FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, Round 8: A day of draws in the Open, as Lagno takes the lead in the Women’s tournament
Round eight saw just one victory among the top boards – with Keymer defeating the 2023 Grand Swiss winner Vidit. A different story unfolded in the women’s tournament where Vaishali Rameshbabu was knocked out of the lead after losing to Bibisara Assaubayeva. On board two, Kateryna Lagno crashed Mariya Muzychuk, taking a half-point lead in the tournament. Among the top ten boards in the Open section, eight finished in a draw. While many were mostly calm, some saw a sharp fight. On board one, the two tournament leaders from round seven – Matthias Bluebaum and Nihal Sarin – had a peaceful draw in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, in just 21 moves and under an hour and 20 minutes of play. Of the seven players trailing the leaders on five points – all but one drew. Firouzja split a point with Niemann in the Ruy Lopez on board two, while Abdusattorov drew as Black against Mishra. Despite finishing in a draw, the game between Parham Maghsoodloo and Anish Giri saw a lot of intense action on the board. This was the position reached by move 21, in the English Opening: Black had just placed his bishop on d5, effectively taking the white rook on d6 captive. After 22.Bh3 Rc7 24.cxd5 Ke7 25.dxe6 Kxe6 Black emerged an exchange up, but it’s not so easy to convert, as White’s bishop had a lot of open space and his rook is also very active. After some precise maneuvers, the two eventually reached the following position: 49.Rg8! The only move! If 49…Rxg8 then 50.Bd5+ followed by the queen promotion after hxg8. 49…Rf8 50.Bg6+ Ke7 51.Kd5 Rf6 And now everything simplifies into a clean draw: 52.h8=Q Rxh8 53.Rxh8 Rxg6 54.Rh7+ Kd8 55.Rxb7. The only winner among the top boards was Vincent Keymer, who defeated Vidit in the Berlin Defence of Ruy Lopez. Vidit – who is defending his 2023 Grand Swiss crown – blundered his position in one move, in a drawn pawn endgame. Black should have played 43…Kd5! With the idea of creating a sufficient counterplay on the queenside in case of 44.Kf3 Kd4 45.Kg4 Kc3. Instead, Vidit faltered with 43…c6? after which Black’s position is beyond repair. After 44.c4! Kf5 45.Kf3 Kf6 46.Ke4 Ke6 47.d4! White went on to clear the queenside for his a-runner and won. This victory pushed Keymer into the group of eight players trailing Sarin and Bluebaum by half a point. Another joiner is Jorden van Foreest, who defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Turkish youngster Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus continued with his impressive performance, this time beating the seasoned Levon Aronian in the French. White is already better here thanks to his strong knight on g6. Despite being in time trouble, Erdogmus played a great move here – 33.Re4! attacking the d4-pawn. Black cannot take the rook with the knight because of checkmate 34.Rc8+ Rf8 35.Rxf8+ Kh7 36.Rh8#. Aronian played 33…e5 and after 34.Rxe5 White is winning. The d4-pawn fell pretty soon afterwards and White was confident in securing his victory. Erdogmus is now on 5/8, while Aronian is on four points. World Champion Gukesh D managed to end his losing streak by securing a draw as White. Playing on the penultimate board against Divya Deshmukh (who this summer won the Women’s World Cup), Gukesh was not his best self, as he missed chances and struggled. The Women’s event A big shift occurred in the Women’s Grand Swiss, as Bibisara Assaubayeva handed Vaishali Rameshbabu her first loss in the tournament. The position was even until move 25, when Vaishali lost her way. 25…Rad8? Overlooking the e5-pawn. Instead, 25…Nd5! would have maintained equality. 26.Nxe5 If 26…Rxd3 27.Rxc6 bxc6 28.Nxd3 and White would have been two pawns up. Vaishali struggled to find the right plan and spent the following moves shuffling pieces on the board, eventually trapping the knight and queen in a pin. Black is completely paralyzed and cannot effectively prevent the deadly 35.e4. Vaishali tried with 34…Rd6 but after 35.e4 Qd7 36.Qd2 Nf4+ 37.Qxf4 Rxd4 38.Rc7 Rexe4 39.Rxd7 and Black is a piece down. Assaubayeva is now on 6/8, together with Vaishali and Yuxing Song who also won today. While Vaishali faltered, the runner-up from round seven, Kateryna Lagno, used her chance to score and emerge as the tournament leader. Lagno defeated the former Women’s World Champion Mariya Muzychuk in the Anti-Meran. Playing as White, Lagno steadily coordinated her pieces and maintained initiative thanks to a strong centralised knight. On move 21 Mariya Muzychuk weakened the e-pawn with f7-f6 but went for this position, hoping for 23…Bc4, covering it. However, she missed a brilliant refutation by Lagno: 24.d5!! Black can capture the pawn in four different ways, but neither of them work, and White is already winning. 24…Bxd5 25.Rxd5!! exd5 26.Ne7+ Kh8 27.Qe6! Now the queen joins the mating attack. 27…Qd7 28.Qf7 Rb7 29.Ng6+ Kh7 30.Rd7 Black has to give up the queen to avoid checkmate. 