When the best player in the world – former World Champion and 2023 World Cup winner Magnus Carlsen – decides to set everything aside and join the live broadcast, you know the tiebreaks are going to be massive.
And they didn’t disappoint! Favourites fell, prodigies stumbled, and the round delivered everything a chess fan could wish for: seven matches going all the way to blitz and even one Armageddon decider. The atmosphere in Goa was electric.
Even Ian Nepomniachtchi’s mild post-elimination complaints on Telegram after Round Two were quickly forgotten when another top player addressed the issue directly.
“The conditions are fine here,” said Vidit Gujrathi, who had just eliminated Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro. “You can always get a few complaints when you organize a big tournament. He could have been more specific, but I think people are being too harsh on him. Maybe he just lost and said something emotional – I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. But regarding the conditions, I don’t see any reason to complain.”
The Round 2 tiebreaks were officially opened by Mahesh Candolkar, President of the Goa Chess Federation, and Dr. V. Candavelou, Chief Secretary of Goa, who performed the ceremonial first move on Board 1.
Rapid 15/10
The shock of the first rapid session came from the elimination of GM Hans Moke Niemann (2738). The American 10th seed was defeated by Italy’s GM Lorenzo Lodici (2560), who held him to two classical draws before winning the first of the two 15-minute rapid games in what was arguably one of the day’s key moments.
Lodici seized a decisive advantage earlier, but Niemann appeared to believe he could still draw. Short on time, Niemann blundered with 72…Rg1? – just one square too far! The sequence 73.f6 Rf1 74.Be3! was the point as Black had no Rg1+. After 74…Rf3 75.h7+ Kh8 76.f7 the deal was sealed, 1-0.
The only move for Black was 72…Rg2! Compared to the line above after 73.f6 Rf2! 74.Be3 (Bc1) he has the saving check 74…Rg2+.
Visibly frustrated, Niemann took some time alone to review the lines on his phone before leaving the venue.
Meanwhile, Faustino Oro’s dream run came to an end against Vidit Gujrathi, who prevailed in the first set of rapid games.
“I was a bit worried going into tiebreaks — Faustino is very good, and I hadn’t played much rapid lately,” said Vidit. “I tried my best, prepared well, and it worked out.”
FIDE’s Charlize van Zyl interviewed Vidit after the match — don’t miss the video!
After the match, Oro reflected to this author: “I fell behind on the clock in the second game and couldn’t recover.” Despite his disappointment, he left Goa with valuable experience and a growing fan base.
Meanwhile, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (pictured below), Sam Sevian, Daniel Darhda, Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Vladislav Artemiev, Pranesh M, Pranav V, Robert Hovhannisyan and Shamsiddin Vokhidov all won their matches at this stage, qualifying for Round 3.
Rapid 10/10
The second set of rapid games (10 minutes + 10 seconds) proved even tougher: only three of the ten undecided matches were resolved.
GMs Gabriel Sargissian (2611) and Shant Sargsyan (2664) both advanced after long, evenly matched fights against Maxim Rodshtein (2611) and Jorge Cori (2601) respectively.
Former World Rapid Champion GM Daniil Dubov (2674) also moved on, defeating GM Jinshi Bai (2595). The Chinese player had neutralized Dubov’s advantages through four games, but a critical error in the Exchange Slav.
12…g4? – cost him dearly. After 13.Bh4! gxf3 14.Bxf3, Bai’s knight on h5 was doomed, and Dubov converted comfortably.
Blitz 5/3
Seven matches came down to blitz (5 minutes + 3 seconds). The most dramatic included GM Praggnanandhaa R (2771) overcoming GM Temur Kuybokarov (2535) after falling behind and levelling the score in the first rapid set.
In the decisive blitz game, Kuybokarov reached an overwhelming position, but first failed to find a couple winning continuations and then missed a draw.
After 37.b6! cxb6 38. Rc1 White’s c-pawn is simply unstoppable.
Temur, however, played 37.Rd7? Kf7 38.Bxe7?? (White was still winning after the precise 38.Bd4!) 38…Rxe7.
Here Kuybokarov missed a simple defensive resource 39.Rd4, playing 39.Re1?? instead. After 39…Rxd7 40.cxd7 Rxh4+! 41.Kg2 Rd4, the Australian GM was forced to resign – a heartbreaking end to an excellent match.
Elsewhere, GM Nikita Vitiugov (2654) bowed out to GM S. Narayanan (2617), who won both 5/3 games after six straight draws in the classical and rapid portions.
Blitz 3/2
Two matches went to the final blitz stage (3 minutes + 2 seconds). As expected, the veterans’ clash between GM Ivan Cheparinov (2626) and GM Michael Adams (2635) lived up to its billing.
In a show of precision and stamina, Adams won both games, advancing to Round 3 – another deep run in his illustrious career.
Armageddon
The last and most dramatic tiebreak saw GM Rauf Mamedov (2655) face GM Rasmus Svane (2614). Under the new bidding system for the Armageddon decider, Mamedov bid 3:00, while Svane chose 3:13, thereby securing White.
“We were both struggling with the black pieces, me even more than him, so I bid slightly higher to ensure White,” Svane later explained.
The decision paid off. Svane converted a slightly better endgame into victory — one of the biggest wins of his career.
Looking ahead
Sixty-four players remain as Round 3 begins. With three Candidates spots at stake, every match is critical. The field is wide open – and if the tiebreaks were any indication, the coming rounds promise even more spectacular battles.
The full pairings for Round 3 matches can be found here [HERE].
Game One of Round 3 will be played on November 7 at 3 PM local time. The action can be followed live on the FIDE YouTube Channel, featuring expert commentary by GMs Evgenij Miroshnichenko and Jan Gustafsson.
To watch the games in person, tickets can be purchased [HERE]
Official website: worldcup2025.fide.com/
Written by IM Michael Rahal (Goa, India)
Photos: Michal Walusza and Eteri Kublashvili
