FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 Chess Tournament Round 2 LIVE Updates: World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju is taking on 14-year-old prodigy from Turkey, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, in the second round of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 chess tournament at the Silk Road EXPO in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Friday.
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Gukesh started his Grand Swiss campaign with a clean win over Frenchman Etienne Bacrot in the opening round. Top seed and India No. 1 R. Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by American GM Jeffery Xiong, while second seed, Arjun Erigaisi, also played out a draw with Spain’s Maksim Chigaev.
Fresh from her success in the recently concluded FIDE Women’s World Cup, which made Divya Deshmukh only the 4th Indian female Grandmaster, the Nagpur prodigy’s campaign got off to a poor start as she was handed a loss by her good friend and her Second, Abhimanyu Puranik.
SCROLL DOWN TO FOLLOW TOP INDIANS IN ACTION AT FIDE GRAND SWISS 2025 2nd ROUND:
Gukesh starts off Grand Swiss with victory, to face Turkish prodigy Erdogmus in round 2
World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and 14-year-old Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus at the Grand Swiss chess tournament. (PHOTOS: FIDE via Michal Walusza)
World champion Gukesh Dommaraju started off his FIDE Grand Swiss campaign with a victory over French grandmaster Etienne Bacrot in 45 moves, while R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, the other two members of India’s golden gen of chess prodigies, were held to draws in the first round. Pragg, the top seed at the open section, was held by Jeffery Xiong, while Erigaisi played a draw versus Maksim Chigaev.
Hardcore chess fans will do well to remember Bacrot for one of the most unusual acts moments before the start of a chess game. Earlier this year, Bacrot, an eight-time French national champion, had asked Magnus Carlsen for a selfie right before they had faced off in a game at the Grenke Freestyle Chess event. On Thursday, in Samarkand, Bacrot found himself seated in front of another world chess champion. This time, there were no selfies, barely the hint of a smile, and a defeat in 45 moves against Gukesh.
