Maghsoodloo, Firouzja, and Demchenko lead Grand Swiss 2025

Parham Maghsoodloo, Alireza Firouzja, and Anton Demchenko are the leaders of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025. The three players are the only ones remaining at perfect 2,0/2. In round 2 Maghsoodloo defeated with white David Anton, Firouzja won with black vs Maxim Rodshtein, while Demchenko was successful with white vs Sam Shankland. Scroll down for the full results and standings of the round

Grand Swiss information: FIDE Grand Swiss Chess Tournament 2025 – A Gateway to the World Championship
Grand Swiss Live: FIDE Grand Swiss Chess 2025 live / Women’s Grand Swiss Chess 2025 live
Grand Swiss Participants: Participants open / Participants women

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Day two of the FIDE Grand Swiss delivered more drama as the favourites were put to the test. World Champion Gukesh D was held to a draw by 14-year-old Turkish prodigy Yagız Kaan Erdogmus, while fellow favourite Arjun Erigaisi survived a near-loss to defeat Haik Martirosyan. In the Women’s event, several top players who stumbled at the start staged a strong comeback, but surprises continued to shake up the standings.

The day’s drama began on the top board, where Uzbekistan Chess Federation Vice President, Komil Sindarov, made the ceremonial first move in the game between Gukesh and the world’s youngest Grandmaster, Erdogmus.

It was exactly this game that opened with a surprise as early as move two. After 1.d4 d5, Gukesh played the unusual 3.c3 aimed at throwing him out of his preparation. Commenting in the live broadcast on FIDE’s YouTube channel, English IM Jovanka Houska branded the move as “anti-youngster”, hinting at the attempt to thwart the deep and excellent opening preparation very young players such as Erdogmus excel nowadays. The odd thing is that both players in this game are youngsters – Gukesh is 19 and Erdogmus 14.

The World Champion got the initiative across the board and was notably better for the most part, but then he let it slip.

White has an extra pawn, a chain in the centre, and a pin on Black’s a-runner. On top of that, Black played the last 10 moves in severe time trouble.

Gukesh now plays a seemingly logical move which, however, backfires and completely wipes out his advantage.

40.Bxg5?? Instead, Gukesh should have opted for 40.Nf6, forcing Black to take –  40…Bxf6 and after 41.Bxh6! Bg7 (41…Rf7 fails to 42.hxg6 and Black is lost) 42.Bxg7 Rf3 43.h6 Rh3 44.e6 White is slowly but surely advancing his pawns to victory.

However, the move played by Gukesh allowed Black to equalise.

40…Kxd5! 41.Bf6 gxh5 42.Rg7 trying to attack via the back ranks. But now 42…Rxf6 43.exf6 Re2+ and Black delivered perpetual check. ½ – ½

Erdogmus’ persistence in defending and withstanding pressure even with seconds on the clock paid off.

The sharpest game among the top boards was played between India’s Arjun Erigaisi and Armenia’s Haik Martirosyan. Playing as Black, Erigaisi was on the brink of defeat on move 23.

With his king exposed and pieces trapped on the queenside, Black is in severe trouble. However, White missed the best continuation and, in several moves, Black turned the tables.

24.Kh1?! 24.Ra2 with the idea of bringing the rook to the attack on the kingside was a better choice.

24…Nd7 25.Qf3 Nc5 26.Rb1 After a few hesitant moves White is now defending and shuffling, losing the advantage.

A few moves later, with both trading advantages along the way, the following position emerged on the board:

Instead of the natural 32.Qxg6+ Ng7 33.Bg5 with a roughly equal position, Haik played 32.Rf1?? giving Black a chance to get the upper hand. 

Black should have responded with 32…Ra7, bringing the rook to action and protecting the seventh rank. Arjun, however, played 32…Nxe5?? And the position was even again.

Later down the line, White misplayed one more time and had to give up a piece. Erigaisi still had to be careful, but ultimately converted his advantage into a full point.

Following a draw in round one, rating favourite Praggnanandhaa defeated Ivan Zemlyanskii, after Black overlooked a tactical subtlety.

Black should have played 30…e6 here, to open a retreat route for his bishop in case of c4-c5. Instead, he played 30…Rc7? with fatal consequences. 

31.c5! Bxc5 No other choice as bxc5 means the a5-knight will fall.

