Lagno Overtakes Vaishali In Women's; Nihal, Bluebaum Lead Open
GMs Matthias Bluebaum and Nihal Sarin continue to lead the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss after round eight. They made a quick draw, and not one of the seven players behind them was able to catch up. GMs Vincent Keymer and Jorden van Foreest, with respective wins against GMs Vidit Gujrathi and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, joined the chasing pack of eight players a half-point behind.
The 2025 FIDE Women's Grand Swiss, on the other hand, featured a dramatic shakeup. GM Kateryna Lagno took over the sole lead after she beat GM Mariya Muzychuk, while GM Bibisara Assaubayeva toppled the former leader and the defending champion, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu. Vaishali is now in a three-way tie for second with Assaubayeva and IM Yuxin Song, who beat GM Antoaneta Stefanova.
Round nine is on Saturday, September 13, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 p.m. IST.
Standings
The standings at the top remain largely unchanged, except that Van Foreest and Keymer have moved up with wins.
FIDE Grand Swiss Standings After Round 8
The Women's section was much less peaceful, with decisive results on the top-four boards. Lagno is the new leader.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Standings After Round 8
Open: Keymer, Van Foreest Join Chasing Pack
We saw two decisive results on the top-10 boards, with some missed chances in the eight draws that transpired.
Round 8 Results: Open
Check out the full games and results.
The first board, featuring the clash of the two leaders, was a quick and clean draw, but we saw many fights between the seven players who were a half-point behind. It transpired that no one was able to convert a full point.
GM Hans Niemann entered a slightly worse opposite-color bishop middlegame against GM Alireza Firouzja, but correctly evaluated a pawn sacrifice and held it confidently. GM Abhimanyu Mishra was even better against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, but ended up drawing to go 64 games undefeated.
GM Anish Giri found a cunning trap to win an exchange, but the advantage was never decisive. GM Parham Maghsoodloo proved once again how hard it is to win a game of chess against a strong opponent—avoiding what could have been two losses in a row.
Keymer was gifted a win on board five to score his fourth win, each one of them with the white pieces. The German number-one summed it up: "He basically played the perfect defense until he blundered in one move in the endgame."
He basically played the perfect defense until he blundered in one move in the endgame.
—Vincent Keymer
Played with 50 minutes on the clock, Vidit's 43...c6?? threw away a full point, with Keymer saying, "I was kind of shocked that, you know, it's after move 40 and he has some time."
Keymer said he's improving as the tournament continues and called his +3 a "decent result," but said +5 is likely needed to make it into the Candidates.
We see three more draws, going down the standings, until we reach Van Foreest vs. Mamedyarov. The Dutch grandmaster won a sharp theoretical duel in the Italian Four Knights, and he in fact said he got lucky. Mamedyarov followed GM Magnus Carlsen's footsteps from Van Foreest-Carlsen, Tata Steel 2020. But even though that game ended in a draw, Van Foreest was better out of the opening!
They repeated the same line, and the Azerbaijani didn't manage to hold it as Carlsen did. It's Van Foreest's first win against Mamedyarov in a classical game.
There were a number of upsets further down, which you can see listed below. We will focus our attention on GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus' bounceback against GM Levon Aronian, an immediate recovery from his loss against GM Hans Niemann in the previous round.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 8 Upsets
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (52) | 2646 | 1 - 0 | GM Levon Aronian (8) | 2744 | ||
| GM Jorden van Foreest (23) | 2692 | 1 - 0 | GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (10) | 2741 | ||
| GM Pentala Harikrishna (18) | 2704 | 0 - 1 | GM David Anton Guijarro (71) | 2625 | ||
| GM Aram Hakobyan (72) | 2625 | 1 - 0 | GM Sam Shankland (34) | 2670 | ||
| GM Nikita Vitiugov (36) | 2666 | 0 - 1 | GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi (87) | 2610 | ||
| GM Anton Demchenko (76) | 2620 | 1 - 0 | GM Boris Gelfand (44) | 2652 | ||
| GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (110) | 2528 | 1 - 0 | GM Daniil Yuffa (49) | 2648 | ||
| GM Abdimalik Abdisalimov (112) | 2488 | 1 - 0 | GM Frederik Svane (56) | 2643 | ||
| GM Bassem Amin (62) | 2636 | 0 - 1 | GM Anton Korobov (81) | 2616 |
The Turkish prodigy had to outplay the former world number-two twice in the game. He won the opening battle—in the French Defense, a consistent choice for Aronian these days—but by move 28 the game was again equal. This time, Erdogmus was playing with under two minutes against 51. Even playing on the increment, however, he went on to win in the endgame.
