Matthias Bluebaum, Alireza Firouzja, Vincent Keymer, and Anish Giri in pole position for Candidates 2026

Two rounds before the end of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, the fight for the two top positions – awarding qualification for the Candidates Chess Tournament 2026 – is more than intense. Matthias Bluebaum, Alireza Firouzja, Vincent Keymer, and Anish Giri are in the lead after nine rounds, with 6,5/9 each. They are followed by Abhimanyu Mishra, Arjun Erigaisi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Sarin Nihal, Hans Moke Niemann, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Yangyi Yu with 6,0/9

Today in round 10, the top pairings are:

Alireza Firouzja – Anish Giri
Vincent Keymer – Matthias Bluebaum
Yangyi Yu – Arjun Erigaisi
Nihal Sarin – Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Abhimanyu Mishra – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Hans Moke Niemann – R Praggnanandhaa

Scroll down for the full results and standings of the FIDE Grand Swiss.

Grand Swiss information: FIDE Grand Swiss Chess Tournament 2025 – A Gateway to the World Championship
Grand Swiss Live: FIDE Grand Swiss Chess 2025 live / Women’s Grand Swiss Chess 2025 live
Grand Swiss Participants: Participants open / Participants women

Round 1: Multiple surprises on the board
Round 2: Maghsoodloo, Firouzja, and Demchenko lead Grand Swiss 2025
Round 3: Parham Maghsoodloo is sole leader of Grand Swiss 2025 after R3
Round 4: Parham Maghsoodloo continues to lead the Grand Swiss, 13 players share second
Round 5: Parham Maghsoodloo continues leading the Grand Swiss, as Abhimanyu Mishra stuns the World Champion
Round 6: Anish Giri leaps to shared second, eyeing Candidates 2026 spot
Round 7: Nihal Sarin and Matthias Bluebaum are co-leaders after round 7 of the FIDE Grand Swiss
Round 8: Nihal Sarin and Matthias Bluebaum lead the Grand Swiss, Keymer inches in to the top

Interview with @anishgiri , one of the leaders of the Grand Swiss after round 9pic.twitter.com/m5MtlIC0iC

— Chessdom (@chessdom) September 14, 2025

FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, Round 9: Four share lead in the Open

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 37^th 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.

