The FIDE Chess World Cup 2025 got underway in Arpora, Goa, on Saturday, with 16 Indian players in action for Round 1, Game 1. With the top 50 seeded players, including World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and other top Indians like R. Praggnanandhaa, having received byes, attention was on the remaining field.
Divya Deshmukh, the reigning Women's World Cup champion and the only female competitor in the 206-player field, who received a wild card for her recent performances, was up against against Greek Grandmaster Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis playing White in a Nimzo-Indian Defense, where she suffered a loss. Although she got a good start, her time management ultimately let her down, as she made errors under a severe time crunch. The result means she must win her Game 2 on Sunday to enforce a tiebreak and remain in the tournament.
Meanwhile, four Indian Grandmasters started their campaign on a winning note: Pranav V (the reigning World Junior Champion), Pranesh M, Pa. Iniyan, and Surya Shekhar Ganguly. These victors now only need a draw in their respective Game 2 matches today to qualify for Round 2. However, four other Indians, i.e. IM Harshavardhan GB, IM Himal Gusain, IM Neelash Saha, and IM Aronyak Ghosh, also suffered losses, joining Divya in a must-win situation for Game 2.
Seven other Indian players secured draws in their opening games: Raunak Sadhwani, Leon Luke Mendonca, SL Narayanan, Lalit Babu MR, Karthik Venkataraman, Diptayan Ghosh, and Rithvik R Raja. Notably, Sadhwani and Lalit Babu managed to salvage draws from difficult positions against GM Daniel Barrish (RSA) and GM Max Warmerdam (NED), respectively. The first round did not witness any major upsets, with the favorites, including GMs Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, Jeffery Xiong, and Maxim Rodshtein, prevailing.
The standout result outside the Indian contingent was IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg's victory against GM Cristobal Henriquez. The best game of the day saw GM Salem Saleh win with a sacrificial combination in a Najdorf battle against IM Thanh Tu Tran. All focus now shifts to Round 1, Game 2, which starts today at 3 p.m. IST, where the five Indians who lost their openers must win to stay in the prestigious knockout competition.