Donchenko, Martinez Continue Giant-Killing As 11 Matches Go To Tiebreaks

GM Alexander Donchenko followed up his win over GM Anish Giri by knocking out German teammate GM Matthias Bluebaum to reach the Last 16 of the 2025 FIDE World Cup. He's joined by GMs Jose Martinez and Levon Aronian, who gave GMs Alexey Sarana and Radoslaw Wojtaszek little chance of a comeback, and GMs Liem Le and Nodirbek Yakubboev, who knocked out GMs Karthik Venkataraman and Pranav Venkatesh respectively. No fewer than 11 matches go to tiebreaks.

The tiebreaks of round four are on Thursday, November 13, starting at 4:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 CET / 3 p.m. IST.

Round 4 Results

There were three wins in game two of round four, while draws were also enough for Martinez and Aronian to advance.

Games, Results, and Bracket.

Martinez, Aronian Make No Mistake

Both players who won on the first day of round four progressed to the Last 16 after spectacular games they could have won but instead steered to the draw they needed to clinch match victory. The most brutal was Martinez vs. Sarana, which saw the Mexican number-one play the Alapin Sicilian with an early c3, or as he put it, "maybe the most solid Alapin in the world... in history!" It gave him a completely won position in 13 moves.

Sarana was faced with the sad choice of going for a drawish continuation (9...Be6) or choosing violence, which he did, with 9...d3?!, a move commentator GM David Howell noted was "known to be bad."

Things very rapidly went from bad to worse for Sarana, who after 12...Rc8? (12...e5 is no panacea, but was the move Martinez expected) had landed in a position where all 10 games in the Chess.com database had been won by White. One player went for 13.Re1, while the other nine played the crushing 13.Nxa7!. Martinez made the same choice.

Jose Martinez finds the winning 13.Nxa7! and is set to reach the Last 16 of the FIDE World Cup! https://t.co/ZMxe81yE93 pic.twitter.com/ycbrZdf9m4

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 12, 2025

At least the move's odds improved, since Martinez didn't win, deciding instead to seal his spot in the Last 16 with a draw—that featured a curious incident, as Martinez claimed the draw by repetition incorrectly, was punished by a time penalty, then saw his opponent claim the draw instead! 

Martinez will play the winner of GM Nils Grandelius vs. GM Pentala Harikrishna for a place in the Quarterfinals.

Aronian also needed only a draw, against Wojtaszek, which is why his decision to give up a rook for a powerful protected passed pawn looked somewhat eccentric, at a glance! 

As you can see, however, the computer approves, and Aronian explained, "I was kind of happy for my position—I thought I’ll get a LOT of play."

He did, though Wojtaszek also had some chances before Aronian got the draw his enterprising play deserved.

The score was level at the start of the day in the remaining 14 matches, with three players grabbing wins to advance to round five.

Donchenko, Yakubboev, Le Reach Last 16   

The day's only win for a lower-rated player came for Donchenko, the German number-three, who beat the German number-two, Bluebaum. Donchenko told Chess.com's IM Rakesh Kulkarni, "I probably had less pressure, especially since after Matthias qualified for the Candidates there are a lot of eyes on him."

Bluebaum qualified for the Candidates via the FIDE Grand Swiss, and it's a curiosity that Donchenko has now knocked out both Grand Swiss qualifiers in consecutive rounds after he also defeated Giri in round three. This time the final game was smooth, with Donchenko playing for two results from early on and crafting a fine positional win, even if he noted that Bluebaum, "very much knows how to make life difficult for you." 

That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below. 

The other impressive technical win was for Le, with the Vietnamese 13th seed the highest-rated player (2729) remaining in the top half of the bracket.

He knocked out one of only two sub-2600 players, 2576-rated local star Karthik, whose 25.Rd1? led to a world of pain. The conversion wasn't quite flawless, but it never felt that Karthik had much of a chance.

Yakubboev's win over Pranav was agony for the 19-year-old Indian star, who could likely have taken a draw but played on only to stumble into trouble almost immediately and then get hit by a brutal final blow.

French star GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who made a draw against the other 19-year-old in the event, GM Aleksey Grebnev, talked about how his attitude toward defeat has changed over the years:

Some of the players show more emotions. I actively try not to, but it’s easier now. When I was younger, of course, every game would be a matter of life and death, basically. Now it’s really not the same. I’m still obviously very motivated and trying my best, but I know at the end of the day one game doesn’t change the course of history, basically. I mean, sometimes it does, but not in this case! 

When I was younger, of course, every game would be a matter of life and death.

—Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

MVL-Grebnev will be one of 11 tiebreaks on Thursday—remarkably the same number as we saw in round three, despite having double the players in action back then.

11 Tiebreaks; Wei Yi Misses Win

With the threat of elimination looming, most match-ups again featured cautious play in game two, with the players happy to take their clashes to tiebreaks. That didn't mean there were no missed chances, however. For instance, Grandelius pounced on a mistake by Harikrishna to win a pawn...

Harikrishna has been one of the stars of this World Cup, but he's blundered vs. Nils Grandelius and faces a fight to survive! https://t.co/yIrNCHZa6I pic.twitter.com/XhzMnqIzzf

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 12, 2025

...but soon saw his advantage slip away.

The biggest miss, however, was for seventh-seed GM Wei Yi, who looked set to join Le in winning a technical game with the black pieces. He'd done everything right against GM Parham Maghsoodloo, but then fell near the finish line with one rash pawn push.

The final promotion to a knight saw both players smile after the game.

Maghsoodloo completes his great escape vs. Wei Yi, with both players smiling at the end! https://t.co/iURZ6rhedZ pic.twitter.com/lzb6KR8wq1

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 12, 2025

All the draws mean we're in for fantastic action on Thursday, since only five players have been confirmed so far in the Last 16.

2025 FIDE World Cup Bracket: Round 5 Onwards

The tiebreaks include such mouth-watering clashes as Leko-Arjun, Praggnanandhaa-Dubov, Esipenko-Keymer, and Shankland-Rapport, with a winner of each contest guaranteed by the end of the day.

Round 4 Tiebreaks

Don't miss all the action!

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 4 Game 1: Aronian, Martinez Strike As Praggnanandhaa Escapes Vs. Dubov
• Round 3 Tiebreaks: Vachier-Lagrave Wins Marathon Match In Armageddon
• Round 3 Game 2: World Champion Gukesh Eliminated By Frederik Svane; Giri, Abdusattorov Also Out
• 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