Martinez Upsets Abdusattorov With Black Pieces

GM Jose Martinez (2644) scored the upset of the day in game one of round three in the 2025 FIDE World Cup. His opponent, world number-12 GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2750), played a creative and strong exchange sacrifice to achieve a large advantage, but the Mexican number-one later turned the tables.

The second classical game of round three is on Saturday, November 8, starting at 4:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 CET / 3 p.m. IST.

Round 3 Results

Games, Results, and Bracket.

We saw a relatively uneventful draw on board one between GM Frederik Svane and World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who defended a Rossolimo Sicilian with the black pieces.

But on the other boards, we didn't have to wait long for games to heat up. In the first two hours, we saw a queen sacrifice (for rook and bishop) offered by GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu against GM Robert Hovhannisyan, a fiery Open Spanish brawl in GM Nils Grandelius vs. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and a sparkling and pure exchange sacrifice—for no pawns—by Abdusattorov.

Hovhannisyan didn't accept the queen, and that game ended in an opposite-color bishop draw. Grandelius had what GM David Howell called "half a chance" to win with an extra pawn in a rook endgame, but Mamedyarov held. The game between Abdusattorov and Martinez, however, played out to the most violent conclusion.

Martinez, who said he traveled at least 40 hours and is in India for the first time, told Chess.com it was "maybe my best victory against a higher-rated grandmaster in classical, at least," though he confessed, "honestly, I didn't play a really good game." He tried to surprise his opponent with the opening, an Old Philidor, and gave credit to his second GM Pier Basso. Whether it was preparation or not, Abdusattorov found "an amazing exchange sacrifice that leads to a position that's uncomfortable for me to play." 

Later, Martinez knew he was worse, if not lost, but identified 23.h6 as the first mistake from his opponent; when Abdusattorov went for checkmate, Martinez explained, "He forgot about the intermediate ...f5 and then I turned around the situation."

GM Rafael Leitao goes over the Game of the Day below. 

Martinez and GM Georg Meier (representing Uruguay) are the last Latin Americans still in the event. Martinez said, "God gave me this opportunity to turn around the game and I want to qualify to the next round. This is the dream situation... a lot of people believe in me, so I am trying to do my best in every single game."

A lot of people believe in me, so I am trying to do my best in every single game.

—Jose Martinez

It was a good day for the black pieces on many boards. GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2660) scored a big win, with Black, against GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2717) after grinding out a long knight endgame with an extra pawn. Considering the Polish GM had once reached 2750, and stood at world number-15, it's not exactly an upset.

GM Matthias Bluebaum, who has already qualified for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, also won with Black against GM Ivan Zemlyanskii. His attack turned into a pawn-up queen endgame, which he eventually won, but he was still critical of his technique in the post-game interview and said he missed "a billion wins" that could have been easier. "I always kind of feel like I make something stupid, but sometimes it works out." 

GM Liem Le, with the black pieces as well, scored one of the fastest wins, against GM Jeffery Xiong. Le was already winning by move 16 and found the pawn sacrifice 17...d4! to blow open the center and target the white king.

GM Arjun Erigaisi also won a quick game, against GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov, in the Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Tarrasch, in a line that's lately been called the "Berlin of 1.d4" for its solidity. The players repeated the first 17 moves from a game Arjun won against GM Wei Yi earlier this year in Norway Chess 2025, and indeed the Indian GM said he still had some ideas in the holster from that event. Arjun said, "I had this interesting novelty with 18.Qd2. If Black doesn't know it, it can be quite tricky, like what happened in the game."

I had this interesting novelty with 18.Qd2. If Black doesn't know it, it can be quite tricky.

—Arjun Erigaisi

On move 22, just as IM Jovanka Houska asked the obvious question on the commentary, almost rhetorically—why can't Black capture the pawn?—it played out on the board. We quickly found out. 

GM Pentala Harikrishna, who had just played the Game of the Day (and tournament) two days ago, won another brilliancy in 25 moves on home soil. GM Daniel Dardha was the victim of yet another opening disaster.

