FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, Round 9: Four share lead in the Open as Lagno clings to top spot in the Women’s tournament
Matthias Bluebaum, Alireza Firouzja, Vincent Keymer and Anish Giri lead after nine rounds in the Open, all on 6.5/9. Lagno still leads in the Women’s event with 7/9 after narrowly escaping defeat against Bibisara Assaubayeva. It was a gruelling day in the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss, with several top games in the Open section lasting more than six hours. Alireza Firouzja, playing as Black, overpowered Nihal Sarin in the Sicilian Alapin after a long struggle. Sarin, joint leader at the start of the day, had a very good position early in the game, but misplayed it. White has just correctly sacrificed a knight and now has a menacing position. After the natural 17.Nd6+ Kd7 18.f4 Qf6 19.f5! gxf5 20.Bxd5 Black is in serious trouble. But Sarin opted for a much weaker continuation 17.f4 Qf6 18.Qe2 (18.Nd6+ is not nearly as efficient here as the f7-pawn is protected) Nfe7 19.g4? Again, missing Nd6+ which promised a better position. 19…Qh4 White is a piece down, but has strong compensation. In subsequent play, Firouzja returned the extra piece, transposing into a complicated endgame. The position was tense but even up until White’s 37th move. White has two runners – on the b- and c-file, but his king is exposed and Black’s centralised rook and knight are well coordinated. White should have proceeded with 37.Be2 with the idea of getting it to c4 and outflanking Black. But Sarin played 37.Bf3?? which failed to 37…Re5! All of a sudden, White is losing his c5-pawn as his dark-squared bishop has no safe square on the g1-a7 diagonal. After 38.Bd2 Rxc5 39.Kh1 Rc2 40.Be3 Rh8 41.Bg1 Rh4 not only is Black a pawn up, but his pieces are much more active. But now it was Firouzja’s turn to err. As the game went on, he struggled to convert his advantage and – at one point – allowed Sarin to come close to being equal. Eventually, Firouzja found a way to advance pawns (after White’s crucial mistake on move 60) – but this took 82 moves and seven hours of play. Parham Maghsoodloo, who was the leader from round three to round six, lost again today, his second defeat in a row. Playing as White in the Reti, he fell to Germany’s number one, Vincent Keymer. The game saw several sharp tactical twists and turns. The first critical moment occurred on move 22. White has just given up a d4-pawn. The best move was 22.Rad1, but Maghsoodloo played with the wrong rook – 22.Rfd1 and now Black has a Zwischenzug – 22…Bg5! 23.Bg3 Bf6 With this subtle bishop maneuver Black obtained the decisive advantage. After 24.Bf4 Kb8 25.Rd3 Ka8 26.Rad1 Rg5!! There was no escape for White. Keymer was not flawless in the conversion but emerged victorious after 70 moves and nearly seven hours. On board two, Uzbekistan’s favourite Nodirbek Abdusatorrov split a point with the other tournament co-leader (and European Champion) Matthias Bluebaum. A draw was agreed after 39 moves, as neither side gained an edge following the King’s Pawn Opening. On board four, Anish Giri defeated Jorden van Foreest in the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Playing as Black, van Foreest held until the endgame, where he cracked under pressure and lost. On board five, Niemann and Mishra split a point after a long battle in a bishop endgame where White (Niemann) had an extra pawn and tried every way possible to force Mishra to err, but without success. Arjun Erigaisi prevailed over the American Sam Sevian, again joining the group of players half a point behind the leaders. The same goes for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave who beat Türkiye’s Erdogmus with a nice finish. After losing to Keymer in round eight, Vidit today defeated Sargsyan and is on 5/9. Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Yakubboev scored a beautiful victory as White against Anton Demchenko, in a very sharp line of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted. The opponents followed the game Melkumyan – Stevic (2019) up to move 12 when Anton tried a natural but erroneous move with catastrophic consequences for Black. Instead of 12..Ne6 with a slightly inferior position Demchenko played 12…Qe7? 13.Nf5! Bxf5 14.exf5 Kd8 15.Rac1 and Black is completely paralyzed as his king can find no comfort in the center open for White’s heavy pieces. After 23 moves, Demchenko resigned in the following position: World Champion Gukesh D made another draw today, against Armenian Robert Hovhannisyan. On several occasions, Gukesh had more chances but allowed them all to slip. After nine rounds, the World Champion has only two victories. In a notable result of the day, in the duel of the two former world champion candidates (albeit in different categories), Alexandra Goryachkina defeated Boris Gelfand in 41 moves. The Women’s event Kateryna Lagno narrowly held onto her lead in round nine of the Women’s Grand Swiss, escaping defeat against Bibisara Assaubayeva. Meanwhile, Irina Krush and Tan Zhongyi scored important wins, tightening the race at the top. Lagno, leading the tournament, saved a lost position against Bibisara Assaubayeva on board one. With the white pieces, she gained a slight initiative out of the King’s Indian, but from move 19 Lagno made several subpar moves and lost a pawn. After reaching the first time control, Assaubayeva was on the brink of victory. Unfortunately for her, she threw it all away in just one move in the following position. Black should have just proceeded with advancing her pawn and collecting the f2-pawn. For example: 43…c3! 44.Rc6 Kd7 45.Rc4 Rxf2 46.Rxc2 Ne2! 47.Ra3 f4 and Black’s pawns are much faster. Instead, Bibisara played 42…Kf8? which allowed White to save her skin with the timely bishop sacrifice – 43.Bxc4! and after 43…Rxc4 44.Rf6+ Ke7 45.Rxf5 now White just pushed pawns, traded the rooks and forced a draw due to insufficient material. A very lucky escape for Lagno, allowing her to still cling on to the leading position in the tournament. After her first loss in round eight, Vaishali Rameshbabu held Song Yuxin to a draw in a balanced encounter. Both now sit on 6.5/9. On board