Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh are the top three seeds at FIDE Grand Swiss 2025

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/09/2025

A total of 18 Indians will be seen in action at FIDE Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss 2025. World no.4 - R Praggnanandhaa, World no.5 - Arjun Erigaisi, World no.6 and the reigning World Champion - D Gukesh are the top three seeds in the Open section. The remaining Indians are - the defending champion, Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, Karthikeyan Murali, Raunak Sadhwani, Abhimanyu Puranik, Aryan Chopra, Leon Luke Mendonca, Pranav Venkatesh, S L Narayanan and Divya Deshmukh in the Open. GM Harika Dronavalli, GM R Vaishali and IM Vantika Agrawal in the Women. The top two finishers from both Open and Women event will qualify to their respective Candidates in 2026. Round 1 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST. Photos: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Divya and Goryachkina are the only two female in the Open event

The total prize fund in the Open section saw an increase of 35.87% from US$ 460000 to 625000. The first prize increased by 12.5% from US$ 80000 to 90000. In the Women's event, the prize fund increased by 64.28% from US$ 140000 to 230000. The first prize went up by 60% from US$ 25000 to 40000. The total number of prizes in the Open got increased to 50 from 46. A total of 114 GM including five of the World Top ten and one IM, in the Open with an average rating of 2640 are taking part. The Women's event has 14 GMs, 27 IMs, 7 WGMs and 7 WIMs with an average rating of 2389.

The World Champion - GM D Gukesh at the Press Conference | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Press Conference | Video: ChessBase India

R Praggnanandhaa and Anna Muzychuk (UKR) are the top seeds in the Open and Women's events respectively | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Opening ceremony | Video: ChessBase India

R Praggnanandhaa got the black pieces | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Anna Muzychuk got the white pieces | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

R Praggnanandhaa is currently leading the FIDE Circuit with 107 points | Source: FIDE

FIDE Circuit 2025 Regulations

Round 1 pairings in Open

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	59	GM	Xiong, Jeffery	2640	0		0	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2785	1
2	2	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2771	0		0	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	2638	60
3	61	GM	Bacrot, Etienne	2637	0		0	GM	Gukesh, D	2767	3
4	4	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	2754	0		0	GM	Amin, Bassem	2636	62
5	63	GM	Gurel, Ediz	2631	0		0	GM	Keymer, Vincent	2751	5
6	6	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2748	0		0	GM	Ivic, Velimir	2630	64
7	65	GM	Hovhannisyan, Robert	2629	0		0	GM	Giri, Anish	2746	7
8	8	GM	Aronian, Levon	2744	0		0	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	2628	66
9	67	GM	Volokitin, Andrei	2628	0		0	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	2742	9
10	10	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2741	0		0	GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	2627	68
11	69	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan	2627	0		0	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	2738	11
12	12	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	2733	0		0	GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	2626	70
13	71	GM	Anton Guijarro, David	2625	0		0	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2731	13
14	14	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	2722	0		0	GM	Hakobyan, Aram	2625	72
15	73	GM	Dardha, Daniel	2624	0		0	GM	Yu, Yangyi	2714	15
16	16	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2712	0		0	GM	Donchenko, Alexander	2624	74
17	75	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	2622	0		0	GM	Rapport, Richard	2711	17
18	18	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2704	0		0	GM	Demchenko, Anton	2620	76
19	77	GM	Santos Latasa, Jaime	2620	0		0	GM	Liang, Awonder	2698	19
20	20	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2693	0		0	GM	Svane, Rasmus	2620	78
21	79	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2619	0		0	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2692	21
22	22	GM	Sevian, Samuel	2692	0		0	GM	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	2618	80
23	81	GM	Korobov, Anton	2616	0		0	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2692	23
24	24	GM	Dubov, Daniil	2691	0		0	GM	Shirov, Alexei	2616	82
25	83	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2615	0		0	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2687	25

Details

Round 1 pairings in Women

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Muzychuk, Anna	2535	0		0	WGM	Gaal, Zsoka	2388	29
2	30	GM	Girya, Olga	2386	0		0	GM	Tan, Zhongyi	2531	2
3	3	GM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	2505	0		0	IM	Narva, Mai	2386	31
4	32	IM	Salimova, Nurgyul	2386	0		0	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2505	4
5	5	IM	Shuvalova, Polina	2492	0		0	IM	Fataliyeva, Ulviyya	2385	33
6	34	WGM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	2383	0		0	GM	Muzychuk, Mariya	2484	6
7	7	IM	Osmak, Yuliia	2478	0		0	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2381	35
8	36	WGM	Zhai, Mo	2380	0		0	IM	Garifullina, Leya	2477	8
9	9	GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2472	0		0	IM	Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra	2379	37
10	38	IM	Efroimski, Marsel	2377	0		0	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2467	10

Details

Schedule

Every day game starts at 30 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST from 4th to 15th September 2025. Rest day is on Wednesday 10th September 2025. The last round on 15th September will start at 2 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST.

Time Control

The time control for each game is: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1 in the Open section. For Women, the time control is 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Qualification

Open: The winner and the runner-up of Grand Swiss shall qualify for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026. If any of these players is the FIDE World Champion as of 1 January 2025 or have already qualified for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 at the moment of the beginning of the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2025, or withdraws the qualification spot(s) shall be awarded, in the order of priority, to the player ⁃ in the 3rd place in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2025; ⁃ in the 2nd place according to the FIDE Circuit 2024 ranking list; ⁃ who is next yet unqualified in the FIDE Circuit 2025 ranking list.

Women: The winner and the runner-up of WGS shall qualify for the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2024. If one or both these players has (-ve) already qualified to the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 at the moment of the beginning of WGS via different qualification track or do (-es) not need to qualify for the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026, the qualification spot(s) shall go to the highest-placed player(s) in the final standings who has/have not yet qualified to the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 at the moment of the beginning of WGS.

Prizes

The total prize fund in the Open is US$ 625000 with the first prize being $90000. For Women's the total prize fund is $230000, first prize $40000. Total numbers of prizes are 73, Open - 50 and Women - 23.

Photo Gallery

World no.5 - Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

The talented youngsters (L to R): GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre (DEN), IM Eline Roebers (NED) and WGM Gaal Zsoka (HUN) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

A vibrant opening ceremony | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Press Conference | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

The World Rapid 2016 champion - GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR) poses with a kid | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

The present and the future of Indian chess (L to R): GM Abhimanyu Puranik, GM Pranav Venkatesh, GM Leon Luke Mendonca and GM Pentala Harikrishna | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM Alireza Firouzja (FRA) and GM Yangyi Yu (CHN) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

GM Hans Niemann (USA) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) and GM Mukhiddin Madaminov (UZB) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Brand Ambassador of LG India - IM Vantika Agrawal and World no.5 - GM Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Chief Arbiter - IA Laurent Freyd | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

IM Leya Garifullina and FIDE Women's World Cup 2023 Runner-up - IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

GM R Vaishali next to her mother Nagalakshmi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Theophilus Wait, Director of Operations, Lichess with the World Champion, GM D Gukesh | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

A World Class tournament in Uzbekistan means Uzbek stars will always mean kids would want a photograph with them | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

L to R: GM Ortik Nigmatov, GM Abdimalik Abdisalimov, GM Javokhir Sindarov, GM Saydaliev Saidakbar and GM Mukhiddin Madaminov.

For more photos, please click here.

Watch live stream

Watch FIDE Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss 2023 Round 1 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations: Open and Women

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