32.Bxc5 Rxc5 33.b4 fork. Black resigned. 1-0

In other developments among the leaders, Alireza Firouzja defeated Maxim Rodshtein on board two. The 22-year-old naturalised Frenchman played confidently, gaining the initiative and creating a passer on the a-file which White could not stop. Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo is also on two points, after overcoming Spain’s David Anton.

Local hope Nodirbek Abdusattorov played a challenging positional game as Black against Svane which ended in a draw.

In a surprise of the round, seasoned heavyweight Alexander Grischuk lost as White to Chilean GM Cristobal Villagra after blundering in time trouble.

The Women’s tournament

The winner of the 2023 Women’s Grand Swiss, Vaishali Rameshbabu, continued strongly – she defeated Dutch champion Eline Robers with black pieces in just 22 moves. Vaishali played a rare line in the Morphy Defence in Ruy Lopez and White couldn’t counter.

Here, in already inferior position White played 12.Nxf5? Instead of continuing development with 12.Nd2 she has accepted battle without being fully developed.

12…d5 Black wastes no time and strikes in the centre.

13.Bb3? after this mistake White’s position is beyond repair. Eline had to return the knight to d4 although after simple 13…dxe4 her position is no fun.

14.Nxf5 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.Bxd5+? Further digging herself in. The rest was a smooth sail for Black. White resigned on move 22 facing an imminent checkmate.

In a big duel of the round, former World Champion Mariya Muzychuk defeated the seasoned player from Moscow, Valentina Gunina. The position was even until the early stage of the middlegame where Gunina blundered and from then on everything went downhill for her. A swift and convincing comeback by Mariya against a strong player is what she needed after losing on day one.

Tan Zhongyi also made a quick comeback today, after starting the tournament with a loss. The former Women’s World Champion was victorious against Lina Nassr. In the Delayed Alapin variation of Sicilian Defence, Tan – playing as White – won a pawn early in the middlegame and gradually gained control across the board, resulting in her victory in 30 moves.

Austria’s Olga Badelka outplayed Zsoka Gaal with black pieces on board four. With two points, the young player originally from Belarus has shown she is well prepared for this event. European Champion Teodora Injac also won, bouncing back after a loss in round one. One of the favourites in the event, Anna Muzychuk, could not get more than a draw in her game against Anna Shukhman.

In a big upset of the round, Uzbek player Guldona Karimova defeated 100 points higher-rated IM Lela Javakhishvili, stunning her early in the game with a tactical strike:

15.Rxd7! Qxd7 16.Ne6 Rf6 17.Nxg7+ Kf8 18.fxe5 Rc6 19.e6 Qc7 20.Nb5 and Black is in a mating net. A few moves down, Lela resigned.

Another seasoned player was stunned today. IM Irina Bulmaga fell to 300 points lower-rated Madinabonu Khalilova from Uzbekistan after losing on time.

Round three starts at 3 PM local time on Saturday, 6th September.

