sole leader after beating GM Richard Rapport to hit 4.5/5, but two more top-10 GMs sensationally lost. Top-seed GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu fell to GM Matthias Bluebaum, while GM Marc-Andria Maurizzi beat GM Vincent Keymer.
Leaders GMs Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno made a draw on top board in the 2025 FIDE Women's Grand Swiss and were caught on 4/5 by IM Dinara Wagner, who defeated IM Irina Bulmaga, and IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva, who overcame former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Round six is on Tuesday, September 9, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 p.m. IST.
- Standings
- Open: Gukesh, Pragg, Keymer All Beaten As Maghsoodloo Marches On
- Women: Wagner, Fataliyeva Join 4-Way Tie For Lead
Standings
GM Arjun Erigaisi is the only favorite within half a point of leader Maghsoodloo after a day of shocks in Samarkand.
FIDE Grand Swiss Standings After Round 5
We now have four leaders in the Women's Grand Swiss.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Standings After Round 5
Open: Gukesh, Pragg, Keymer All Beaten As Maghsoodloo Marches On
The most dramatic day yet saw seven of the top-10 games end decisively, with some huge shocks. One of the draws, between GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov and 14-year-old GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, also lasted almost 8.5 hours.
Round 5 Results: Open
Check out the full games and results.
After GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave bounced back from a loss to 18-year-old GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi by beating 15-year-old GM Andy Woodward, he was asked what's changed with young players and gave an interesting response:
They get better quicker, but then they sort of reach a ceiling, as we're seeing. It’s a very high ceiling—the Indian generation with, of course, Gukesh, Pragg, and Arjun are showing a very high level, but they’re not dominant in every tournament yet. Pragg is starting to be, but it means that even if they’re stronger earlier, Gukesh was champion at 18, but still the ceiling reached by Magnus, but also Fabi, Levon and so on... We've proved that the old generation is still competing!
They get better quicker, but then they sort of reach a ceiling.
—Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on the new generation of chess players
Mishra looks to be the perfect example of rising fast, since at the age of 12 and five months he set the record as the youngest ever player to become a grandmaster. In the four years since he's become a strong 2600-grandmaster, but struggled to take the next steps toward 2700 and the world elite. A classic case of a ceiling reached at hyper-speed? Perhaps not, as Mishra's run in Samarkand—and what's now a 61-game unbeaten classical streak—suggests he could yet reach the very top.
Whatever happens next, he's already made more history, breaking a record set 33 years ago in Dortmund when 17-year-old GM Gata Kamsky beat World Champion Garry Kasparov. That remained the record for the youngest player to beat a reigning world champion in a classical game, despite feats such as 15-year-old GM Teimour Radjabov beating Kasparov in 2003, or 16-year-old GM Anish Giri beating GM Magnus Carlsen in 2011. Kasparov and Carlsen were world number-ones at the time, but not the title holders.
Mishra himself was typically modest, admitting:
Even though I won the game it doesn’t feel as pleasing [as his earlier win over GM Yu Yangyi] because I had a winning position and basically just threw it away. Later he made some mistakes and I got it back, but overall it wasn’t a very clean game.
It was a very strange game, with Gukesh essentially lost on move 12 when he pushed his g-pawn instead of his h-pawn.
That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.
Congratulations to 16-year-old Abhimanyu Mishra (@ChessMishra) on becoming the youngest player ever to beat the reigning World Champion in a game of classical chess! https://t.co/l5QVyXqQ77 pic.twitter.com/7AkFz7sE1P
— chess24 (@chess24com) September 8, 2025
"This is going better than I could have possibly imagined!" said Mishra, but he also showed new confidence as he felt he has a "very real chance of winning the tournament" and noted that against Praggnanandhaa the day before as well, "I never felt like I was really inferior against these players."
That brings us to the other action in the round, with more sensational upsets that would have taken the headlines on any other day.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 5 Upset Wins
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| GM Matthias Bluebaum (32) | 2671 | 1 - 0 | GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (1) | 2785 | ||
| GM Abhimanyu Mishra (86) | 2611 | 1 - 0 | GM Gukesh Dommaraju (3) | 2767 | ||
| GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi (87) | 2610 | 1 - 0 | GM Vincent Keymer (5) | 2751 | ||
| GM Abhimanyu Puranik (57) | 2640 | 1 - 0 | GM Vladimir Fedoseev (13) | 2731 | ||
| GM Richard Rapport (17) | 2711 | 0 - 1 | GM Parham Maghsoodloo (21) | 2692 | ||
| GM Alexei Shirov (82) | 2616 | 1 - 0 | GM Pavel Eljanov (27) | 2682 | ||
| GM Anton Korobov (81) | 2616 | 1 - 0 | GM Murali Karthikeyan (35) | 2669 | ||
| GM Ihor Samunenkov (109) | 2550 | 1 - 0 | GM Aleksandar Indjic (47) | 2650 | ||
| GM Frederik Svane (56) | 2643 | 0 - 1 | GM Mateusz Bartel (106) | 2581 | ||
| GM Abdimalik Abdisalimov (112) | 2488 | 1 - 0 | GM Mahammad Muradli (103) | 2590 |
Top-seed Praggnanandhaa's loss came like a bolt from the blue, since Bluebaum admitted his 26.d5?! was "positionally a horrible move" after which he was only trying to hold on.
