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19-Year-Old Sindarov Grabs Only Win
Sindarov flanked by Aronian and Donchenko during the first games of round five. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE.

19-Year-Old Sindarov Grabs Only Win

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Colin_McGourty
| 33 | Chess Event Coverage

Nineteen-year-old GM Javokhir Sindarov's relentless pressure finally gave him a win over GM Frederik Svane as round five of the 2025 FIDE World Cup began. All the remaining games were drawn, with GM Levon Aronian surviving a fierce attack by GM Arjun Erigaisi in the most anticipated matchup of the round, while GM Daniil Dubov failed to exploit GM Sam Shankland rejecting a draw offer and making some risky choices.  

Game two of round five is on Saturday, November 15, starting at 4:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 CET / 3 p.m. IST.

Round 5 Results

It was the calm after the storm in Goa, with eight draws looking a strong possibility until Svane finally cracked against Sindarov.

Fed Player 1 Rating - Fed Player 2 Rating G1 G2 TB
Javokhir Sindarov (16) 2721 - Frederik Svane (64) 2640 1-0
Jose Martinez (57) 2644 - Pentala Harikrishna (24) 2690 ½-½
Gabriel Sargissian (76) 2616 - Nodirbek Yakubboev (28) 2689 ½-½
Alexander Donchenko (61) 2641 - Liem Le (13) 2729 ½-½
Sam Shankland (46) 2649 - Daniil Dubov (30) 2674 ½-½
Andrey Esipenko (27) 2681 - Aleksey Grebnev (86) 2617 ½-½
Samuel Sevian (23) 2701 - Wei Yi (7) 2753 ½-½
Arjun Erigaisi (2) 2769 - Levon Aronian (15) 2728 ½-½

Games, Results, and Bracket.

Entering the Last 16 of the 2025 FIDE World Cup, only five of the players expected to reach this stage have made it, with only two top-10 seeds, Arjun and GM Wei Yi, still in action. 

11 of the 16 remaining players came through tiebreaks on the previous day, so it was understandable that many were happy to have a peaceful day at the office as round five began. One who didn't need tiebreaks was GM Jose Martinez, but he hadn't taken a rest day—instead, after being supplied with a mouse by Chess.com's IM Rakesh Kulkarni, he won the first ever edition of 3 0 Thursday.

A day later, the Mexican number-one tested GM Pentala Harikrishna in a line of the Italian, with the Indian star passing with flying colors. Neither player paused for thought until move 25, and when the game was the first to finish, on move 41, the near perfect accuracy scores told the story.

The one match with two players who'd enjoyed a rest day was Donchenko-Le, with GM Alexander Donchenko in fact the player who's performed best in classical chess so far in Goa, with a 2843 performance rating.

61st seed Donchenko has come through four matches without the need for tiebreaks, while knocking out the winner and runner-up of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss.

As you can see, however, GM Liem Le's performance rating is also a none-too-shabby 2795, and while Donchenko had scored 3.5/4 with White, Le had made it 3/3 with Black.

Liem Le also hasn't needed tiebreaks in Goa. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE.

It was a case of unstoppable force meeting immovable object, with Donchenko briefly looking to have a very promising position with White before it fizzled out into a draw.

GM Aleksey Grebnev, at 2617 the lowest-rated player remaining in the tournament, continued his fine preparation we'd seen against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave by making an effortless draw with Black against GM Andrey Esipenko. When the game was agreed drawn on move 31, Grebnev had 54 minutes to his opponent's nine.

Grebnev made a comfortable draw against Esipenko. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE.

There were similar uneventful draws in GM Gabriel Sargissian vs. GM Nodirbek Yakubboev and GM Sam Sevian vs. GM Wei Yi, though the Chinese number-seven seed continued his side quest to play the most moves in Goa. The game stretched on until move 60, but the outcome of the second longest game of the day never felt in doubt.

Wei Yi keeps playing long, grinding games, but he seldom looks in danger. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE.

The remaining two draws were much, much more interesting, however. One of them featured the only round-five match-up that was seeded to happen at this stage before the event began: second-seed Arjun vs. 15th seed Aronian. It was a game between two in-form players, and if Aronian was unable to win the first game for a fourth match in a row, he did at least find excellent defense to counter Arjun's attack.

The stakes will grow in game two, with Aronian gunning to win the World Cup for a third time—his two wins are already a record—while Arjun knows he needs to reach at least the Semifinals to qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament.

The Aronian-Arjun postmortem started at the board and continued outside the playing hall. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE.

The last draw was a continuation of the theme of Dubov talking the day before about how he aims to play with the black pieces since it's easier to get chances against ambitious opponents than to fashion anything with White.

Daniil Dubov was surprised in the opening, but later got real chances. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE.

Shankland definitely falls into the category of ambitious opponents, and he unleashed a move-10 novelty, went for an exchange sacrifice that was very enterprising but far from forced, then rejected a draw offer and almost lost—though Dubov was short on time and failed to apply much pressure.

Meanwhile Frederik Svane had eliminated three higher-rated players in a row, GMs Ediz Gurel, Gukesh Dommaraju (!), and Shant Sargsyan, but in round five he came up against a young player who was no stranger to World Cup upsets himself.

Svane's long defensive ordeal ultimately ended in failure. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE.

In 2021 Sindarov knocked out GM Alireza Firouzja, and in 2023 GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, but this is the first year he's reached round five. The Uzbek star is a favorite to reach the Quarterfinals after a game in which he applied huge pressure only to see Svane survive until the time control. Then, when an eighth draw for the day looked on the cards, Svane finally cracked and Sindarov was able to score the day's only win. 

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


Svane will now have to win on demand on Saturday to force tiebreaks, while in all the other matches the players know a draw will mean tiebreaks, while a win for any player will take them into the Quarterfinals. 

2025 FIDE World Cup Bracket: Round 5 Onward

How to watch?

You can watch the event on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on Chess24 Twitch or YouTube. Games from the event can be viewed on our events page.

The live broadcast was hosted by IMs Jovanka Houska, Anna Rudolf, 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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