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Arjun Strides On As Pragg, Keymer, MVL, Rapport Lead World Cup Exodus
Arjun Erigaisi eases to a 2-0 tiebreak win over Peter Leko as he watches his closest rivals tumble. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

Arjun Strides On As Pragg, Keymer, MVL, Rapport Lead World Cup Exodus

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Colin_McGourty
| 39 | Chess Event Coverage

Second-seed GM Arjun Erigaisi is the only official top-10 player remaining in the 2025 FIDE World Cup after beating GM Peter Leko 2-0 in round-four tiebreaks. GM Daniil Dubov took down 2023 runner-up GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, while GM Andrey Esipenko overcame GM Vincent Keymer, whose FIDE Candidates hopes lie in tatters. GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Richard Rapport also fell, to GMs Alexey Grebnev and Sam Shankland respectively, as seven 2700-players departed the event. Of the remaining players only GM Levon Aronian has played the Candidates before, but he faces Arjun next.

Game one of round five is on Friday, November 14, starting at 4:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 CET / 3 p.m. IST.

Round 4 Results

Five players qualified for round five in classical chess, which meant we had 11 tiebreakers on Thursday. They saw top seeds dropping like flies.

Fed Player 1 Rating - Fed Player 2 Rating G1 G2 TB
Frederik SVANE (64) 2640 - Shant Sargsyan (33) 2664 ½-½ ½-½ 1.5-0.5
Peter Leko (34) 2660 - ARJUN Erigaisi (2) 2769 ½-½ ½-½ 0-2
Praggnanandhaa (3) 2768 - Daniil DUBOV (30) 2674 ½-½ ½-½ 0.5-1.5
Matthias Bluebaum (29) 2680 - Alexander DONCHENKO (61) 2641 ½-½ 0-1
Pranav V (60) 2641 - Nodirbek YAKUBBOEV (28) 2689 ½-½ 0-1
Andrey ESIPENKO (27) 2681 - Vincent Keymer (6) 2773 ½-½ ½-½ 3-1
WEI Yi (7) 2753 - Parham Maghsoodloo (26) 2701 ½-½ ½-½ 4-2
Alexey Sarana (40) 2675 - Jose MARTINEZ (57) 2644 0-1 ½-½
Nils Grandelius (56) 2661 - Pentala HARIKRISHNA (24) 2690 ½-½ ½-½ 0.5-1.5
Samuel SEVIAN (23) 2701 - Lorenzo Lodici (119) 2572 ½-½ ½-½ 5-4
Vachier-Lagrave (11) 2740 - Aleksey GREBNEV (86) 2617 ½-½ ½-½ 0.5-1.5
Awonder Liang (21) 2701 - Gabriel SARGISSIAN (76) 2616 ½-½ ½-½ 0.5-1.5
Liem LE (13) 2729      - Karthik Venkataraman (109) 2576 ½-½ 1-0
Sam SHANKLAND (46) 2649 - Richard Rapport (14) 2740 ½-½ ½-½ 2-0
Levon ARONIAN (15) 2728 - Radoslaw Wojtaszek (47) 2660 1-0 ½-½
Yu Yangyi (17) 2726 - Javokhir SINDAROV (16) 2721 ½-½ ½-½ 0.5-1.5

Games, Results, and Bracket.

15-Minute Games: Pragg, MVL, Rapport Crash Out 

With 11 tiebreak matches, it was hard to expect anything other than a long day at the office.

That's what we ultimately got, but the early action was brutal. Eight of the 11 tiebreak matches were over after two games of 15+10 chess, and in those matches only three favorites managed to win.

One of those was number-two seed Arjun, who told Chess.com's IM Rakesh Kulkarni, "It was good getting to play someone from the previous generation." Arjun praised 46-year-old Leko's display of "class" and chess understanding in the classical games, but was able to take over in the rapid when Leko went for the pawn sacrifice 17.h4?!.

Arjun said he remembered the key detail here—the only move was to grab the pawn—and he never looked back as he went on to win.

Leko found himself in a must-win position, but when he pushed f7-f5 with Black in the second game it only led to another bad position, then a pawn-down rook endgame which Arjun managed to convert.

Everything is going smoothly for Arjun, though he still needs to win three matches to reach the Candidates. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

The other win for a clear favorite, GM Pentala Harikrishna defeating GM Nils Grandelius 1.5-0.5 in tiebreaks, was far from smooth, since Harikrishna blundered but survived in both the second classical and first rapid games. In the second rapid game, however, he was back to brilliancy mode, unleashing 27.d6! e4 28.Nce5!! to clinch the match.

