FIDE World Cup 2025: World Champion Gukesh eliminated in Round 3

The reigning world champion and top seed Gukesh Dommaraju was knocked out of the 2025 FIDE World Cup after the third round of play in Goa on Saturday.

Gukesh, playing with the white pieces in the second classical game, went down to Frederik Svane of Germany in 55 moves.

The first game between the two players ended in a draw on Friday, meaning Gukesh lost out 0.5-1.5 to the lower rated opponent.

Arjun, Praggnanandhaa advance

Meanwhile, the second seeded Arjun Erigaisi and third seeded Praggnanandhaa advanced to the fourth round.

Having won with the white pieces in the first game, Erigaisi held Shamsiddin Vokhidov to a draw with the black pieces to ensure a safe passage on Saturday.

Praggnanandhaa, on the other hand, beat Robert Hovhannisyan with the white pieces to win 1.5-0.5 to sail through.

The experienced Pentala Harikrishna and the world junior champion Pranav Venkatesh held their respective opponents to a draw to book their spot in the fourth round as well. Both of them had won their first game on Friday.

Vidit Gujrathi, SL Narayanan, and Karthik Venkatraman, meanwhile, played out drew both their classical games against respective opponents. They will all feature in the tiebreaks as they look to advance to the fourth round on Sunday.

While Gujrathi is up against Sam Shankland, Narayanan will face Wei Yi, and Karthik will battle Bogdan Daniel-Deac.

Elsewhere, two other Indians bowed out of the tournament along with Gukesh.

Diptayan Ghosh, who had shocked the chess world by eliminating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the second round was ousted by Gabriel Sargissian.

The young Pranesh Munirethinam also crashed out after losing to Germany's sixth seeded Vincent Keymer.