Harikrishna told Chess.com's IM Rakesh Kulkarni, "I felt his position was quite OK until some point, and he missed the trick with Nc3, I believe. Obviously he wouldn't have gone for this whole ...d5, ...Qa5 as happened in the game." He added that he foresaw the crushing combination at the end of the game: "I did calculate the whole sequence of moves until Re6."

GM Pouya Idani, coming off playing six tiebreak games the day before, was another player who scored a quick win, against GM Andrey Esipenko. His g4-push in the opening was inspired by a game played between GM Ian Nepomniachtchi and GM Ding Liren, not in their world championship match but in Tata Steel Chess 2024. He told Chess.com, "Compared to what I checked before the game, it felt like I had some improvements."

Using Black's early 10...h6 as a "hook" for his attack, he lined up his rooks on the g-file and finally sacrificed a knight. He thought to himself, "You've come this far, do or die, let's go Nxf7. I have to go all in already, I cannot play it slowly."

You've come this far, do or die, let's go Nxf7

—Pouya Idani

He ended his interview with Chess.com, "I am very happy with this game. I just hope that tomorrow it will be another good day for me."

We saw two blunders around the notorious move-40 mark—the moment players gain another half hour to think. GM Gabriel Sargissian blundered on move 41 but managed to survive his exchange-down position against GM Diptayan Ghosh, but GM Saleh Salem didn't get another chance after a blunder on move 40 against GM Levon Aronian, who went on to win with Black.

Speaking of great escapes, GM Lorenzo Lodici, who knocked out GM Hans Niemann in the round two tiebreaks, was in big trouble against GM Michael Adams. The English grandmaster had a winning attack, but the Italian eventually scraped by with a draw by perpetual check in the queen endgame.

Toward the end of the day, there was a minor controversy in the game of GM Pranav Venkatesh vs. GM Titas Stremavicius, which took at least three arbiters to resolve. Stremavicius complained his opponent was playing several moves without notating; eventually, Pranav was given a warning, the game resumed, and the Indian GM won.

Pranav explains what happened from his perspective.

"I did not know this, but you cannot make like, I think, three moves without writing." He received a warning and the game continued.#2025FIDEWorldCup https://t.co/57QeyctfZk pic.twitter.com/SSZhFp8TuG

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 7, 2025

Finally, as a brief shoutout to one of the greatest commentators out there, GM Peter Leko defeated 2020-21 Candidates Tournament participant GM Kirill Alekseenko, in an intense game he said was decided by time trouble. He said, "I provoked some complications, he agreed to it, he sacrificed a pawn... and then it was super tough... Luckily, it worked out, and then after the time control I was pressing and finally I managed to convert it."

Even though he did just fine, Leko said the time control was extremely nerve-wracking and felt it was "very bad" for his health. "I was unlucky that I played a lot 30 years ago, when we did not have this time control. I am not used to it."

Originally, Leko was going to come to Goa just to coach GM Vincent Keymer, but in September his federation reached out to him. Hungarian GM Richard Rapport qualified by rating and so they could send one other player. Leko said, "I always had this feeling like I would like to play one more final World Cup because I always played very unsuccessfully, always with my nerves, something always happened." This time, he says, the pressure's off and he has nothing to lose.

I always had this feeling like I would like to play one more final World Cup.

—Peter Leko

Saturday will feature the second and last classical game of round three. Players will either be eliminated or go to tiebreaks on Sunday.

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.

Previous reports:

• Round 2 Tiebreaks: Lodici Knocks Out Niemann, Rasmus Svane Wins In Armageddon
• Round 2 Game 2: Harikrishna Sacs Queen; Nepomniachtchi, Wesley So, Aravindh Eliminated
• Round 2 Game 1: Arjun, Keymer, Wei, Mamedyarov, Vachier-Lagrave Among Early Leaders
• Round 1 Tiebreaks: 12-Year-Old Oro Among 20 Winners In Tiebreaks
• Round 1 Game 2: IM Shixu Wang Pulls Upset, 20 Matches Go To Tiebreaks
• Round 1 Game 1: Saleh Plays Attack Of The Day, Favorites Prevail In Game 1
• 2025 FIDE World Cup Pairings, Venue Revealed
• Divya Among 6 Players Awarded World Cup Wildcard Spots; Firouzja Not In