Harikrishna has shown sparks of real brilliance in Goa. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE.

16th seed GM Javokhir Sindarov defeating 17th seed GM Yu Yangyi is a win for a favorite on paper, though since the pairings were done Yu had moved five points ahead of his 19-year-old opponent on the November rating list (2726 vs. 2721). Their match-up was as close as ratings would suggest, with Sindarov squeezing out the win in a pawn-up queen endgame, though ultimately it required Yu losing on time on move 125.

Technically the final position was won for White, though the evaluation had been swinging between won and equal for the previous 20 moves. 

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's hopes were ended by Alexey Grebnev. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

That brings us to the upsets, which were a huge part of the day's story. One was created by another 19-year-old, Grebnev, who swept aside Vachier-Lagrave after winning the opening battle in both games. At least in the first the Frenchman was able to keep fighting and come close to survival, but Grebnev's pressure ultimately told. After 49.Bh6!! there was no way back.

Vachier-Lagrave had come back on demand twice against GM Vladislav Artemiev in the previous round, but this time disaster struck. He stumbled into a line of the Petroff where Grebnev could force an instant draw, which is just what he did.

The exit was arguably even more brutal for world number-15 Rapport, who sank to a 2-0 defeat to Shankland. The U.S. star pointed out afterward that he's been a match for Rapport in classical and blitz chess, but in rapid, "He’s just blown me off the board, historically." 

Sam Shankland said his approach was, "never come into any match expecting to lose," and it worked out in round four! Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

This time, however, Rapport went for some misjudged exchanges and landed in an endgame that GM David Howell said Caro-Kann (and French) players dream of at night, with the black knights overwhelming White's defenses.

Rapport soon resigned, and then in the second game, needing to win with Black, he went for a line of the Modern Defense that the computer assessed as utterly lost by move 10. Sometimes such evaluations only tell you how highly engines value somewhat abstract concepts such as "space," but in this case it was right on point. Rapport resigned with a helpless bishop on h8 that Shankland was aiming to pick up by retreating his rook to d2, ready to swing it across to h2.

21-year-old GM Frederik Svane built on knocking out World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju by overcoming the higher-rated GM Shant Sargsyan 1.5-0.5. He did it with a smooth positional win in the first rapid game, which recalled his German colleague GM Alexander Donchenko's win the day before.

Frederik Svane is one of two Germans remaining in the tournament. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

It was the end of the road for 2701-rated GM Awonder Liang, who fell to now 2616-rated GM Gabriel Sargissian, though the Armenian star was rated as high as 2711 just three years ago. The loss was tough on Liang, who fought off an attack to reach an endgame a pawn up, but still lost, despite finding the saving resource 60...Bd8!!. 

In the second game he briefly had chances, but Sargissian held out for a draw.

Gabriel Sargissian defeated Awonder Liang. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

That leaves "just" the loss of Praggnanandhaa, the runner-up in 2023 and the number-three seed in 2025. That came at the hands of Dubov, who stuck to his somewhat controversial strategy by making a 12-move draw with the white pieces in the first game.

He later explained:

I didn’t actually mind playing, really, it’s just that with White against someone who is prepared this well I don’t know how to get out of the opening without taking too much risk, so in a way I actually told my friends that this is the strategy: we make draws with White, and with Black we actually play, because he’s always ambitious with White.

He added, "Preparing for two classical games against Pragg took me like 10 minutes with the phone altogether," and continued on the theme with, "When I face Pragg and he’s the one who probably spends day and night looking at stuff and he still fails to pose a single problem with White, maybe it’s not about me, it’s probably about chess!"

The second game saw Praggnanandhaa seem to get an edge out of the opening, but when Dubov hit back it was in brilliant attacking style. That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed below. 

That knockout was of course a blow for Praggnanandhaa and his many fans on home soil...

...but also hit a number of elite players who still harbored hopes of qualifying for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament via the FIDE Circuit. Praggnanandhaa is the runaway leader there and will now almost certainly take the one spot on offer, while if he'd reached the last three of the World Cup it would have opened up that race to others.

Dubov, meanwhile, will now face Shankland, and had accomplished more than just winning a match. He commented, "Someone beautiful wanted me to win this exact match badly for some reason, so I’m happy to deliver."

Someone beautiful wanted me to win this exact match badly for some reason, so I’m happy to deliver. 