Written by Milan Dinic

Photos: Michal Walusza

FIDE Grand Swiss round 2 results

	White	Rtg	Result		Black	Rtg
GM	Gukesh, D	2767	½ – ½	GM	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	2646
GM	Rodshtein, Maxim	2645	0 – 1	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	2754
GM	Svane, Frederik	2643	½ – ½	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2748
GM	Giri, Anish	2746	½ – ½	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	2640
GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	2640	½ – ½	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2712
GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2692	1 – 0	GM	Anton Guijarro, David	2625
GM	Demchenko, Anton	2620	1 – 0	GM	Shankland, Sam	2670
GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	2602	½ – ½	GM	Gelfand, Boris	2652
GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2785	1 – 0	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	2586
GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	2628	0 – 1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2771
GM	Keymer, Vincent	2751	1 – 0	GM	Xiong, Jeffery	2640
GM	Chigaev, Maksim	2638	½ – ½	GM	Aronian, Levon	2744
GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	2742	1 – 0	GM	Gurel, Ediz	2631
GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	2626	½ – ½	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2741
GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	2738	1 – 0	GM	Volokitin, Andrei	2628
GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	2627	½ – ½	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	2733
GM	Svane, Rasmus	2620	½ – ½	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	2722
GM	Yu, Yangyi	2714	1 – 0	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan	2627
GM	Rapport, Richard	2711	1 – 0	GM	Dardha, Daniel	2624
GM	Liang, Awonder	2698	½ – ½	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	2622
GM	Hakobyan, Aram	2625	0 – 1	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2693
GM	Shirov, Alexei	2616	½ – ½	GM	Sevian, Samuel	2692
GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2692	½ – ½	GM	Santos Latasa, Jaime	2620
GM	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	2618	½ – ½	GM	Dubov, Daniil	2691
GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2687	1 – 0	GM	Korobov, Anton	2616
GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	2611	1 – 0	GM	Sarana, Alexey	2686
GM	Eljanov, Pavel	2682	0 – 1	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2615
GM	Xu, Xiangyu	2615	0 – 1	GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	2681
GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	2674	½ – ½	GM	Najer, Evgeniy	2613
GM	Predke, Alexandr	2609	1 – 0	GM	Robson, Ray	2674
GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2673	½ – ½	GM	Maurizzi, Marcandria	2610
GM	Lagarde, Maxime	2609	½ – ½	GM	Bluebaum, Matthias	2671
GM	Murzin, Volodar	2670	½ – ½	GM	Matlakov, Maxim	2609
GM	Pranav, V	2596	½ – ½	GM	Vitiugov, Nikita	2666
GM	Artemiev, Vladislav	2664	½ – ½	GM	Ivanchuk, Vasyl	2608
GM	Kuzubov, Yuriy	2600	1 – 0	GM	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	2661
GM	Oparin, Grigoriy	2660	1 – 0	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	2598
GM	Warmerdam, Max	2591	½ – ½	GM	Sadhwani, Raunak	2658
GM	Grischuk, Alexander	2657	0 – 1	GM	Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal	2594
GM	Moussard, Jules	2591	1 – 0	GM	Saric, Ivan	2655
GM	Sargsyan, Shant	2653	½ – ½	GM	Narayanan, S L	2591
GM	Bjerre, Jonas Buhl	2651	0 – 1	GM	Gumularz, Szymon	2590
GM	Bartel, Mateusz	2581	1 – 0	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	2651
GM	Woodward, Andy	2557	½ – ½	GM	Grandelius, Nils	2648
GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2648	1 – 0	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	2590
GM	Aditya, Mittal	2589	½ – ½	GM	Kollars, Dmitrij	2647
GM	Lu, Shanglei	2647	½ – ½	GM	Madaminov, Mukhiddin	2560
GM	Theodorou, Nikolas	2646	½ – ½	GM	Samunenkov, Ihor	2550
GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	2645	½ – ½	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	2521
GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2731	1 – 0	GM	Nigmatov, Ortik	2488
GM	Wagner, Dennis	2608	½ – ½	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2704
GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	2669	0 – 1	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2619
GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	2650	½ – ½	GM	Jobava, Baadur	2590
GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	2528	½ – ½	GM	Bacrot, Etienne	2637
GM	Amin, Bassem	2636	1 – 0	GM	Abdisalimov, Abdimalik	2488
GM	Ivic, Velimir	2630	½ – ½	IM	Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid	2482
GM	Donchenko, Alexander	2624	½ – ½	GM	Divya, Deshmukh	2478
	Olisa, Tennyson Ewomazino	2287	0 – 1	GM	Hovhannisyan, Robert	2629

