FIDE Grand Swiss R10: Blübaum Has Best Tiebreaks, Lagno and Vaishali Joint Lead

Lichess Coverage

Lichess will produce in-depth blog posts with annotations for each round of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss. WIM Silvia Raluca Sgîrcea will annotate the games from the Women's Grand Swiss and GM Renier Castellanos Rodriguez will annotate the games from the Open Grand Swiss. Lichess will also create videos for each round of the tournament, with interviews and other types of content. Keep an eye on our socials for the videos!

Annotations by GM Renier Castellanos Rodriguez

Annotations by WIM Silvia Raluca Sgîrcea

Open Overview

The top five boards were all drawn as some players simply could not convert their advantage, perhaps due to nerves playing a role. With five players on 7/10, those with the best tiebreaks, namely, GM Matthias Blübaum and GM Alireza Firouzja — and really, more so the former rather than the latter — could perhaps afford a draw in tomorrow's final round. For the other players on 7/10, they need to win tomorrow to increase their chances of getting the much coveted Candidates spot.

Open Leaderboard

The Top 10 Boards

GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Anish Giri played an incredibly short 18-move draw. The opening, a rare Closed Sicilian, promised to be exciting, but Giri was able to force a draw with a nice tactic, which Firouzja, from his reaction, had clearly missed.

GM Alireza Firouzja vs. GM Anish Giri
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

GM Hans Moke Niemann was pressing since the start of his game against GM R Praggnanandhaa, achieving a strong pawn center in the Sicilian Defense, Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack, which soon enough turned into an extra, but doubled, pawn. Praggnanandhaa won the pawn back in short order, but Niemann used that time to transform his advantage, fianchettoing his bishop and winning a queenside pawn. Niemann’s pieces remained tied up, but he found a way to untangle quickly enough, and created a game-winning attack just a few moves later.

GM Hans Moke Niemann vs. GM R Praggnanandhaa
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

GM Vincent Keymer tragically missed multiples chance to win his game against GM Matthias Blübaum today, which would have propelled him into the sole lead. The first possibility, on move 21, 21. Ng5 instead of 21. Bg5, was not so easy to spot or to appreciate. Besides, Keymer achieved a winning position shortly thereafter anyway. In a 3 vs. 2 knight + rook endgame, where Black’s 2 pawns were also split, it looked as if Blübaum was about to resign. However, a quickly-played, careless move by Keymer, 54. Rh7??, allowed the tactical shot, 54..Nxg3!, forcing a simplification into a straightforward drawn rook endgame.

GM Vincent Keymer vs. GM Matthias Blübaum
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Just like Keymer, GM Yu Yangyi had two chances to potentially win the game against GM Arjun Erigaisi, with one missed opportunity similarly being a clearer win than the other. On move 22, 22. d6!, instead of Yu's 22. Ba3, could have led to an even bigger advantage, but it was on move 41 that Yu missed his biggest shot: 41.Qd8!, which would have forced Arjun's position to slowly but surely collapse. Yu played 41. h4 instead, and Arjun had no issues defending the resulting position.

GM Yu Yangyi vs. GM Arjun Erigaisi
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

GM Nihal Sarin was close to bouncing back from his loss yesterday as he created an attacking brilliancy against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Alas, and luckily for Nodirbek, Nihal could not find the stunning, positionally-minded 18. exf6!!, which would have forced Black's position to collapse on the dark squares. After a few more inaccuracies, Nihal was not even better and had to call it a day.

GM Nihal Sarin vs. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi did not seem to have much against GM Ivan Šarić's solid double fianchetto, but his pressure on the semi-open c-file proved to be blunder-inducing as Šarić could not find the correct setup for his pieces. Šarić sacrificed the exchange, and after failing to find the accurate follow-up, saw himself defending a losing position for the remainder of the game.

Board 5, GM Abhimanyu Mishra vs. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, saw a slightly theoretical draw, but one from an opening which is rarely played at the highest level: the Four Knights Sicilian Defense. On board 7, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi tried, for 120 moves and over 7 hours, to win against GM Nodirbek Yakubboev, but Yakkuboev did not crack. Meanwhile, boards 8 (GM M. Amin Tabatabaei vs. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov) and 9 (GM Jorden van Foreest vs. GM Javokhir Sindarov) saw very correct draws, even though GM M. Amin Tabatabaei and GM Javokhir Sindarov, respectively, had some chances to play for more.

Notable Games

GM Awonder Liang played a clinical game against GM Nikolas Theodorou, first getting an attack going, then transitioning into a winning endgame, pushing his king up the board, and finally underpromoting to a bishop for checkmate.