—Daniil Dubov 

Three matches continued after two draws in the 15-minute games: Keymer-Esipenko, Wei-Maghsoodloo, and Sevian-Lodici.

10-minute games: Esipenko Knocks Out Keymer

The only match to end in the next set of games was again of huge significance. 20-year-old Keymer is in the form of his life and, after climbing to world number-four, went into the World Cup as the highest-rated player. He looked to have good chances of advancing when he built up a dream bishop-pair position against Esipenko in the first 15-minute game, but the advantage fizzled away. Then a draw took the match to 10+10.

Vincent Keymer was unable to recover from his first loss of the tournament. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

This time Esipenko did manage to get an advantage with the white pieces, and he ground out a win in a very tricky rook endgame. Keymer was suddenly in a must-win position, and he got chances, but he'd already lost any edge when he blundered a double-attack and was suddenly dead lost.

It was a doubly-tough loss for Keymer, since his Candidates hopes for 2026 are now all but over after Praggnanandhaa also lost.

5-minute games: Wei Yi Overcomes Maghsoodloo

Chinese number-one Wei is world number-11 on the November FIDE rating list, but 10th on the live rating list and, as the seventh seed in Goa, the highest-seeded player remaining after Arjun. His match against Maghsoodloo was an ordeal after he let a win slip in the second classical game.

Despite the fierce rivalry on the board, Maghsoodloo and Wei Yi seemed to discuss their games more than any other players. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

The 15-minute tiebreaks were drawn in 105 and 59 moves, while the 10-minute games were much quicker but still saw nothing to separate the players. That all changed in the first five-minute game, where it looked as though Maghsoodloo would take the lead until a winning advantage fizzled out only for Wei to take over and win.

Maghsoodloo had to win on demand with Black, but instead Wei completely dominated the second blitz game. It had a curious conclusion, since after 31.Ke4 Maghsoodloo played the illegal move 31...Kg6?!?!. Wei looked around, confused, while Maghsoodloo realized his mistake, withdrew the king, but then completely forgot about the touch-move rule as he played 31...h4 instead.

Wei could have stopped the clock, called an arbiter, and gained a couple of minutes on his clock, but he calmly played the won position out for a few more moves.

Such a long match is often a liability going into the next round, but in this case Wei had no problem, since his opponent would be decided in an even longer match that went all the way to armageddon.

Armageddon: Sevian Ends Lodici’s Incredible Run

Lodici couldn't quite keep the run going, but he's picked up a lot of new fans. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

25-year-old 2572-rated Italian GM Lorenzo Lodici has been one of the unexpected stars of the Goa World Cup, knocking out GMs Hans Niemann and Michael Adams. His run finally ended in round four, but only after an astonishing fight.

Sevian admitted, "I was very lucky to escape with a draw" about the first 15-minute game, while after the second the remaining seven games were all decisive. Perhaps the first of those best summed up the match, with Sevian seizing a winning advantage, then finding himself lost, then coming back with a fantastic queen sacrifice that worked to perfection.

"On demand he played two really fantastic games!" said Sevian, as Lodici hit back in the next game, then took the lead, then was caught by Sevian, then had to hit back on demand once again after losing the first three-minute game.

It was wild stuff, but then after six wins by White the players had to bid how much time they'd be willing to play to get the black pieces and only need to make a draw in the final armageddon game. Sevian won with a bid of two minutes and 41 seconds, and it proved a good choice, since despite having just over four minutes on the clock Lodici was unable to gain any advantage on the board.

After 13.g4?! d4! it just felt like a matter of time until Sevian clinched victory.

So it was all over for Lodici, who was the last remaining sub-2600 player in the field. He's hardly alone, however, with only three of the top-14 players still alive in the event! 

The bracket for the remainder of the tournament is remarkable.

2025 FIDE World Cup Bracket: Round 5 Onward

Three players will qualify for the FIDE Candidates Tournament and for at least two of them this will be the first time, since only Aronian has played in the Candidates before. He faces Arjun, the toughest possible test, in round five, while a 2700-player will await them in the Quarterfinals in the form of Wei or Sevian.

Meanwhile the top half of the bracket contains only two 2700-players, 13th seed GM Liem Le and 16th seed Sindarov, so that there's a huge opportunity to qualify for the Candidates for a number of players who might not have expected the chance. There's no break, however, as the round-five matches begin Friday!  

How to watch?

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 David Howell, IM Jovanka Houska and John Sargent.

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:

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Colin McGourty

Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

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