FIDE World Cup 2025: SL Naryanan, Diptayan Ghosh advance to second round with tiebreak wins

Playing with black pieces in the first game, Narayanan put himself in the driver’s seat to advance to the next round by beating IM Steven Rojas of Peru in 52 moves and then wrapped up the match with white, winning in just 22 moves.

On the adjoining board, Diptayan Ghosh ground out a win in 70 moves in the first game against GM Peng Xiongjian of China thanks to his two advancing pawns in perfect position to revive his queen and then won the next in 46 moves as his opponent pressed hard to set up a second round clash against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Six Indians – Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Pranav V, Raunak Sadhwani, Pranesh M, Karthik Venkatraman, Iniyan Pa – had already booked their second round spots on Sunday and will join eight others who had received a bye in the first round by virtue of being among the top-50 ranked players in the competition.

India is already assured of one spot in the third round as Karthik will face GM Aravindh Chithambaram in the second round on Tuesday.

On Monday, the Indian players put the best foot forward in the first game of the tie breaker with Aronyak Ghosh, Diptayan Ghosh, Lalith Babu MR winning their respective matches with white while Narayanan SL winning with black.

Aronyak, who had registered an upset win over Polish GM Mateusz Bartel in the second classic game on Sunday to stay alive in the match, pinned his opponent’s queen and king to a corner and forced him to resign after only 19 moves.

Rithvik was the only Indian player to lose the opening game of the tiebreak but he made amends by beating Kazybek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan with black pieces in 52 moves to stay in the hunt while Aronyak suffered reversals in the second game.

In the second stage of rapid games, Aronyak played white and won the first game in 54 moves and then capitalised on Bartel’s errors to win the second in just 20 moves to advance to the next round. He will now face GM Levon Aronian of USA.

GM Diptayan Ghosh bt GM Peng Xiongjian (CHN) 2:0 (aggregate 3:1)

GM Narayanan SL bt IM Steven Rojas (Per) 2:0 (aggregate 3:1)

GM Raja Rithvik R drew with Kazybek Nogerbek (Kaz) 1:1 (aggregate 2:2)

IM Aronyak Ghosh drew with GM Mateusz Bartel (Pol) 1:1 (aggregate 2:2)

GM Lalit Babu MR drew with GM Max Warmerdam (Ned) 1:1 (aggregate 2:2)

IM Aronyak Ghosh bt GM Mateusz Bartel (Pol) 2:0 (aggregate 4:2)

GM Lalit Babu MR drew with GM Max Warmerdam (Ned) 1:1 (aggregate 3:3)

GM Raja Rithvik R drew with Kazybek Nogerbek (Kaz) 1:1 (aggregate 3:3)