GM Andy Woodward has gradually risen up the ranks, handing the former sole leader of the tournament, GM Parham Maghsoodloo, his third loss of the tournament. In an incredibly sharp game, Woodward handled his passed pawns with amazing precision and flare.

Flashy Games

GM Vladimir Fedoseev created a dazzling attacking game against GM Jeffery Xiong, also, just like Liang, keeping up the bishop underpromotion theme with 36. g8=B+.

GM Samuel Sevian had to calculate a long sequence against GM Ediz Gürel, and he correctly evaluated the resulting position and played the remainder of the game with machine-like precision.

Castling long in the Italian Game is incredibly rare, but GM Andrey Esipenko was up to the task of making his aggressive choice work as he also pseudo-sacrificed his queen on move 23, transitioning into a much better endgame. GM Sanan Sjugirov defended well, but ultimately could not parry all of Esipenko's threats.

Women's Overview

After winning a topsy-turvy game against GM Mariya Muzychuk, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu is back in the joint lead with GM Kateryna Lagno, who herself missed a chance against GM Tan Zhongyi. Three players are close behind on 7/10: GM Tan Zhongyi, IM Song Yuxin, and GM Bibisara Assaubayeva, with two more players on 6.5/10: IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva and GM Irina Krush.

Women's Leaderboard

The Top 10 Boards

GM Vaishali Rameshbabu showed astonishing preparation against GM Mariya Muzychuk's Sveshnikov Sicilian Defense, going for the incredible novelty, 9. Rg1!?. Muzychuk played logical moves, however, and soon was no worse than her well-prepared opponent, eventually even outplaying Vaishali in a complicated endgame position. Vaishali was able to find a way to hold the position together, though, and found the winning 38. Rh4!! after having missed it on the previous move.

GM Vaishali Rameshbabu vs. GM Mariya Muzychuk
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

GM Kateryna Lagno missed a decent chance to grab the sole lead again as she could have played the very deep 20...g5!! against GM Tan Zhongyi's brave 20. g4?!. The main point of 20...g5 is to prevent White's own g5 pawn push, which Lagno did not do, allowing Tan to play g5 on move 22 and achieve an equal-ish position. Tan then defended with incredible tenacity, securing the draw on move 53.

GM Tan Zhongyi vs. GM Kateryna Lagno
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva played an extremely complex game against GM Olga Girya, gradually outplaying her opponent to attain a winning double rook bishop vs. knight endgame. Fataliyeva soon faltered, though, but her prized dark-squared bishop was able to save the day on move 78, after Girya picked the wrong square for her king, playing 78. Kc8?? instead of 78. Kc6!.

IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva vs. GM Olga Girya
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Boards 2 (IM Song Yuxin vs. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva), 4 (IM Guo Qi vs. GM Irina Krush), and 10 (IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya vs. IM Lu Miaoyi) were incredibly calm draws, with barely even a + or -0.1 shift from equality.

IM Guo Qi vs. GM Irina Krush
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

In contrast, on board 6, GM Anna Muzychuk took an early draw against IM Polina Shuvalova, when she could have tried for more.

IM Polina Shuvalova vs. GM Anna Muzychuk
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

GM Elina Danielian proved that the bishop pair advantage can be not just objectively, but also practically difficult to face as IM Yuliia Osmak could not hold her endgame position together.

GM Elina Danielian vs. IM Yuliia Osmak
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

By move 30, the position between IM Dinara Wagner and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk looked to be heading to a straightforward draw, but such endgame positions can be particularly deceptive. Just a couple of moves later, after inaccurate moves by Wagner, which likely relied on a misevaluation, Wagner was lost and Kosteniuk converted well.

IM Dinara Wagner vs. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

In a bishop vs. knight endgame, GM Antoaneta Stefanova had a good chance to win against GM Harika Dronavalli, but her 45th move proved to be a blunder as there was no way for Black to break through anymore.

Notable Game

IM Stavroula Tsolakidou, who has missed some winning opportunities in her tournament so far, was unable to convert a near-winning position against IM Mai Narva.

Flashy Games

IM Vantika Agrawal played an absolutely incomprehensible game against WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet, where she was facing a sharp attack in the opening from Ouellet, but suddenly turned the game around with a counterattack of her own.

WGM Xeniya Balabayeva played a model and textbook attacking game against the Semi-Tarrasch Defense, which she and her opponent, IM Klaudia Kulon, transposed to after they started the game with the Queen's Gambit Declined.

WGM Xeniya Balabayeva with IM Klaudia Kulon in the foreground
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

It seemed as if WIM Javiera Belén Gómez Barrera was the one who was not going to castle, but it was in fact WGM Shrook Wafa who was unable to castle and got rapidly attacked by Gómez Barrera's major pieces.

Pairings for Round 11 (Top 10 Boards)

Open:

Women's: