Final round drama at Grand Swiss in Samarkand: Giri triumphs, Vaishali makes history
With 8.5/11, Anish Giri won the Open tournament outright, defeating Hans Niemann in the final round. Just half a point back, Matthias Bluebaum, Alireza Firouzja and Vincent Keymer shared second place. Thanks to a better tiebreak, it was Bluebaum who secured the second qualifying spot for the 2026 Candidates. In the Women’s event, on 8/11, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno tied for first and both qualified for the Candidates, but Vaishali took top spot on tiebreak. It was her second consecutive Grand Swiss victory – something never achieved before in either section. Apart from qualifying for the Candidates for the third time in his career, being the sole winner meant Giri also pocketed $90,000. In his first reaction to the victory, speaking in FIDE’s live broadcast, Giri said that the previous night he “visualised” a victory against Niemann: “There is this technique and… I saw myself win. Then I went a bit too far and started to think who will be in my team for the Candidates and I said I needed to stop at that point, as it was too far”. The second place went to European Champion Matthias Bluebaum, who drew a tense game with Alireza Firouzja today. Firouzja finished third. The most unfortunate of the frontrunners was Vincent Keymer, who ended up fourth. He missed a chance to beat Bluebaum in round ten and went into the final day as sole leader only to fail to convert a better position against Erigaisi. In the Women’s event, leaders Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno both drew, sharing first place. The bronze went to Bibisara Assaubayeva, who missed a chance to tie for first after spoiling a winning position against Anna Muzychuk. She finished on 7.5/11, alongside Tan Zhongyi and Yuxin Song. How the last day in Samarkand unfolded Tension was palpable in the playing hall of the EXPO Centre in Samarkand, as players gathered for the final round of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss. On previous days, players often paused for photos with waiting fans. On the final day, the favourites rushed straight inside, razor-focused on their games. The games started at 2 PM, an hour earlier than in the previous 10 rounds, to accommodate the closing ceremony and prize giving scheduled for 9 PM local time in Samarkand. At stake were two places leading to the 2026 Candidates as well as a hefty prize fund of $855,000. In the Open section, with 7/10, five players were in the race for the top two places – Bluebaum, Firouzja, Giri, Niemann and Keymer. In theory, tiebreaks kept three more players in contention on 6.5/10 – Mishra, Erigaisi and Woodward. In the Women’s Grand Swiss – Vaishali and Lagno as the two leaders, as well as Assaubayeva, Tan and Song were in the race to be the winner. Out of the five, Tan – a former Women’s World Champion – has already qualified for the 2026 Candidates, thanks to finishing third in the Grand Prix. Continuing the tournament’s departure from the tradition of making ceremonial moves only on the top board, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich made the first move on board 57 in the Open, in the game between Divya Deshmukh and Ivan Cheparinov. The Open The first to qualify for the Candidates from the Open section was the seasoned player Anish Giri. In one of the most anticipated duels of the final round, he defeated the American Hans Niemann in just over four hours and fifteen minutes. Both players were under pressure to win if they wanted to secure a spot in the Candidates. For Niemann, the game unfolded in the worst possible way. Playing the English Opening as White, Giri obtained the lasting two-bishop advantage and gradually gained command by advancing pawns on the kingside and then breaking through on the opposite wing. The critical moment of the game came on move 32. Choosing between 32…bxc5? and 32…Nxc5 (which offered some chances for a long resistance) Niemann opted for the former, which was a serious mistake. Analysing this position in the FIDE tournament broadcast after the game, Giri said: “I had a difficult choice – I could just move the bishop or take [with the rook] on b3. My logic was that, if moving the bishop wins, it’s OK. But if taking on b3 wins and I don’t do it and don’t qualify for the Candidates, I will never forgive myself. And that’s why I took [the knight on b3, with the rook]”. 33.Rxb3! Bxb3 34.Bxc5 Kd7 35.Bxd6 Kxd6 36.g5! This bishop endgame with an extra pawn is winning for White and Giri sealed the deal nine moves later. Despite the win there was a very small chance that Giri would not qualify given the poor tiebreak. However, soon after his win the result on board one came in – Bluebaum and Firouzja split a point in the Dutch Defence. Although the position is even, there is a lot of tension on the board. 26…Nxg2 27.Qxb6! Bluebaum counters any idea from Black to get more tactical. After 27…Qxb6 28.Qxb6 Nf4 29.Ne4 an even endgame emerged on the board. With both opponents playing precisely, a draw on move 56 came as a logical outcome. Not long after this game, the duel between Arjun Erigaisi and Vincent Keymer also finished in a draw. Arjun correctly sacrificed an exchange in a rare line of the Queen’s Indian and obtained a sufficient compensation. After several imprecisions on his part, White’s initiative petered out and Vincent got a real chance to convert his advantage. To achieve this task, Vincent had to find a fantastic move in the following position: This was the high point of Keymer’s advantage. He had a straightforward win here, but it was very difficult to spot. The winning move is paradoxical 31…Be6!! placing his bishop under a double attack. The idea behind this fantastic move is to trade the queens transposing into a winning endgame, thanks to a5-a4 idea. Surprisingly White has no sufficient defence. But it is hard