Saleh Plays Attack Of The Day, Favorites Prevail In Game 1
The favorites—including GMs Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, Jeffery Xiong, and Maxim Rodshtein on top boards—prevailed with almost no upsets in round one, game one of the 2025 FIDE World Cup. GM Salem Saleh won the Game of the Day with a brilliant and sacrificial combination in a Najdorf battle against IM Thanh Tu Tran. The standout upset was IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg's win (on time), in a rook and bishop vs. rook endgame, against GM Cristobal Henriquez.
The top 50 seeds receive a bye for round one and start the tournament on Tuesday in round two. GM Gukesh Dommaraju, though he is number nine in the world by rating, will be seeded as number one as the world champion.
Game two of round one will take place on Sunday, November 2, starting at 4:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. CET / 3:00 p.m. IST.
The FIDE World Cup, which has taken place every two years since 2005, comes to India for the first time. The five-star luxury Rio Resort in Goa, known for its beaches, vibrant nightlife, and cultural heritage, hosts the event.
It is a 206-player single-elimination knockout. The lengthy tournament, which runs from November 1 to 26, consists of eight rounds. Each round features a one-on-one match between two players, with two classical games plus rapid and blitz tiebreaks if needed. There is a $2 million prize fund.
2025 FIDE World Cup Prizes
| Place | Players | Prize ($) | Total ($) |
| Round 1 Loser | 78 | 3,500 | 273,000 |
| Round 2 Loser | 64 | 7,000 | 448,000 |
| Round 3 Loser | 32 | 11,000 | 352,000 |
| Round 4 Loser | 16 | 17,000 | 272,000 |
| Round 5 Loser | 8 | 25,000 | 200,000 |
| Quarterfinals Loser | 4 | 35,000 | 140,000 |
| 4th Place | 1 | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| 3rd Place | 1 | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| Runner-up | 1 | 85,000 | 85,000 |
| Winner | 1 | 120,000 | 120,000 |
More importantly for the world championship cycle, this tournament is essentially the last chance for three players to qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, which will then determine who will challenge Gukesh for the world championship title next year. The other spots are either already taken or are expected to be taken.
2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament Participants
| Qualification method | Player | Worldranking |
| 2024 FIDE Circuit winner | Fabiano Caruana | 3 |
| Top two finishers of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss | Anish Giri (winner) | 5 |
| Matthias Blubaum (runner-up) | 43 | |
| 2025 FIDE Circuit winner | Expected: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 7 |
| Highest average rating (Aug 2025 – Jan 2026) | Expected: Hikaru Nakamura | 2 |
| Top three finishers of the 2025 FIDE World Cup | TBD | |
| TBD | ||
| TBD |
The last prize is the trophy, which has been named after former World Champion and Indian legend Viswanathan Anand. Asked for a prediction about who will win it, he answered, "I'm just going to say that [GM] Vincent [Keymer] is skyrocketing. Now does that guarantee something here? I don't know."
Who is Vishy Anand’s pick to win the FIDE World Cup? 🏆👀
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) November 1, 2025
He revealed it during the presentation of the World Cup Trophy named after him.#FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/IkUhvDmd3M
There were some first-round jitters on and off the board. CM Yiheng Li, who was up against Xiong on the second board, needed a little help from Chess.com's IM Rakesh Kulkarni before settling in, for example.
Pen gambit ft. @itherocky! #FIDEWorldCup2025 @FIDE_chess @Media_SAI @ChessbaseIndia @aicfchess @tsagofficial @DrPramodPSawant@RameshTawadkar pic.twitter.com/F2WTa8g3qA
— Chess.com - India (@chesscom_in) November 1, 2025
Xiong went on to outplay his 654-point-lower-rated opponent, though only deep in the endgame, where he eventually marched two connected passed pawns to the end of the board.
Xiong expected a difficult game, despite his opponent being rated under 2000, and said, "When I was 13 years old, I was already giving grandmasters a tough fight, so I knew that going in it's clear that he's a prodigy and I should take it very seriously." The major factor, he said, was building up a 45-minute time advantage on the clock.
Speaking of the jitters, only nerves can explain the blunder in GM Denis Makhnyov vs. GM Diego Flores. In an otherwise symmetrical position, 16...Qd6?? is a tragic Botez Gambit, the kind of move chess players have nightmares about.
The most shocking game of the day occurred on the second board. Erdogmus, the 14-year-old Turkish star, checkmated CM Nagi Abugenda on move 17—and with the black pieces. Erdogmus was just as surprised as anyone else, saying:
I thought it's going to be a long game. I will try to beat him in the endgame, but somehow he just starts to play Qf3, h4, g3, starts to play very aggressive, but I think he missed ...Ne5, and after ...Ne5, I mean, it's just losing. I think,... it was just an easy game.
... it was just an easy game.
—Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus
He's in great shape to reach round two without needing tiebreaks. If he manages to draw with White (though it would hurt his rating), he will make it through.
Though the teenager said qualifying for the Candidates is not yet his goal, his aspirations could not be higher: "For Candidates, it's early I think. I just want to play some good chess, win some Elo, that's my goal for this tournament. And, in general, I want to become world champion, of course."
I want to become world champion, of course.
—Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus
Salem played the flashiest combination of the day, finishing the game with four brilliant moves out of five, according to Game Review.
Four out of Salem Saleh's five moves are brilliant as he wins game one with Black!https://t.co/vfneTUaMhZ#2025FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/FqcPLgIvbT
— chess24 (@chess24com) November 1, 2025
It was a razor-sharp battle in the Najdorf, and indeed White was better or winning for a significant portion of it. In Sicilians, however, one mistake can cause the sky to fall. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below.
As far as checkmates go, no game could rival GM Ivan Cheparinov vs. Colombian IM Angel Roa. 32.Qxf7!!, sacrificing the queen to checkmate with two knights, deserves a chef's kiss.
There was a funny occurrence in GM Nils Grandelius vs. Palestinian CM Mohamed Allam. His opponent, Grandelius explained, played his own opening recommendation from Chessable against him! It wasn't a shock, though, because "he came up to me a few days ago here and said hello and said that he was a big fan of my courses. So it wasn't completely unexpected. Of course, a little bit funny."
His opponent was the one to deviate from the recommended line, however, so Grandelius "didn't have to show anything" and won an incredibly one-sided game. He got a better position with the breakthrough of f3-e4, and the pressure later won him an exchange.
As far as upsets go, there was just one true upset. Agibileg won in a theoretically drawn position, presumably on time, against Cristobal, though the grandmaster would have had a tough defense ahead.
Which is not to say that there weren't many close calls, as we saw even in our Game of the Day. GM Andy Woodward vs. IM Himal Gusain was another double-edged brawl. The American sacrificed a piece out of the opening and, according to the engine, did not get enough compensation for it later on. In chess between humans, however, it's never so easy to play with the uncastled king, as this game shows.
The same players will face off in game two on Sunday. If scores remain tied after the two classical games, those matches will go to rapid tiebreaks on Monday.
You can watch the event on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on Chess24, on Twitch, or YouTube. Games from the event can be viewed on our events page.
The live broadcast was hosted by GM Ben Finegold and IM Jovanka Houska.
The 2025 FIDE World Cup, which takes place from November 1 to 26 in Goa, India, determines three spots in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. It is a 206-player single-elimination knockout tournament with eight rounds. Each match consists of two classical games followed by rapid and blitz tiebreaks if needed. The prize fund is $2 million.
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