31.Qxd7 Nxd7 and Muzychuk resigned. A great achievement by Lagno, who said after the game that she is not thinking about the results and standings, but just wants to “play chess the best I can”. Today was a great day for Yuxin Song as she got a lucky break as Black against the former Women’s World Champion, Antoaneta Stefanova. In a drawn rook endgame, Stefanova made a blunder and gave her position away. This victory got Yuxin Song to 6/8 and a shared second place with Bibisara Assaubayeva and Vaishali Rameshbabu. The full results of Round 8 and pairings for Round 9 can be found here: Women: grandswiss2025.fide.com/grand-swiss-women/ Open: grandswiss2025.fide.com/open/ Round 9 will take place on Saturday, 13th September at 3 PM local time. Written by Milan Dinic Photos: Michal Walusza About the event The FIDE Grand Swiss is one of the most significant tournaments in the World Chess Championship cycle, featuring many of the world’s strongest chess players. Launched in 2019 (with the women’s event starting in 2021), the 11-round Swiss system tournament is held every two years. Considered as one of the most
FIDE 2025 World Corporate Chess Championship: Registration open
FIDE invites you to the 2025 World Corporate Chess Championship, an event that celebrates the meeting point of business and chess. Companies from around the globe are invited to form their teams and compete for the title of The Smartest Company in the World. The championship will unfold across three stages; online qualifiers, online knockout matches, and the over-the-board finals in Goa, India, held alongside the prestigious FIDE World Cup 2025. The tournament will once again highlight how certain principles of chess; such as strategy, adaptability, and calculated decision-making, mirror the challenges of the business world. By bringing employees, executives, and business owners together over the chessboard, FIDE aims to create a global platform for corporate pride, networking, and competition. Emil Sutovsky, FIDE CEO, reflected on the growth of the event: “The World Corporate Chess Championship has grown from a novel idea into a global showcase, mixing serious business with serious chess. In 2021 due to the pandemic it was held entirely online, but in New York 2024, teams from top companies around the world – Google, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, UBS, to name a few, competed in this event on the most iconic stage. And now, in 2025, we’re aligning chess and corporate world even tighter, staging the final stage of the event in Goa, alongside the FIDE World Cup. India is quickly becoming the beating heart of modern chess, and its role as an economic power is more and more visible – this double-stage event reflects the momentum.” Who can participate? The event welcomes teams representing any legally recognized company. Each team consists of four players and a captain, who may also be a player. Eligible participants include employees and board members who have been with the company since March 1, 2025, as well as business owners holding more than 10% of the company’s shares. Companies may register more than one team. Championship format The 2025 edition will be played in three stages: Online Qualifiers (Lichess.org, October 11–12) Online Knockout (Lichess.org, October 18) Finals (Over-the-board, Goa, November 14–16) The Online Qualifiers will follow a Rapid Team Swiss System (7 rounds, 10 minutes + 3 seconds increment per move). Each team may enter only one qualifier. The top teams from each session will advance to the knockout stage. The Online Knockout will be played as two-match duels with the same 10+3 time control. In the event of a tie, a sudden death game will decide the winner. Eight teams will advance to the finals. The Finals in Goa will feature the eight knockout winners plus invited and wild card teams, for a maximum of 16. They will begin with a group stage before progressing to semifinals and a final. The prize The winning team will receive the official title of FIDE World Corporate Champion 2025 – The Smartest Company in the World. All finalists will have flights and accommodation in Goa covered (for up to five people per team), receive VIP tickets to the FIDE World Cup, attend a gala dinner, and enjoy corporate exposure during the live finals. Teams reaching the knockout stage will also secure seats for an online simul against a participant of the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026. Every registered team will receive a digital certificate and access to networking and training opportunities. Registration and Fees Deadline: at least 48h before qualifiers Entry fee: €500 per team Multiple teams per company allowed How to register – Form your team – Pay the entry fee (€500 per team) here: tickettailor.com/events/worldcorporate2025 – After payment, you will receive an invitation code by email (it might take up to 24 hours to receive the code) – Use this code to complete your team registration for one of the Qualifiers at: fwccc.lichess.ca Is your company ready to step onto the global stage among the world’s chess elite? Register today for the FIDE World Corporate Chess Championship 2025. Regulations FIDE 2025 World Corporate Chess Championship (PDF) Official website: worldcorporate.fide.com/