FIDE World Cup 30 October - 27 November 2025

[Mick Norris]

Glad Mickey went through

Early days in a long tournament, and some mis matches in the first round

Did all the players actually turn up?

[Mick Norris]

Nikita v Narayanan next as expected

[LawrenceCooper]

Glad Mickey went through

Early days in a long tournament, and some mis matches in the first round

Did all the players actually turn up?

I think I heard that four players didn't including players from Zambia, Zimbabwae and one from US.

[Mick Norris]

Looks like Husbands from Barbados made it for he second game; no show from Farai (Zimbabwe) and Chitumbo (Zambia) plus Ghazarian (USA) who played in the Bavarian Open starting on 1 November instead

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Oro won through to round 2! The quest for a 13-year-old World Champion continues... (or at least a 12-year old Candidate).

Tie-break results below.

Tie-breaks:

Nogerbek-Rithvik Nogerbek - 4-2
Cori-Aldiyar Cori - 2-0
Narayanan-Rojas Narayanan 2-0
Neiksans-Suleymenov Suleymenov 1.5-0.5
Henríquez Villagra-Agibileg Henríquez Villagra 1.5-0.5
Flores-Makhnev Makhnev 1.5-0.5
Bogner-Stremavičius Stremavičius 1.5-0.5
Warmerdam-Lalith Babu Warmerdam 4-2
Ghosh-Peng D Ghosh 2-0
Jobava-Cardoso Cardoso Jobava 1.5-0.5
Yuffa-Thavandiran Yuffa 4-2
Adly-Grigoryan Adly 3.5-2.5
Can-Maksimović Maksimović 2-0
Subelj-Kuybokarov Kuybokarov 2-0
Hovhannisyan-Kavin Hovhannisyan 1.5-0.5
Brkić-Oro Oro 4-2
Supi-Radamantys Galaviz Supi 1.5-0.5
Piorun-Lobanov Piorun 1.5-0.5
Tin-Lashkin Tin 2-0
Bartel-Ghosh A Ghosh 3-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_World_Cup_2025

I don't know if the two Ghosh players are related.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diptayan_Ghosh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aronyak_Ghosh

[Mick Norris]

Oro v Vidit next, with the winner playing Ivanchuk or Shankland

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Beyond Ivanchuk/Shankland would lie the likes of Erdoğmuş or Rapport. To be a semi-finalist, Oro would probably need to get past the likes of Keymer, Artemiev, Praggnanandhaa, Murzin and Dubov. That is quite a strong quarter of the draw!

Mickey Adams in the same quarter of the draw (bottom quarter) as Erigaisi, Niemann (would be his likely Round 3 opponent), Aronian, Maghsoodloo and Wei Yi.

Vitiugov's quarter of the draw (top quarter) features Gukesh, Mamedyarov, Bacrot, Abdusattorov.

The other quarter of the draw has names such as So, Nepomniachtchi, Bluebaum and Giri.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Bit surprised to see the lack of interest in the earlt results.

20 Round 1 matches have gone to the tie-breaks.

(Mickey Adams went through, Divya lost, and Oro is in the tie-breaks.)

Tie-breaks:

Nogerbek-Rithvik
Cori-Aldiyar
Narayanan-Rojas
Neiksans-Suleymenov
Henríquez Villagra-Agibileg
Flores-Makhnev
Bogner-Stremavičius
Warmerdam-Lalith Babu
Ghosh-Peng
Jobava-Cardoso Cardoso
Yuffa-Thavandiran
Adly-Grigoryan
Can-Maksimović
Subelj-Kuybokarov
Hovhannisyan-Kavin
Brkić-Oro
Supi-Radamantys Galaviz
Piorun-Lobanov
Tin-Lashkin
Bartel-Ghosh

Nice report here on the first games of Round 1:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/world-cup-2025-r1g1

Tournament brackets here:

https://worldcup2025.fide.com/tournament-bracket/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_World_Cup_2025

Bit surprised you are surprised Chris. In this day and age there are an awful lot of players who all but the most die hard of chess fans have never heard of. But thanks for reminding us, and I will take a look.

[NickFaulks]

Looks like Husbands from Barbados made it for he second game; no show from Farai (Zimbabwe) and Chitumbo (Zambia) plus Ghazarian (USA) who played in the Bavarian Open starting on 1 November instead

I would guess that Husbands' flight out was cancelled due to the hurricane, even though it went nowhere near Barbados.

Sadly, the Africans have experienced travel problems for as long as I can remember and that shows no sign of improving. Ghazarian's non-appearance does at first sight seem inexcusable.

[NickFaulks]

Vitiugov ( Black ) and Adams ( White ) both look to be heading for uneventful draws. Oro is certainly giving Vidit a game.

[Keith Arkell]

It’s hard to find any potential round 2 upsets, but I’ll go for Oro and Jobova.
Ivanchuk too. That would be a small upset by rating, but I think he is stronger than Shankland despite his age.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Ghazarian's non-appearance does at first sight seem inexcusable.

Deliberately choosing to play in another event should surely invite sanctions.

[Ian Thompson]

Ghazarian's non-appearance does at first sight seem inexcusable.

Deliberately choosing to play in another event should surely invite sanctions.

There could be some justifiable explanation, e.g. he was refused a visa to enter India, or some other circumstance beyond his control.

[LawrenceCooper]

A rarely seen queen sacrifice in the Petroff: https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-worl ... v/pDmreEKu

[Mick Norris]

That's interesting, I haven't had the chance to play that; h6 instead of Qb6 I thought was supposed to be correct