Praggnanandhaa had already lost his grip on the endgame, however, when 36...c6?, played with just over a minute on his clock, left him in deep trouble.
While the German number-two pulled off an upset win, it was a tough day for the German number-one, Keymer, who had just hit his peak ranking of world number-eight. He dropped back out of the top-10 with a loss to a man in form, Maurizzi, who was pushing with an extra pawn but needed a big helping hand to be able to grab a win.
That came with 37...f6?, played with 10 seconds to spare, though Keymer got one more chance before crashing to defeat.
It wasn't all suffering from the pre-tournament favorites, however. GM Arjun Erigaisi moved to within half a point of the leader with a win over GM Nikita Vitiugov, who suddenly lost coordination of his pieces and was swiftly put to the sword.
Arjun summed up his tournament: "So far, so good. Maybe some of the games are not the best in terms of quality, but the results I’m so far happy with!"
GM Anish Giri ground out a convincing win over GM Grigoriy Oparin, while GM Alireza Firouzja wrapped up victory when GM Sam Shankland missed the narrow path to a draw in a pawn endgame. Firouzja had a theory as to how he'd provoked a mistake:
I always had some small pressure because of the extra pawn I had and then I thought for 50 minutes and he got out of focus, I guess. It’s a very tough endgame, actually. It’s not clear which pawn to push, where to push. I was trying to calculate it and I think it’s a draw, but it’s not easy... His way makes sense if my queen doesn’t come with check. This is what he missed. That last move I queen with check. It’s unfortunate for him!
Shankland's 47.bxa5? was losing, while 47.Ke2! is still a draw.
Firouzja explained it hadn't been too hard to recover from his earlier loss to Maghsoodloo, since, "I was not so sad about the game because he played really well." That brings us to the leader, who won again to move to 4.5/5, and commented, "Somehow everything goes very well for me!"
Maghsoodloo said that although he prepares four-five hours before each game, he hadn't prepared the London System, so that he was grateful that Rapport went for "the only line which I remembered!" The Iranian knew to meet 9.Be2 with 9...h6! and went on to get a comfortable position.
Maghsoodloo built up a 30-minute lead on the clock and perhaps owed his win to the decision not simply to settle for a draw when Rapport went for the flashy 28.Nd4.
Maghsoodloo, who had seen some of his biggest rivals lose, commented: "I think most of the guys I see they try to win very hard and it bounces back and they lose. It’s not the tournament to risk it all for one game!"
It's not the tournament to risk it all for one game!
—Parham Maghsoodloo
As always there's too much action to cover. For instance, GM Rauf Mamedov won a brilliant attacking game against GM Jules Moussard, while the way GM Nihal Sarin developed his rooks on attacked squares on the fifth rank bordered on sorcery.
Never seen such use of rooks before, exploiting pins! pic.twitter.com/i4GRu68gmZ
— Peter Heine Nielsen (@PHChess) September 8, 2025
The one game we can't skip, however, is 14-year-old Erdogmus' extraordinary escape in a 190-move, 8.5-hour game against local hero Abdusattorov.
It ended by Erdogmus finally correctly claiming a draw as no pawn had moved or piece been captured in 50 moves, though they played a few moves extra!
Here are the final moments.
After 190 moves of battle, 14-year-old Superstar @gmyagizkaan Erdogmus holds Super GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov to a draw! Check out the final moments of Yagiz claiming the draw, the arbiter coming in, and Yagiz' mom hugging him after this amazing resilient performance! pic.twitter.com/LPcxYiWZb8
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) September 8, 2025
Erdogmus' reward is a round-six pairings with a player who has worked as his coach, GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, while there's a huge clash on top board as Maghsoodloo takes on Arjun. Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, and Keymer all have the white pieces against players they outrate by over 100 points, so that it's sure we're going to see them try to hit back immediately!