Written by Milan Dinic 

Photos: Michal Walusza 

FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 standings after round 9

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1	GM	Bluebaum, Matthias	GER	2671	6.5
2	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	FRA	2754	6.5
3	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2751	6.5
4	GM	Giri, Anish	NED	2746	6.5
5	GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	USA	2611	6
6	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2771	6
7	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	UZB	2748	6
8	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2693	6
9	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2733	6
10	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2738	6
11	GM	Yu, Yangyi	CHN	2714	6
12	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	IRI	2692	5.5
13	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2653	5.5
14	GM	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2616	5.5
15	GM	Woodward, Andy	USA	2557	5.5
16	GM	Theodorou, Nikolas	GRE	2646	5.5
17	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	IND	2785	5.5
18	GM	Rapport, Richard	HUN	2711	5.5
19	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2692	5.5
20	GM	Liang, Awonder	USA	2698	5.5
21	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2673	5.5
22	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2741	5.5
23	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2712	5.5
24	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	FID	2742	5.5
25	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	UZB	2722	5.5
26	GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	UZB	2681	5.5
27	GM	Saric, Ivan	CRO	2655	5.5
28	GM	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	TUR	2646	5
29	GM	Maurizzi, Marcandria	FRA	2610	5
30	GM	Hakobyan, Aram	ARM	2625	5
31	GM	Pranav, V	IND	2596	5
32	GM	Anton Guijarro, David	ESP	2625	5
33	GM	Xiong, Jeffery	USA	2640	5
34	GM	Gurel, Ediz	TUR	2631	5
35	GM	Predke, Alexandr	SRB	2609	5
36	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2651	5
37	GM	Aditya, Mittal	IND	2589	5
38	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan	HUN	2627	5
39	GM	Sevian, Samuel	USA	2692	5
40	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2731	5
41	GM	Oparin, Grigoriy	USA	2660	5
42	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	FID	2687	5
43	GM	Dubov, Daniil	FID	2691	5
44	GM	Murzin, Volodar	FID	2670	5
45	GM	Grandelius, Nils	SWE	2648	5
46	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	UZB	2645	5
47	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	IND	2640	4.5
48	GM	Demchenko, Anton	SLO	2620	4.5
49	GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2627	4.5
50	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2615	4.5
51	GM	Rodshtein, Maxim	ISR	2645	4.5
52	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2622	4.5
53	GM	Ivanchuk, Vasyl	UKR	2608	4.5
54	GM	Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal	CHI	2594	4.5
55	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	AZE	2602	4.5
56	GM	Lagarde, Maxime	FRA	2609	4.5
57	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	ESP	2638	4.5
58	GM	Kuzubov, Yuriy	UKR	2600	4.5
59	GM	Narayanan, S L	IND	2591	4.5
60	GM	Dardha, Daniel	BEL	2624	4.5
61	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	FID	2528	4.5
62	GM	Vitiugov, Nikita	ENG	2666	4.5
63	GM	Robson, Ray	USA	2674	4.5
64	GM	Artemiev, Vladislav	FID	2664	4.5
65	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	IND	2704	4.5
66	GM	Grischuk, Alexander	FID	2657	4.5
67	GM	Bjerre, Jonas Buhl	DEN	2651	4.5
68	GM	Sadhwani, Raunak	IND	2658	4.5
69	GM	Kollars, Dmitrij	GER	2647	4.5
70	GM	Lu, Shanglei	CHN	2647	4.5
71	GM	Hovhannisyan, Robert	ARM	2629	4
72	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	UAE	2640	4
73	GM	Gumularz, Szymon	POL	2590	4
74	GM	Volokitin, Andrei	UKR	2628	4
75	GM	Korobov, Anton	UKR	2616	4
76	GM	Bartel, Mateusz	POL	2581	4
77	GM	Aryan, Chopra	IND	2619	4
78	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	FID	2586	4
79	GM	Najer, Evgeniy	FID	2613	4
80	GM	Moussard, Jules	FRA	2591	4
81	GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	ARM	2626	4
82	GM	Donchenko, Alexander	GER	2624	4
83	GM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2478	4
84	GM	Gukesh, D	IND	2767	4
85	GM	Samunenkov, Ihor	UKR	2550	4
86	GM	Abdisalimov, Abdimalik	UZB	2488	4
87	GM	Aronian, Levon	USA	2744	4
88	GM	Shankland, Sam	USA	2670	4
89	GM	Svane, Frederik	GER	2643	4
90	GM	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	POL	2661	4
91	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2669	4
92	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	SRB	2650	4
93	GM	Ivic, Velimir	SRB	2630	4
94	GM	Svane, Rasmus	GER	2620	3.5
95	GM	Xu, Xiangyu	CHN	2615	3.5
96	GM	Matlakov, Maxim	FID	2609	3.5
97	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	IRI	2598	3.5
98	GM	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2637	3.5
99	GM	Madaminov, Mukhiddin	UZB	2560	3.5
100	GM	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	2652	3.5
101	GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2674	3.5
102	GM	Sarana, Alexey	SRB	2686	3.5
103	GM	Amin, Bassem	EGY	2636	3.5
104	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	AZE	2590	3.5
105	GM	Santos Latasa, Jaime	ESP	2620	3
106	GM	Nigmatov, Ortik	UZB	2488	3
107	GM	Warmerdam, Max	NED	2591	3
108	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	UZB	2521	3
109	GM	Jobava, Baadur	GEO	2590	3
110	GM	Wagner, Dennis	GER	2608	3
111	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	ARM	2628	3
112	GM	Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	2682	3
113	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	ESP	2648	3
114	GM	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	NOR	2618	2.5
115	IM	Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid	UZB	2482	2.5
116		Olisa, Tennyson Ewomazino	NGR	2287	0.5