Erdogmus is now a point behind the leaders, but the 14-year-old is content with his play. He said, "I am happy for my performance, but I think I should play a bit faster." His goal is to play "good chess," even if he doesn't make it to the Candidates this time: "I want to qualify for the Candidates, but I think it's too early right now."
After a draw against GM Divya Deshmukh, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju has dropped out of the world top-10. Van Foreest, in his interview, commented, "It's possible to lose a couple of games in a row, but of course nobody was expecting him to play this poorly."
The two leaders will face two world top-10 players in the next round, Firouzja and Abdusattorov. It's still a wide open field with everything to play for in the last three rounds.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 9 Pairings (Top 22)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Nihal Sarin (6) | 2693 | - | GM Alireza Firouzja (5.5) | 2754 | ||
| 2 | GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (5.5) | 2748 | - | GM Matthias Bluebaum (6) | 2671 | ||
| 3 | GM Parham Maghsoodloo (5.5) | 2692 | - | GM Vincent Keymer (5.5) | 2751 | ||
| 4 | GM Anish Giri (5.5) | 2746 | - | GM Jorden van Foreest (5.5) | 2692 | ||
| 5 | GM Hans Moke Niemann (5.5) | 2733 | - | GM Abhimanyu Mishra (5.5) | 2611 | ||
| 6 | GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (5) | 2785 | - | GM Awonder Liang (5) | 2698 | ||
| 7 | GM Arjun Erigaisi (5) | 2771 | - | GM Samuel Sevian (5) | 2692 | ||
| 8 | GM Ivan Saric (5) | 2655 | - | GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (5) | 2742 | ||
| 9 | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (5) | 2738 | - | GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (5) | 2646 | ||
| 10 | GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi (5) | 2610 | - | GM Yu Yangyi (5) | 2714 | ||
| 11 | GM Vidit Gujrathi (5) | 2712 | - | GM Shant Sargsyan (5) | 2653 | ||
| 12 | GM Nikolas Theodorou (5) | 2646 | - | GM Richard Rapport (5) | 2711 | ||
| 13 | GM V Pranav (5) | 2596 | - | GM Amin Tabatabaei (4.5) | 2673 | ||
| 14 | GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (4.5) | 2741 | - | GM Abhimanyu Puranik (4.5) | 2640 | ||
| 15 | GM Rauf Mamedov (4.5) | 2651 | - | GM Vladimir Fedoseev (4.5) | 2731 | ||
| 16 | GM Javokhir Sindarov (4.5) | 2722 | - | GM Maksim Chigaev (4.5) | 2638 | ||
| 17 | GM Daniil Dubov (4.5) | 2691 | - | GM Aram Hakobyan (4.5) | 2625 | ||
| 18 | GM David Anton Guijarro (4.5) | 2625 | - | GM Andrey Esipenko (4.5) | 2687 | ||
| 19 | GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (4.5) | 2681 | - | GM Anton Demchenko (4.5) | 2620 | ||
| 20 | GM Ediz Gurel (4.5) | 2631 | - | GM Grigoriy Oparin (4.5) | 2660 | ||
| 21 | GM Alexei Shirov (4.5) | 2616 | - | GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre (4.5) | 2651 | ||
| 22 | GM Levon Aronian (4) | 2744 | - | GM Andy Woodward (4.5) | 2557 |
Women: Lagno Takes Sole Lead
Decisive results on the top four boards were responsible for a major shakeup in the Women's event.
Round 8 Results: Women
Check out the full games and results.
In service to herself and the rest of the chasing pack, Assaubayeva took down the leader. She had a slightly preferable position out of the opening, but it was nothing special, objectively speaking, until a miscalculation with 25...Rad8?, played with two minutes against 14. Assaubayeva found the tactical refutation, 26.Nxe5!, to win a pawn and shortly afterward the game.
On board two, it was Lagno who played the Game of the Day with a blistering attack. A positional line against the Semi-Slav turned into an initiative out of the opening, which then translated to a permanent weakening of the black kingside. Lagno ultimately capped off the attack with a pretty exchange sacrifice, and the game was over six moves from there. GM Dejan Bojkov analyzes the game below.
Song is the third player on six points, after squeezing a full point against Antoaneta from a defensible rook endgame up a pawn. The Chinese IM, who also had a good showing at the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup, said, "I just try to play the best moves and so the results, I think, are natural."
After losing in round six, GM Tan Zhongyi has now won two in a row, in this round winning against IM Stavroula Tsolakidou with a crushing attack.
There weren't as many upsets in round eight as in the Open section, and we can hardly consider GM Irina Krush's win against IM Irina Bulmaga to be an upset. WFM Elnaz Kaliakhmet and WIM Umida Omonova are two other players who showed, at the Women's World Cup, that they're quite a bit stronger than their ratings indicate.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Round 8 Upsets
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| IM Meri Arabidze (16) | 2444 | 0 - 1 | WIM Elnaz Kaliakhmet (51) | 2299 | ||
| IM Irina Bulmaga (25) | 2400 | 0 - 1 | GM Irina Krush (44) | 2366 | ||
| IM Klaudia Kulon (45) | 2361 | 0 - 1 | WIM Umida Omonova (52) | 2252 |
In round nine, Assaubayeva will have a chance to take down the new tournament leader and to potentially jump into the lead herself. Vaishali, on the other hand, will play Song, the only other player on six points. There are five players on five points just behind.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Round 9 Pairings (Top 12)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Kateryna Lagno (6.5) | 2505 | - | GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (6) | 2505 | ||
| 2 | GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (6) | 2452 | - | IM Song Yuxin (6) | 2409 | ||
| 3 | GM Irina Krush (5) | 2366 | - | GM Antoaneta Stefanova (5) | 2395 | ||
| 4 | GM Olga Girya (5) | 2386 | - | IM Guo Qi (5) | 2371 | ||
| 5 | GM Mariya Muzychuk (5) | 2484 | - | GM Anna Ushenina (4.5) | 2409 | ||
| 6 | GM Anna Muzychuk (4.5) | 2535 | - | WIM Afruza Khamdamova (4.5) | 2409 | ||
| 7 | IM Polina Shuvalova (4.5) | 2492 | - | IM Dinara Wagner (4.5) | 2400 | ||
| 8 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (4.5) | 2472 | - | IM Mai Narva (4.5) | 2386 | ||
| 9 | IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (4.5) | 2445 | - | GM Harika Dronavalli (4.5) | 2467 | ||
| 10 | IM Teodora Injac (4.5) | 2454 | - | IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (4.5) | 2385 | ||
| 11 | IM Lu Miaoyi (4.5) | 2449 | - | IM Khanim Balajayeva (4.5) | 2331 | ||
| 12 | GM Elina Danielian (4.5) | 2405 | - | IM Leya Garifullina (4) | 2477 |
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 Jan Gustafsson and Arturs Neiksans.
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 7: Nihal, Bluebaum Grab Grand Swiss Lead; Gukesh Loses 3rd Game
- 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