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 6 Pairings (Top 21)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Parham Maghsoodloo (4.5) | 2692 | - | GM Arjun Erigaisi (4) | 2771 | ||
| 2 | GM Matthias Bluebaum (4) | 2671 | - | GM Abhimanyu Mishra (4) | 2611 | ||
| 3 | GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi (4) | 2610 | - | GM Anish Giri (3.5) | 2746 | ||
| 4 | GM Amin Tabatabaei (3.5) | 2673 | - | GM Alireza Firouzja (3.5) | 2754 | ||
| 5 | GM Maxim Rodshtein (3.5) | 2645 | - | GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (3.5) | 2748 | ||
| 6 | GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (3.5) | 2646 | - | GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (3.5) | 2741 | ||
| 7 | GM Szymon Gumularz (3.5) | 2590 | - | GM Nihal Sarin (3.5) | 2693 | ||
| 8 | GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (3.5) | 2681 | - | GM V Pranav (3.5) | 2596 | ||
| 9 | GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (3) | 2785 | - | GM Rauf Mamedov (3) | 2651 | ||
| 10 | GM Gukesh Dommaraju (3) | 2767 | - | GM Nikolas Theodorou (3) | 2646 | ||
| 11 | GM Vincent Keymer (3) | 2751 | - | GM Robert Hovhannisyan (3) | 2629 | ||
| 12 | GM Nikita Vitiugov (3) | 2666 | - | GM Levon Aronian (3) | 2744 | ||
| 13 | GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (3) | 2742 | - | GM Alexei Shirov (3) | 2616 | ||
| 14 | GM Shant Sargsyan (3) | 2653 | - | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (3) | 2738 | ||
| 15 | GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (3) | 2645 | - | GM Hans Moke Niemann (3) | 2733 | ||
| 16 | GM Anton Demchenko (3) | 2620 | - | GM Vidit Gujrathi (3) | 2712 | ||
| 17 | GM Abhimanyu Puranik (3) | 2640 | - | GM Richard Rapport (3) | 2711 | ||
| 18 | GM Ivan Cheparinov (3) | 2627 | - | GM Samuel Sevian (3) | 2692 | ||
| 19 | GM Jorden van Foreest (3) | 2692 | - | GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (3) | 2608 | ||
| 20 | GM Mateusz Bartel (3) | 2581 | - | GM Daniil Dubov (3) | 2691 | ||
| 21 | GM Yu Yangyi (2.5) | 2714 | - | GM Ihor Samunenkov (3) | 2550 |
Don't miss the last round before the only rest day!
Women: Wagner, Fataliyeva Join 4-Way Tie For Lead
There were draws at the top, but again seven decisive games on the top boards of the Women's section.
Round 5 Results: Women
Check out the full games and results.
The Women's event couldn't match those crazy levels of excitement, with quiet draws on the first two boards.
That allowed the chasing pack to pounce, with favorites GMs Tan Zhongyi and Bibisara Assaubayeva moving to within half a point of the lead, while Wagner and Fataliyeva caught the leaders.
29-year-old Fataliyeva, from Azerbaijan, is having a remarkable event.
Her second win in a row against a former women's world champion came when Kosteniuk, down to under four minutes, overlooked the key threat.
That was the most prominent of six wins for lower-seeded players.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Round 5 Upset Wins
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (9) | 2472 | 0 - 1 | IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (33) | 2385 | ||
| IM Carissa Yip (11) | 2458 | 0 - 1 | GM Olga Girya (30) | 2386 | ||
| IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (41) | 2372 | 1 - 0 | IM Teodora Injac (12) | 2454 | ||
| IM Guo Qi (42) | 2371 | 1 - 0 | GM Anna Ushenina (20) | 2409 | ||
| IM Mai Narva (31) | 2386 | 0 - 1 | WIM Guldona Karimova (49) | 2324 | ||
| IM Marsel Efroimski (38) | 2377 | 0 - 1 | WCM Madinabonu Khalilova (55) | 2148 |
The four leaders will clash in Lagno-Wagner and Fataliyeva-Vaishali in round six.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Round 6 Pairings (Top 9)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Kateryna Lagno (4) | 2505 | - | IM Dinara Wagner (4) | 2400 | ||
| 2 | IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (4) | 2385 | - | GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (4) | 2452 | ||
| 3 | GM Tan Zhongyi (3.5) | 2531 | - | GM Antoaneta Stefanova (3.5) | 2395 | ||
| 4 | WIM Afruza Khamdamova (3.5) | 2409 | - | GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (3.5) | 2505 | ||
| 5 | GM Olga Girya (3.5) | 2386 | - | IM Song Yuxin (3.5) | 2409 | ||
| 6 | IM Khanim Balajayeva (3) | 2331 | - | IM Guo Qi (3.5) | 2371 | ||
| 7 | WIM Guldona Karimova (3) | 2324 | - | GM Mariya Muzychuk (3) | 2484 | ||
| 8 | WCM Madinabonu Khalilova (3) | 2148 | - | IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (3) | 2445 | ||
| 9 | WGM Anna Shukhman (3) | 2420 | - | IM Irina Bulmaga (3) | 2400 |
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 GMs Judit Polgar 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:
- Round 4: 14-Year-Old Erdogmus Wins Masterpiece; Lagno Catches Vaishali
- Round 3: Maghsoodloo, Vaishali Take Sole Grand Swiss Lead On 3/3
- Round 2: Gukesh Misses Win Vs. 14-Year-Old Erdogmus
- Round 1: Gukesh, Firouzja Among Early Winners; Women's Favorites Toppled
- World Champion Gukesh Headlines Spectacular Grand Swiss Lineup
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.