Standings after round 2 of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1	GM	Demchenko, Anton	SLO	2620	2
2	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	FRA	2754	2
3	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	IRI	2692	2
4	GM	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	TUR	2646	1.5
5	GM	Svane, Frederik	GER	2643	1.5
6	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	UAE	2640	1.5
7	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	IND	2640	1.5
8	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2615	1.5
9	GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	USA	2611	1.5
10	GM	Predke, Alexandr	SRB	2609	1.5
11	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	AZE	2602	1.5
12	GM	Kuzubov, Yuriy	UKR	2600	1.5
13	GM	Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal	CHI	2594	1.5
14	GM	Moussard, Jules	FRA	2591	1.5
15	GM	Gumularz, Szymon	POL	2590	1.5
16	GM	Bartel, Mateusz	POL	2581	1.5
17	GM	Gukesh, D	IND	2767	1.5
18	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	UZB	2748	1.5
19	GM	Giri, Anish	NED	2746	1.5
20	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2712	1.5
21	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	IND	2785	1.5
22	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2751	1.5
23	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2771	1.5
24	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	FID	2742	1.5
25	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2738	1.5
26	GM	Yu, Yangyi	CHN	2714	1.5
27	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2693	1.5
28	GM	Rapport, Richard	HUN	2711	1.5
29	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	FID	2687	1.5
30	GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	UZB	2681	1.5
31	GM	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	2652	1.5
32	GM	Oparin, Grigoriy	USA	2660	1.5
33	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	ESP	2648	1.5
34	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	FID	2586	1
35	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	ESP	2638	1
36	GM	Rodshtein, Maxim	ISR	2645	1
37	GM	Amin, Bassem	EGY	2636	1
38	GM	Hovhannisyan, Robert	ARM	2629	1
39	GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2627	1
40	GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	ARM	2626	1
41	GM	Anton Guijarro, David	ESP	2625	1
42	GM	Svane, Rasmus	GER	2620	1
43	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2622	1
44	GM	Santos Latasa, Jaime	ESP	2620	1
45	GM	Aryan, Chopra	IND	2619	1
46	GM	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	NOR	2618	1
47	GM	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2616	1
48	GM	Najer, Evgeniy	FID	2613	1
49	GM	Maurizzi, Marcandria	FRA	2610	1
50	GM	Lagarde, Maxime	FRA	2609	1
51	GM	Matlakov, Maxim	FID	2609	1
52	GM	Ivanchuk, Vasyl	UKR	2608	1
53	GM	Pranav, V	IND	2596	1
54	GM	Warmerdam, Max	NED	2591	1
55	GM	Narayanan, S L	IND	2591	1
56	GM	Aditya, Mittal	IND	2589	1
57	GM	Madaminov, Mukhiddin	UZB	2560	1
58	GM	Woodward, Andy	USA	2557	1
59	GM	Samunenkov, Ihor	UKR	2550	1
60	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	UZB	2521	1
61	GM	Aronian, Levon	USA	2744	1
62	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2741	1
63	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2733	1
64	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2731	1
65	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	UZB	2722	1
66	GM	Liang, Awonder	USA	2698	1
67	GM	Shankland, Sam	USA	2670	1
68	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2692	1
69	GM	Sevian, Samuel	USA	2692	1
70	GM	Dubov, Daniil	FID	2691	1
71	GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2674	1
72	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2673	1
73	GM	Bluebaum, Matthias	GER	2671	1
74	GM	Murzin, Volodar	FID	2670	1
75	GM	Artemiev, Vladislav	FID	2664	1
76	GM	Vitiugov, Nikita	ENG	2666	1
77	GM	Sadhwani, Raunak	IND	2658	1
78	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2653	1
79	GM	Kollars, Dmitrij	GER	2647	1
80	GM	Grandelius, Nils	SWE	2648	1
81	GM	Lu, Shanglei	CHN	2647	1
82	GM	Theodorou, Nikolas	GRE	2646	1
83	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	UZB	2645	1
84	GM	Xiong, Jeffery	USA	2640	0.5
85	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	ARM	2628	0.5
86	GM	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2637	0.5
87	GM	Gurel, Ediz	TUR	2631	0.5
88	GM	Ivic, Velimir	SRB	2630	0.5
89	GM	Volokitin, Andrei	UKR	2628	0.5
90	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan	HUN	2627	0.5
91	GM	Nigmatov, Ortik	UZB	2488	0.5
92	GM	Hakobyan, Aram	ARM	2625	0.5
93	GM	Dardha, Daniel	BEL	2624	0.5
94	GM	Donchenko, Alexander	GER	2624	0.5
95	GM	Wagner, Dennis	GER	2608	0.5
96	GM	Korobov, Anton	UKR	2616	0.5
97	GM	Xu, Xiangyu	CHN	2615	0.5
98	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	IRI	2598	0.5
99	GM	Jobava, Baadur	GEO	2590	0.5
100	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	AZE	2590	0.5
101	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	FID	2528	0.5
102	IM	Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid	UZB	2482	0.5
103	GM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2478	0.5
104	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	IND	2704	0.5
105	GM	Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	2682	0.5
106	GM	Sarana, Alexey	SRB	2686	0.5
107	GM	Robson, Ray	USA	2674	0.5
108	GM	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	POL	2661	0.5
109	GM	Grischuk, Alexander	FID	2657	0.5
110	GM	Saric, Ivan	CRO	2655	0.5
111	GM	Bjerre, Jonas Buhl	DEN	2651	0.5
112	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	SRB	2650	0.5
113	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2651	0.5
114	GM	Abdisalimov, Abdimalik	UZB	2488	0
115		Olisa, Tennyson Ewomazino	NGR	2287	0
116	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2669	0