Nihal, Bluebaum Grab Grand Swiss Lead; Gukesh Loses 3rd Game
Indian GM Nihal Sarin defeated GM Parham Maghsoodloo to grab the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss lead on 5.5/7, where he was joined by GM Matthias Bluebaum, who stunned GM Arjun Erigaisi. GMs Alireza Firouzja, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Hans Niemann, and Vidit Gujrathi all won to move within half a point, while World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju lost a topsy-turvy third game in a row, to another 16-year-old, Turkish GM Ediz Gurel.
Defending Champion GM Vaishali Rameshbabu won a fifth game to regain the sole lead in the 2025 FIDE Women's Grand Swiss on 6/7 after whipping up a checkmating attack against IM Guo Qi. GM Kateryna Lagno is in sole second place after a quick draw, while GM Bibisara Assaubayeva, GM Mariya Muzychuk, and IM Song Yuxin all won to move to 5/7.
Round eight is on Friday, September 12, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 p.m. IST.
Standings
It's all change in the Open in Samarkand, with Nihal and Bluebaum taking over in the lead. Maghsoodloo's loss was good news for the chasing pack, with seven players now only half a point behind.
FIDE Grand Swiss Standings After Round 7
In the Women's Grand Swiss we're back to Vaishali as sole leader, while Lagno is in sole second place and pre-tournament favorites Assaubayeva and Mariya Muzychuk are well-placed to fight for FIDE Candidates spots.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Standings After Round 7
Open: Nihal And Bluebaum Take Over At Top
Six games were decisive on the top-10 boards, with the wins at the top transforming the standings with four rounds to go.
Round 7 Results: Open
Check out the full games and results.
Maghsoodloo had been cruising at the top of the standings, but in round seven he met his match in a thriller against Nihal, who noted that what followed couldn't have been expected when the game began as a notoriously drawish Exchange Slav. "Parham never backed out from a fight!" said Nihal, and the Indian was happy to engage, even if he admitted it could have gone either way:
It became quite crazy. A lot of moments I thought I was in some trouble. Towards the end I thought he was in some trouble, and at the very end with no time... everything was flying, nobody knew what was happening, and in these scrambles you need quite a bit of luck and fortunately it was on my side today!
Both players lived on the edge, with Nihal playing 33.Rxc6! with three seconds on his clock, while Maghsoodloo played 33...Rxe3! with one second to spare—and the drama was only beginning!
Nihal said he hadn't dreamed of leading the tournament at this stage, adding, "If I somehow manage to win it’s just a massive bonus!" He's also crossed 2700 on the live rating list, something he's done once before, but he's never been >2700 on an official list.
Nihal would be joined in the lead on 5.5/7 not, as he might have expected, by Arjun, but by the world number-five's opponent, Bluebaum, whose own dream event has also seen him beat GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in a run of 4.5/5.
Bluebaum was helped by Arjun's willingness to take risks and our Game of the Day has been analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao below.
GM Anish Giri threatened to make it a three-way tie for first place, but he was thwarted by GM Abhimanyu Mishra, whose defense of a position a pawn down was as convincing as you would expect from someone who has now gone 63 classical games unbeaten!
The loss suffered by the leader was great news for everyone chasing the top-two spots and a place in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, with four players winning to join Giri, Mishra, and Maghsoodloo half a point behind the new leaders.
There were smooth wins for local hero Abdusattorov, over GM Amin Tabatabaei, and Vidit, over GM Marc'Andria Maurrizi, who never recovered from a rash pawn break in the opening. Vidit explained afterward that he'd gone on an excursion on the rest day that he would have avoided if not for his wife: "One rest day I should be a nice husband and go with her and keep her company!"
Vidit had lost in round one before winning the Grand Swiss in 2023 and was glad to have moved to a "stable" +3 this year, though when asked if the 2025 version of him was stronger he replied:
I was stronger back then. I was training 12 hours a day, so I was very much into the game and I was very sharp, comparatively, so now I’ve changed a bit. 2023 was a better player!
The other two wins to move to 5.5/7 were altogether more dramatic. Firouzja and GM Nodirbek Yakubboev locked horns in some insanely complicated Two Knights theory, with the black knight somehow finding its way to e2 on move 13. It was only here that Firouzja paused for the first time, but the players continued to play almost perfectly until Yakubboev made one real mistake—and was immediately lost. Chess is tough!
We got a similar razor-sharp battle in Niemann vs. GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, with the Turkish prodigy playing the Petroff but delighting his U.S. opponent by not playing for equality. Niemann commented:
It’s amazing when your opponents are ambitious with Black. This is kind of a dream when someone just throws everything at you and you’re just reacting!
Erdogmus played well, up to a point, but using over an hour on moves eight-nine was verging on suicidal, and when he finally made the decisive mistake, in a position where objectively he was no worse, he had only six minutes to Niemann's 58!
