Chess: Gukesh Wins Impressively On Silk Road As Grand Swiss Starts In Samarkand

The 11-round $625,000 Fide Grand Swiss, which began connected Thursday successful Samarkand, Uzbekistan, nan superior of nan Silk Road, will determine 2 of nan 8 qualifiers for adjacent year’s world title Candidates.

India has a beardown hand, arsenic nan world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju (ineligible to qualify), is joined by nan world No 4, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, nan world No 5, Arjun Erigaisi, and nan world No 27, Vidit Gujrathi, who won nan 2023 Grand Swiss successful Douglas, Isle of Man. Praggnanandhaa is already good placed to suffice via nan 2025 Fide legislature circuit, from which nan world No 3, Fabiano Caruana, qualified successful 2024.

There is besides a Candidates spot for nan highest Fide-rated player, taxable to completing 40 rated classical games. The world No 2, Hikaru Nakamura, who still needed 22 of nan 40 aft 8 successful nan American Cup and 10 successful Stavanger, sparked contention past play by choosing to participate nan Louisiana State Championship, wherever he won each 7 games against opponents pinch ratings betwixt 2250 and 1563, compared pinch nan US star’s 2807.

The upshot is that Caruana, Nakamura, and Praggnanandhaa are already almost assured of qualification, Samarkand will determine 2 qualifiers, and nan remaining 3 will travel via nan World Cup knockout successful Goa, India, successful nan first half of November.

3988: GM Pentala Harikrishna v Harry Bryant, Fide world teams, London 2025. White to move and win.

The unfastened doorway to nan Candidates is already half-shut, pinch eager would-be qualifiers specified arsenic Germany’s Vincent Keymer and USA’s arguable Hans Niemann still searching for a way in.

In Thursday’s opening information astatine Samarkand location was a precocious percent of draws, pinch a prima capacity by Gukesh arsenic Black against France’s No 3, Étienne Bacrot. In nan early 2020s erstwhile Gukesh was rising to nan top, his awesome spot was performing good successful Swisses. Again he handled nan crippled impeccably, grinding down his force and producing an speech sacrifice astatine nan correct moment. Could this beryllium nan tourney wherever Gukesh yet proves himself a worthy world champion aft respective disappointments?

While Gukesh won arsenic Black, Niemann sewage into a mislaid position arsenic White against nan Armenian seasoned Gabriel Sargissian, but escaped pinch a draw. Erigaisi was different to make a slow start. England’s Nikita Vitiugov drew uneventfully, while Anish Giri was nan only different awesome victor arsenic Black.

In Friday’s 2nd information Gukesh will play White against Turkey’s 14-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, who galore see a imaginable early world champion. Gukesh v Erdogmus is nan standout pairing of information two. It will commencement astatine 11am BST, pinch unrecorded and free moving commentary by nan all-time No 1 woman, Judit Polgar, and England No 1, David Howell, on YouTube

The $230,000 Women’s Grand Swiss is besides nether way, and successful that arena information 1 proved a existent shocker. Both apical seeds, Anna Muzychuk and Tan Zhongyi, were beaten, nan Ukrainian successful bizarre fashion, as, pinch 5 moves to make successful 90 seconds and a trivially winning insignificant portion ending, she forgot astir her timepiece and overstepped.

Other salient information 1 women’s losers included Anna Muzychuk’s sister and erstwhile world women’s champion, Mariya Muzychuk, nan US champion, Carissa Yip, and Russia’s Polina Shuvalova and Valentina Gunina, who took a basking rook’s pawn and recovered her bishop trapped.

Only Vitiugov of England’s apical grandmasters is playing successful Samarkand. The others are preparing for a awesome squad arena adjacent month, nan European Team Championship successful Batumi, Georgia, wherever England are seeded No 5 successful nan unfastened arena and No 11 successful nan women’s.

Howell will beryllium absent, truthful nan apt committee bid will beryllium Vitiugov, nan British champion, Michael Adams, Gawain Maroroa Jones, Luke McShane, and 16-year-old Shreyas Royal. England women’s probable committee bid is Jovanka Houska, Elmira Mirzoeva, Lan Yao, Harriet Hunt and 10-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan.

Entries are ongoing for nan 2025 UK Blitz Championships, pinch location qualifiers successful advancement for nan unfastened and women’s finals to beryllium played connected Saturday 22 November successful Leamington Spa. Several 100 players person already entered and much are expected.

The clip limit is 3 minutes per subordinate per game, positive a 2 seconds per move increment. Interested? You tin effort your manus astatine blitz correct now. Instant conflict grounds are disposable astatine lichess and chess.com, wherever you tin expect to beryllium paired pinch an force wrong a fewer seconds.

The first qualifier took spot astatine Hampton connected Saturday and was won impressively by England’s youngest ever grandmaster Shreyas Royal, 16, who was unbeaten pinch 13.5/15.

Online introduction is disposable here, entries to day tin beryllium viewed here, while dates and venues of early qualifiers are here.

A video has emerged of Bobby Fischer being crowned arsenic world champion successful 1972 astatine nan extremity of his historical lucifer successful Reykjavik against Boris Spassky. As nan Fide president Dr Max Euwe, himself a erstwhile world champion, hands him nan golden medal, Fischer says “There is nary sanction connected it.” Euwe replies “They did not cognize it,” and they some laugh.

Euwe saved nan Fischer-Spassky lucifer from illness by his elastic mentation of nan rules, and was nan nicest of each nan world champions. After I mislaid to him astatine Paignton 1951, he spent half an hr giving maine proposal connected rook endings.

3988: 1 Bd3+! Nxd3 2 Qxh5+ Kg7 3 Qg6+ Kh8 4 Qh6 mate. Black tin clasp retired longer by 1…Rg6 2 Bxg6+ Nxg6 3 Qxg6+ Kh8 erstwhile 4 Nf7+?!? is forbidden but 4 Qxh5+ Kg7 5 Rf2! soon mates.