World Champion Gukesh Eliminated By Frederik Svane; Giri, Abdusattorov Also Out

Upsets continue to stream in at a staggering rate in round three of the 2025 FIDE World Cup. Several 2700+ grandmasters were eliminated after the second classical game:

• World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju eliminated by Frederik Svane 
• GM Anish Giri eliminated by GM Alexander Donchenko
• GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov eliminated by GM Jose Martinez
• GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov eliminated by GM Nils Grandelius
• GM Vladimir Fedoseev eliminated by GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek

German chess thrived on Saturday, with four Germans advancing to round four without tiebreaks. They are GMs Vincent Keymer, Matthias Bluebaum, Alexander Donchenko, and Svane—who, by ranking, are the German numbers one through four. Eleven matches go to tiebreaks.

Round three tiebreaks are on Sunday, November 9, starting at 4:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 CET / 3 p.m. IST.

Round 3 Results

Games, Results, and Bracket.

The following 11 matches will go to tiebreaks on Sunday.

Round 3 Tiebreaks

The last two rounds have been a chopping block for some of the world's elite players. The world champion, on Saturday, fell victim to the trend. Svane told Chess.com's Rakesh Kulkarni, "I didn't expect to win this game, but when I had this knight endgame, like, I have no risk, and it's so easy to play for me. There, I was already very happy."

I didn't expect to win this game...

—Frederik Svane

Running up against move 40, Svane was the one pressing, but he had little time. By move 33, he was playing on the increment and made his move with three seconds on the clock, while Gukesh had over 20 minutes. Nevertheless, the German grandmaster managed to win the endgame after a critical mistake on move 39.

"I've never played such a strong opponent, I think, and beating Gukesh was, of course, special," Svane said, also commenting on the Germans' success so far, "Having four people from the same country is definitely historical." Losing nine rating points, Gukesh drops to number 10 in the world on the live rating list.

The Indian numbers one and two, GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, advanced to the next round. Arjun was on the better side of a draw against GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov and needed just a half-point to make it through. Against GM Robert Hovhannisyan, Praggnanandhaa played the Game of the Day. 

"I was just happy to make it to round three, first of all," said Praggnanandhaa about surviving at least two extremely close calls in the round-two tiebreaks. In Saturday's game, his inspired exchange sacrifice put pressure on his Armenian opponent, and he reasoned, "I thought I'm always the one who's pushing in these positions. Even though I'm the exchange down, I have these active pieces, and this pawn on a6 is always annoying him if I get a7."

The moves we see on the board are only a fraction of what really happens in a chess game. At the end, Praggnanandhaa converted the advantage with a steady hand, but the commentary showed an incredible queen sacrifice that could have happened around move 29, which is shown in the notes below. It left GM David Howell speechless, saying he'd never seen anything like it.

"I am speechless." Howell points out an incredible queen sacrifice that might come up for Praggnanandhaa!https://t.co/LttSbfZ0sA#2025FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/krPgO5x3qZ

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 8, 2025

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

Continuing down the list of upsets, we get to Donchenko vs. Giri. The German GM, exhausted after the game, told FIDE in the interview:

I didn't register much of what was happening after the time control. Honestly, most of the game I was just happy that I'm definitely not worse and just playing along, but at some point I got a serious chance and somehow capitalized.

An attack on the king ultimately won a piece, and he used the theme of zugzwang to secure the full point.

Martinez, after winning the game yesterday, managed to not only hold but win a second game against Abdusattorov, knocking out the Uzbek star who now drops to number-18 in the world on the live rating list. Howell used this opportunity to call out Martinez' detractors: "Jose is making a lot of people eat their words, people who doubted him, who saw him play so well online. Now he's backing it up over the board."

Jose is making a lot of people eat their words, people who doubted him.

—David Howell

Both Grandelius and GM Lorenzo Lodici were worse or losing against their higher-rated opponents but managed to turn their games around and win with the black pieces. Instead of trading into a winning endgame, Adams allowed complications, lost control, and was unable to stop the Italian GM's avalanche of queenside passed pawns.

Fedoseev, who was in a must-win situation with Black, decided on a "go for broke" strategy against Wojtaszek. He played an opening where Black grabs a full rook but allows winning counterplay against his own king. The Polish GM proved the compensation (though Fedoseev had just one big chance on move 16), and this was one of the earliest games to end.

Wojtaszek said in the interview he hadn't looked at this opening in about eight years, "I know for a fact that it should be lost for Black, but to find all of the details over the board is another thing." 

There were many upsets, but several favorites did advance. GMs Pranav Venkatesh, Keymer, Gabriel Sargissian, Liem Le, Levon Aronian, and Javokhir Sindarov, to name a handful, advanced on the top boards.

A slightly awkward moment was captured on video as GM Peter Leko—who beat GM Kirill Alekseenko 2-0 to advance as well—celebrated with his student, Keymer, just as Gukesh passed them on his way out.

Heroes and Heartbreaks!#FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/KxJYaRAuoI

— Rakesh Kulkarni (@itherocky) November 8, 2025

The comeback of the day was GM Jorden van Foreest winning on demand, after losing yesterday's game, against GM Alexey Sarana to force tiebreaks.

One of the exciting tiebreaks on Sunday will be between Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan, the youngest grandmaster in the world, and GM Richard Rapport.

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 3 Game 1: Martinez Upsets Abdusattorov With Black Pieces
• 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