Hans Niemann is the first player to beat Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and moves into Candidates contention on +3! https://t.co/PRPfrdhA3w pic.twitter.com/e3jrstM4Z1
— chess24 (@chess24com) September 11, 2025
Eleven players are a point behind the leader on a +2 score, with 4.5/7, including round-seven winners Praggnanandhaa (vs. GM Maxim Rodshtein), GM Richard Rapport (vs. GM Ivan Cheparinov), GM Yu Yangyi (vs. GM Leon Luke Mendonca), and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (vs. GM Rauf Mamedov). Nepomniachtchi had squandered a completely winning position in the previous round, and confessed: "Frankly speaking, I was rather considering withdrawing from the event after the game against Shirov!"
He squeezed out a win in round seven and channeled his inner Mr. Miyagi when asked how you can learn to do that: "Squeeze, repeat, squeeze, repeat, and you will master squeezing!"
Squeeze, repeat, squeeze, repeat, and you will master squeezing!
—Ian Nepomniachtchi
The sensational result further down the field was a third loss in a row for Gukesh, who fell to 16-year-old Turkish prodigy Gurel.
Gurel is a couple of months older than Mishra, so no new record for the youngest player to beat a world champion was set, while GM Ding Liren lost four games in a row in Norway Chess, but the latest hit cost more rating points and Gukesh is on the brink of falling out of the top 10.
The game itself was, in Gurel's words, "a crazy tough game." He added: "I actually blundered at some point and I got very miserable and I didn’t see a move. And then I thought my position was very bad, but I just thought I had to give my best, maybe he makes some mistake and I just pull things through, and luckily it happened!"
For a second day in a row, Gukesh got involved in a pawn race where his opponent emerged on top.
That was one of the day's upset wins, while another was scored by Gukesh's round-eight opponent: GM Divya Deshmukh!
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 7 Upset Wins
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| GM Arjun Erigaisi (2) | 2771 | 0 - 1 | GM Matthias Bluebaum (32) | 2671 | ||
| GM Ediz Gurel (63) | 2631 | 1 - 0 | GM D Gukesh (3) | 2767 | ||
| GM David Anton Guijarro (71) | 2625 | 1 - 0 | GM Pavel Eljanov (27) | 2682 | ||
| GM Aram Hakobyan (72) | 2625 | 1 - 0 | GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (29) | 2674 | ||
| GM Daniil Yuffa (49) | 2648 | 0 - 1 | GM Yuriy Kuzubov (94) | 2600 | ||
| GM Divya Deshmukh (115) | 2478 | 1 - 0 | GM Velimir Ivic (64) | 2630 | ||
| GM Abdimalik Abdisalimov (112) | 2488 | 1 - 0 | GM Haik M. Martirosyan (66) | 2628 |
Divya took down Serbian GM Velimir Ivic in a sparkling, if not flawless, attacking game, for her second win over a grandmaster in Samarkand.
The reigning Women's World Cup Champion commented, "I think I’m learning a lot—a year ago I wouldn’t have dared to go 16.Nxc5!."
Gurel said he was thrilled to see he was paired against the world champion, win or lose, and that's likely how Divya will approach one of the biggest challenges of her career to date. If she does win, she'll become the first woman player to beat the world champion in a game of classical chess.
Elsewhere in Friday's round eight leaders Bluebaum and Nihal meet, with the players on five points able to catch them if the top board is drawn. We've got some mouth-watering clashes with Firouzja-Niemann, Mishra-Abdusattorov, Maghsoodloo-Giri, and Keymer (on 4.5)-Vidit.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 8 Pairings (Top 22)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Matthias Bluebaum (5.5) | 2671 | - | GM Nihal Sarin (5.5) | 2693 | ||
| 2 | GM Alireza Firouzja (5) | 2754 | - | GM Hans Moke Niemann (5) | 2733 | ||
| 3 | GM Abhimanyu Mishra (5) | 2611 | - | GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (5) | 2748 | ||
| 4 | GM Parham Maghsoodloo (5) | 2692 | - | GM Anish Giri (5) | 2746 | ||
| 5 | GM Vincent Keymer (4.5) | 2751 | - | GM Vidit Gujrathi (5) | 2712 | ||
| 6 | GM Richard Rapport (4.5) | 2711 | - | GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (4.5) | 2785 | ||
| 7 | GM Shant Sargsyan (4.5) | 2653 | - | GM Arjun Erigaisi (4.5) | 2771 | ||
| 8 | GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (4.5) | 2742 | - | GM V Pranav (4.5) | 2596 | ||
| 9 | GM Jorden Van Foreest (4.5) | 2692 | - | GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (4.5) | 2741 | ||
| 10 | GM Yu Yangyi (4.5) | 2714 | - | GM Nikolas Theodorou (4.5) | 2646 | ||
| 11 | GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (4) | 2646 | - | GM Levon Aronian (4) | 2744 | ||
