With draws on the top five boards in the Open, five players enter the final day in shared first place on 7/10. Vincent Keymer missed a chance against Bluebaum to take the sole lead, while Vaishali Rameshbabu staged a remarkable comeback in the Women’s tournament to reach the top.
With just one more round to go, the race for the top two places leading to the 2026 Candidates is wide open in both tournaments. Of the five in contention in the Open – Firouzja and Giri have previously played in the Candidates, while Keymer, Bluebaum and Nimann have not.
The penultimate round in an open Swiss System tournament is always tricky – while playing for a win is always the goal, a loss can cost you dearly and eject you from the top positions. That is why some players opt for a cautious approach, avoiding too much risk. However, the five draws on the top boards were not all uneventful and none was quick.
The board one duel between two classical heavyweights, Alireza Firouzja and Anish Giri, ended in a draw. Playing the French line of the Sicilian, the two made just 17 moves in two hours, agreeing to split a point after a threefold repetition. Both likely calculated it was better not to force but, instead, see how things pan out on other boards, leaving tomorrow’s final round for a decisive push.
Things were dramatically different on board two, where European Champion Matthias Bluebaum found himself in serious trouble against Vincent Keymer, who had the white pieces. Playing a rare line on the black side of the Reti, Bluebaum soon came under serious pressure. The opponents reached the first critical position as early as on move 21.
One of White’s pieces should jump to g5, but which one? Keymer made a wrong choice here playing 21.Bg5?! Instead – after 21.Ng5! Bxg5 22.Bxg5 f5 23.Qxe8 Rfxe8 24.Be3 the resulting endgame is virtually winning for White. As played, Black avoided the worst with 21…f6 22.Qxe8 Rxe8.
The endgame saw both sides go through ups and downs, but eventually Keymer achieved the decisive advantage, only to let it slip away with just one move.
Instead of the solid 54.Ne4, Keymer went for the hasty 54.Rh7??, missing an important tactical subtlety.
54…Nxg3!! If 55.Kxg3 then 55…Rd3+.
Keymer tried 55.Rh6+ Kf7 56.Nb1 Rb2 57.Kxg3 Rxb1 and now it’s a draw.
A lucky escape for Bluebaum, who enters the final day as one of the leaders.
On board three, Chinese Grandmaster Yu Yangyi had a better position as White against Arjun Erigaisi at some point, but the game ended in a draw. Abhimanyu Mishra drew as White against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, with neither side getting much going in the game.
Playing on board four, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusatorrov was in trouble against Nihal Sarin on the black side of the Sicilian Rossolimo.
The situation is extremely dangerous for Black, as his bishops have limited space while White’s pieces are very well coordinated.
White had an almost straightforward win here with 18.exf6 Bxf6 19.Be3 Qb5 20.Nc5 e5 21.Ne4 Be7 22.b4 Be6 23.Rxd8+ Bxd8 24.Nd6 Qd5 25.Nxf7 Kxf7.
Instead, Sarin played 18.Be3 first but after 18…Qc7 19.Bc5 Bd8 20.Bxe7 Qxe7 21.Rxd8 Qxd8 22.exf6 Rxf6 Black’s position is no fun, but he is out of the woods.
Eventually, Abdusatorrov reached a draw on move 53.
All six players finished the day on 6.5/10.
The tournament’s top-rated player, R Praggnanandhaa, had his chances of reaching some of the top places completely shattered today. He lost to Hans Niemann following time trouble in a very sharp game.
Playing the Sicilian, Praggnanandhaa started to lose control in the middlegame and by move 33, he was in serious trouble.
According to Niemann, who analysed the game in the FIDE broadcast, this was the critical moment of the game. Black played the reactive 25…Rc7.
Instead, according to the US Grandmaster, he should have proceeded with 25…Rc1+ and after 26.Qxc1 Qxb4 27.a3 with an unclear position.
Chess engines, however, question this recommendation as after the simple 27.Rxe8+! Bxe8 28.Qc8 Black is completely lost.
A couple of moves later, the two had reached the following position:
White is winning, but he has to avoid many pitfalls.
However, after 34…Qf1?? played by Pragg, Black is doomed. 34…Qc5 offered more hope.
The rest was smooth sailing for Hans. 35.Qe3 Bb5 36.Re4! After doubling along the e-file White penetrates to Black’s camp. 36…Kh8 37.Qd4 Kg7 38.Rf4 and Praggnanandhaa resigned.
