Vidit Gujrathi defeats Faustino Oro to advance in FIDE World Cup 2025

India’s Vidit Gujrathi, V Pranav, and M Pranesh advanced to the third round of the FIDE World Cup 2025 in Panaji. Vidit beat 12-year-old Faustino Oro, while Pranav and Pranesh defeated their opponents in the rapid games

Hyderabad: India’s GM Vidit Gujrathi finally cracked the defence of Argentine wonderkid Faustino Oro in the second rapid game, while V Pranav and M Pranesh also triumphed over their respective opponents in the first set of rapid games to advance to the third round of the FIDE World Cup 2025 in Panaji (Goa) on Thursday.

Vidit had been put under pressure by the 12-year-old Oro in the two classical games. However, the 31-year-old Indian relied on his experience to grind out a 52-move victory in the second rapid game with the black pieces. Pranav defeated Aryan Tari of Norway, while Pranesh beat Dimitrij Kollars of Germany to join the likes of world champion Gukesh D, Arjun Erigasi, P Harikrishna, Karthik Venkatraman, and Diptayan Ghosh in the next round.

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Vidit praised the Argentine youngster: “The way young players play chess is very different because they have grown up with computers and have much more experience than the previous generation. But it’s not like there are many prodigies. He is special because at the age of 12, he is playing like a seasoned player,” he said.

Vidit will now face USA’s Sam Shankland, who defeated GM Vasyl Ivanchuk in the second round.

On the other boards, world junior champion Pranav put behind his loss in the second classical game on Wednesday to win the first rapid game in 44 moves in a rook-pawn ending. He then held the Norwegian to a draw in the second game with black to advance.

In the match between Pranesh and Kollars, the Indian, playing black, grabbed the advantage in the 24th move of the second rapid game and steadily built on that to win in 48 moves. He will now face German GM Vincent Keymer.

Meanwhile, 10th seed GM Hans Niemann of the USA joined the list of top players being knocked out early in the competition after he lost the first rapid game in a marathon 77 moves against Lorenzo Lodici of Italy. The two players had drawn both their classical games.