| 12 | GM Maxim Rodshtein (4) | 2645 | - | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (4) | 2738 | ||
| 13 | GM Abhimanyu Puranik (4) | 2640 | - | GM Javokhir Sindarov (4) | 2722 | ||
| 14 | GM Awonder Liang (4) | 2698 | - | GM Saleh Salem (4) | 2640 | ||
| 15 | GM Mateusz Bartel (4) | 2581 | - | GM Samuel Sevian (4) | 2692 | ||
| 16 | GM Maksim Chigaev (4) | 2638 | - | GM Daniil Dubov (4) | 2691 | ||
| 17 | GM Andrey Esipenko (4) | 2687 | - | GM Ediz Gurel (4) | 2631 | ||
| 18 | GM Andy Woodward (4) | 2557 | - | GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (4) | 2681 | ||
| 19 | GM Amin Tabatabaei (4) | 2673 | - | GM Alexei Shirov (4) | 2616 | ||
| 20 | GM Nikita Vitiugov (4) | 2666 | - | GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi (4) | 2610 | ||
| 21 | GM Szymon Gumularz (4) | 2590 | - | GM Ivan Saric (4) | 2655 | ||
| 22 | GM Vladimir Fedoseev (3.5) | 2731 | - | GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra (4) | 2594 |
Women: Vaishali Marches On
Once again six of the top-10 boards were decisive in the women's section, with Vaishali taking the chance to regain the sole lead with a win after there was a quick draw on the top board.
Round 7 Results: Women
Check out the full games and results.
If you only looked at the moves, Stefanova-Lagno on top board was a thriller, but the time used told the story, with the players blitzing out a known drawing line.
That kept Lagno half a point clear of Stefanova, and was enough to give her clear second place, but it wasn't enough to retain the lead, since Vaishali powered to a fifth win.
Her opponent, Guo Qi, was hanging on, until 23...h5? was a losing move. Vaishali quickly demonstrated why!
Stefanova was joined in third place, a point behind Vaishali, by three players who picked up wins: Assaubayeva, Mariya Muzychuk, and Song.
Below them, on 4.5/7, are another five players, including IM Carissa Yip, who said it was "a bit of a downer" that she had to look at chess on the rest day as she celebrated her 22nd birthday!
It worked out well, however, since a second win in a row has put her into contention for the Candidates spots. The victory over IM Leya Garifullina was convincing except for one moment, when Yip threatened checkmate-in-one.
That was one of only two cases where a lower-rated player won in the Women's section.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Round 7 Upset Wins
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| IM Carissa Yip (11) | 2458 | 1 - 0 | IM Leya Garifullina (8) | 2477 | ||
| IM Lela Javakhishvili (17) | 2434 | 0 - 1 | IM Khanim Balajayeva (48) | 2331 |
There could have been one big upset, however. Former Women's World Champion GM Tan Zhongyi now has the same score as Yip, with the same four wins and two losses, but she was completely losing early on in her game against IM Dinara Wagner.
Tan survived, turned things completely around, but then seemed to have let the win slip until Wagner finally blundered only on move 111—Tan would eventually win in 139 moves!
With the pre-tournament favorites moving up we have two heavyweight clashes in round eight—Assaubayeva-Vaishali and Lagno-Muzychuk. That's Mariya, but GM Anna Muzychuk is also back in contention for the Candidates spot and plays Wagner.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Round 8 Pairings (Top 10)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (5) | 2505 | - | GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (6) | 2452 | ||
| 2 | GM Kateryna Lagno (5.5) | 2505 | - | GM Mariya Muzychuk (5) | 2484 | ||
| 3 | GM Antoaneta Stefanova (5) | 2395 | - | IM Song Yuxin (5) | 2409 | ||
| 4 | GM Tan Zhongyi (4.5) | 2531 | - | IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (4.5) | 2445 | ||
| 5 | GM Harika Dronavalli (4) | 2467 | - | GM Olga Girya (4.5) | 2386 | ||
| 6 | IM Dinara Wagner (4) | 2400 | - | GM Anna Muzychuk (4) | 2535 | ||
| 7 | IM Khanim Balajayeva (4) | 2331 | - | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (4) | 2472 | ||
| 8 | IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (4) | 2385 | - | IM Lu Miaoyi (4) | 2449 | ||
| 9 | WIM Afruza Khamdamova (4) | 2409 | - | GM Elina Danielian (4) | 2405 | ||
| 10 | IM Irina Bulmaga (4) | 2400 | - | GM Irina Krush (4) | 2366 |
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 Arturs Neiksans 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 6: Maghsoodloo Leads Grand Swiss As Gukesh Loses 2nd Game In A Row
- Round 5: 16-Year-Old Mishra Youngest Player Ever To Beat World Champion In Classical Chess
- 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.