The victory propelled Niemann to a shared 2-4th place, a step away from reaching the Candidates for the first time in his career. Praggnanandhaa is on 5.5/10.
Asked about his expectations for the final game, Niemann said he hoped to play “someone who needs a win as well”, alluding to the view that if White plays for a draw from the opening, at this level, it is difficult for the other side to get much more. In the final round Niemann will be up against Anish Giri and a draw might leave both of them without one of the two spots leading in the Candidates.
Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk was declared the player of the day in the Open following a tactical finish against Jonas Bjerre.
45…Qf4+! 46.Kg2 Qe4+ 47.Kh2 Rxe3 48.fxe3 Qxe3 49.Qb1
e4 50.Ng2 Qf2 After a few more moves in which White just delayed the inevitable, Bjerre resigned.
World Champion Gukesh D finally ended his six-game-long winless run. Playing as White, he defeated Armenia’s Gabriel Sargissian in the Italian Game. With one round remaining, Gukesh is only on 5/10.
The Women’s event
Vaishali Rameshbabu struck back today to reach the lead again. She was the only winner among the top boards in round ten.
Playing with the white pieces against former Women’s World Champion Mariya Muzychuk, Vaishali recovered from a lost position, following time trouble.
Black is a pawn up, has more active pieces and initiative across the board. But Muzychuk squandered her advantage and allowed Vaishali to equalise.
30…Bc2? Giving up one of her main trumps – the h3-passer – at the wrong moment. Black should have activated one of her rooks first, either with 30…Ra7 or more straightforward 30…Re8+
31.Rxh3 Be4? After the second mistake, Black has just a slight advantage. Ba4-b5 was the right approach. After a series of inaccuracies by both sides, the opponents reached the final critical position:
This is the start of Muzychuk’s downfall. In time trouble, Black played the overconfident move 35…Kd4? (35…Rf4! Maintaining equality) allowing White to immediately pin her with Rh4, winning. But Vaishali also misplayed going for the seemingly logical 36.d6?? But then another blunder by Muzychuk followed.
36…Rg5?? This time, Vaishali sees it: 36.Rh4! Black is lost.
36…Re5 37.Re3 Ree8 38.d7 Re7 39.Rd3+ Ke5 40.Rxe4 and Black resigned as after 40…Kxe4 41.Re3+ and she is not only a bishop down, but facing the unstoppable promotion of the d7-pawn via Re8.
The win lifted Vaishali to 7/10, tied for first with Kateryna Lagno, who drew as Black against former Women’s World Champion Tan Zhongyi.
Playing the Tarrasch, Lagno secured an extra pawn in the middlegame, but couldn’t get anything concrete. Song Yuxin and Bibisara Assaubayeva also drew in a 39-move-long Scotch Game. Tan, Yuxin and Assaubayeva are in the second tier of players, on 6.5/10.
The other victory on the top boards in the Women’s event came from Ulviyya Fataliyeva who defeated Olga Girya in the London System. Neither side was very precise and Fataliyeva dropped a winning position a couple of times, but eventually prevailed.
The only move for Black here was 78…Kc6! which led to a draw (79.Ra7 Rf7, followed by f7-f5). Anything else was losing.
78….Kc8?? 79.Rd8+ Kc7 80.Bxf6 Rh6 81.Bxg5 and White scored a full point five moves later.
With 6.5/10, Fataliyeva – alongside Irina Krush, who drew today – has theoretical chances of reaching one of the top places if she wins in the final round.
Among the six women in the race for the top two spots, Vaishali, Lagno, and Tan have all previously competed in a Candidates tournament, while Assaubayeva, Song, and Fataliyeva are all looking for their first qualification.
The full results of Round 10 and pairings for the final, 11th round, can be found here:
Women: grandswiss2025.fide.com/grand-swiss-women/
Open: grandswiss2025.fide.com/open/
Round 11 will take place on Monday, 15th September at 2 PM local time. The closing ceremony and prize awards will take place at 9 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 difficult and unpredictable chess events given its open nature, the top two finishers in both categories qualify directly for the World Candidates tournament where a challenger for the title of world champion is chosen.
The 2025 edition runs from 4th to 15th September at the EXPO Centre in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. There are 116 players taking part in the Open and 56 players in the Women’s competition. The total prize fund for the event is $855,000 – $625,000 for the Open and $230,000 for the Women’s event.
All the rounds will be broadcast live on FIDE’s official YouTube channel.
For more information, visit the event website: grandswiss2025.fide.com/