Divya Deshmukh’s win over Amin Bassem was the highlight of the 18-member-strong Indian chess contingent’s Sunday at the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Samarkand. One of the most remarkable results of the day from an Indian perspective was Raunak Sadhwani taking down Norway’s Jon Ludvig Hammer, the second best player from the Scandinavian nation of the Magnus Carlsen generation. Hammer was a long-time second to Carlsen, who helped him win a few of his world championship titles. Meanwhile, Vaishali remains unbeaten in the Women’s Grand Swiss event after 4 rounds, only dropping points in the draw on Sunday.
Sadhwani managed to elicit a resignation from the Norwegian, who is now pivoting into analysis for live broadcasts but still remains a formidable player, in 41 moves despite being down in terms of material on the board.
Most of the other top Indian stars in contention at Samarkand were held to draws on Sunday in round 4.
Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi split a point in the battle of the Indian prodigies. Tournament top seed Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, was a pawn up for a long time in his battle against Indian-origin grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra, but squandered the advantage to end with a draw. Mishra, the youngest grandmaster in history who plays under the US flag, managed to grind out a draw against a player who has been in red-hot form in 2025.
Divya Deshmukh accepts Egyptian grandmaster Amin Bassem’s resignation in their round 4 game at the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Samarkand. (PHOTO: FIDE/Michal Walusza)
INTERACTIVE: Gukesh Dommaraju vs Arjun Erigaisi
INTERACTIVE: Praggnanandhaa R vs Abhimanyu Mishra
INTERACTIVE: Vidit Santosh Gujrathi vs Vasyl Ivanchuk
INTERACTIVE: Divya Deshmukh vs Amin Bassem
INTERACTIVE: Vaishali Rameshbabu vs Dinara Wagner
INTERACTIVE: Vantika Agrawal vs Alexandra Kosteniuk
Vaishali, meanwhile, remained undefeated after four rounds of the Women’s Grand Swiss, but was held to her first draw in four games at the tournament by German international master Dinara Wagner. Vaishali is the defending champion in the Women’s Grand Swiss event, having earned her spot in the Women’s Candidates tournament in the last edition in 2023 by winning at the Isle of Man.
The other defending champion from India, Vidit Gujrathi, was left frustrated after chess legend Vasyl Ivanchuk — who at 56 years of age is still mixing it up with the best in the business — managed to overturn a losing position to pull off a draw in a game that dragged on for over six hours.
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In other games involving Indians, young international master Vantika Agrawal fought hard against former women’s world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk before resigning in 40 moves. There were draws for Leon Luke Mendonca (vs Hans Niemann), Harika Dronavalli (vs Khanim Balajayeva), Pentala Harikrishna (vs Jeffrey Xiong), Nihal Sarin (vs Pranav V), Abhimanyu Puranik (vs Yu Yangyi), SL Narayanan (vs Volodar Murzin) and Murali Kartikeyan (vs Xu Xiangyu).
Final results of all Indians
Grand Swiss results
Praggnanandhaa ½ – ½ Abhimanyu Mishra
Gukesh ½ – ½ Arjun Erigaisi
Leon Luke Mendonca ½ – ½ Hans Moke Niemann
Vasyl Ivanchuk 2608 ½ – ½ Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
Pranav V ½ – ½ Nihal Sarin
Aditya Mittal 0 – 1 Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus
Yu Yangyi ½ – ½ Abhimanyu Puranik
Pentala Harikrishna ½ – ½ Jeffery Xiong
Liang Awonder 1 – 0 Aryan Chopra
Volodar Murzin ½ – ½ Narayanan S L
Jon Ludvig Hammer 0 – 1 Raunak Sadhwani
Karthikeyan Murali ½ – ½ Xu Xiangyu
Amin Bassem 0 – 1 Divya Deshmukh
Women’s Grand Swiss results
Dinara Wagner ½ – ½ Vaishali Rameshbabu
Harika Dronavalli ½ – ½ Khanim Balajayeva
Vantika Agrawal 0 – 1 Alexandra Kosteniuk