Results round 8

Bo.		White	Rtg	Result		Black	Rtg
1	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2693	0 – 1	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	2754
2	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2748	½ – ½	GM	Bluebaum, Matthias	2671
3	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2692	0 – 1	GM	Keymer, Vincent	2751
4	GM	Giri, Anish	2746	1 – 0	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2692
5	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	2733	½ – ½	GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	2611
6	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2785	½ – ½	GM	Liang, Awonder	2698
7	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2771	1 – 0	GM	Sevian, Samuel	2692
8	GM	Saric, Ivan	2655	½ – ½	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	2742
9	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	2738	1 – 0	GM	Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan	2646
10	GM	Maurizzi, Marcandria	2610	0 – 1	GM	Yu, Yangyi	2714
11	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2712	½ – ½	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	2653
12	GM	Theodorou, Nikolas	2646	½ – ½	GM	Rapport, Richard	2711
13	GM	Pranav, V	2596	0 – 1	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2673
14	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2741	1 – 0	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	2640
15	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	2651	½ – ½	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2731
16	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	2722	1 – 0	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	2638
17	GM	Dubov, Daniil	2691	½ – ½	GM	Hakobyan, Aram	2625
18	GM	Anton Guijarro, David	2625	½ – ½	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2687
19	GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	2681	1 – 0	GM	Demchenko, Anton	2620
20	GM	Gurel, Ediz	2631	½ – ½	GM	Oparin, Grigoriy	2660
21	GM	Shirov, Alexei	2616	1 – 0	GM	Bjerre, Jonas Buhl	2651
22	GM	Aronian, Levon	2744	0 – 1	GM	Woodward, Andy	2557
23	GM	Robson, Ray	2674	½ – ½	GM	Kuzubov, Yuriy	2600
24	GM	Korobov, Anton	2616	0 – 1	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2670
25	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	2622	½ – ½	GM	Vitiugov, Nikita	2666
26	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2615	½ – ½	GM	Artemiev, Vladislav	2664
27	GM	Sadhwani, Raunak	2658	½ – ½	GM	Dardha, Daniel	2624
28	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	2602	½ – ½	GM	Grischuk, Alexander	2657
29	GM	Grandelius, Nils	2648	1 – 0	GM	Gumularz, Szymon	2590
30	GM	Lagarde, Maxime	2609	½ – ½	GM	Lu, Shanglei	2647
31	GM	Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal	2594	½ – ½	GM	Rodshtein, Maxim	2645
32	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	2586	0 – 1	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	2645
33	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	2640	0 – 1	GM	Predke, Alexandr	2609
34	GM	Xiong, Jeffery	2640	1 – 0	GM	Bartel, Mateusz	2581
35	GM	Volokitin, Andrei	2628	0 – 1	GM	Aditya, Mittal	2589
36	GM	Narayanan, S L	2591	½ – ½	GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	2627
37	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2704	1 – 0	GM	Abdisalimov, Abdimalik	2488
38	GM	Hovhannisyan, Robert	2629	½ – ½	GM	Gukesh, D	2767
39	GM	Shankland, Sam	2670	½ – ½	GM	Moussard, Jules	2591
40	GM	Najer, Evgeniy	2613	½ – ½	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	2669
41	GM	Gelfand, Boris	2652	0 – 1	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	2528
42	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2619	½ – ½	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	2650
43	GM	Kollars, Dmitrij	2647	1 – 0	GM	Matlakov, Maxim	2609
44	GM	Ivanchuk, Vasyl	2608	1 – 0	GM	Bacrot, Etienne	2637
45	GM	Samunenkov, Ihor	2550	½ – ½	GM	Ivic, Velimir	2630
46	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	2598	½ – ½	GM	Sarana, Alexey	2686
47	GM	Donchenko, Alexander	2624	1 – 0	GM	Eljanov, Pavel	2682
48	GM	Svane, Rasmus	2620	½ – ½	GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	2674
49	GM	Nigmatov, Ortik	2488	0 – 1	GM	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	2661
50	GM	Svane, Frederik	2643	1 – 0	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	2521
51	GM	Xu, Xiangyu	2615	½ – ½	GM	Amin, Bassem	2636
52	GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	2626	1 – 0	GM	Jobava, Baadur	2590
53	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2648	½ – ½	GM	Wagner, Dennis	2608
54	GM	Warmerdam, Max	2591	½ – ½	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	2628
55	IM	Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid	2482	0 – 1	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	2590
56	GM	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	2618	½ – ½	GM	Santos Latasa, Jaime	2620
57	GM	Divya, Deshmukh *)	2478	0 – 1	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan	2627
58		Olisa, Tennyson Ewomazino	2287	0 – 1	GM	Madaminov, Mukhiddin	2560