FIDE World Cup: Praggnanandhaa leads India to fourth round, Gukesh D knocked out

GM R Praggnanandhaa advances to the fourth round of the FIDE World Cup 2025, defeating GM Hovhannisyan. Meanwhile, World Champion Gukesh D is knocked out after a loss to Frederik Svane. Three more Indians will play tiebreaks

Hyderabad: GM R Praggnanandhaa made the most of the slight advantage he gained in the middle game to beat GM Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia, as four Indians booked a place in the fourth round of the FIDE World Cup 2025 in Panaji (Goa) on Saturday, while World Champion Gukesh D was knocked out.

Praggnanandhaa, who had to play a long tiebreak to reach the third round and then drew the first game with black, found himself in a tricky situation as it looked like Hovhannisyan had negated the Indian’s early advantage.

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But the third-highest ranked Indian had a clear game plan and took control of the match by move 27, with his queen and rook putting pressure on the black king. The Armenian ultimately resigned after 42 moves.

A total of 10 Indians have made it to the third round of the FIDE World Cup 2025, which is being played as a single-elimination knockout tournament, with 206 players from 82 countries vying for the coveted Viswanathan Anand Cup, named after the Indian legend.

Harikrishna, who had won the first game with white, was the first Indian to advance to the next round after he played out a quick draw against Belgium’s GM Daniel Dardha. He was soon joined by GM Arjun Erigaisi and World Junior Champion GM V. Pranav, who also did not take risks with black pieces and split the point.

Anish Giri, the highest-seeded foreign player in the competition, was knocked out after he lost the second game against GM Alexander Donchenko with black pieces in 47 moves.

World champion Gukesh D lost his third-round match against Frederik Svane. Having drawn the first game with black pieces, the Indian went for a win in the second, but Svane not only managed to wriggle out of time pressure but also forced Gukesh to resign in a knight-pawn ending.

Arjun will now face Hungarian GM Peter Leko, who defeated GM Kirill Alekseenko in both games of Round 3.

Meanwhile, GM Vidit Gujrathi, Karthik Venkataraman, and GM Narayanan S will now have to play the tiebreak on Sunday after they drew both games in this round.