Anish Giri and R Vaishali are FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 Open and Women Champions
GM Anish Giri (NED) defeated GM Hans Niemann (USA) to become a clear champion of FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 Open. Giri scored an unbeaten 8/11, performed at 2838 and finished a half point ahead of the rest. This triumph earned himself a coveted spot in the FIDE Candidates 2026. GM Matthias Bluebaum (GER) drew against GM Alireza Firouzja (FRA) to secure second place. He also qualified to the next Candidates. Firouzja finished third and missed out his place in the Candidates. In the Women's event, GM R Vaishali created history by winning it for the second consecutive edition. She drew her final round game against the 16th Women's World Champion, GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN) to successfully defend her title and win the event again. Thus, she earned herself a spot in the FIDE Women's Candidates 2026. GM Kateryna Lagno drew against IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (AZE) to also qualify to the Candidates. Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Vaishali creates history, first player ever to win two Grand Swiss tournaments
GM Anish Giri (NED), GM Matthias Bluebaum (GER), GM R Vaishali and GM Kateryna Lagno have qualified to their respective Candidates 2026. Giri and Bluebaum can relax as they can FIDE World Cup next month freely without the worry of any qualification. Before winning Grand Swiss, Giri had won OGD Rapid 2025, 8th Sharjah Masters 2025, 6th Saaremaa Chess Festival Rapid and Blitz 2025 and now this. Bluebaum on the other hand won the European Individual 2025, 52nd Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open 2025 and now a second place which is enough to qualify to the most important event in the World Championship cycle. GM R Vaishali performed at 2604, bounced back well after an eighth round loss, despite not having the best 2025, she pulled through when it mattered the most. Vaishali is known to make strong comebacks, as she won five games in-a-row in her debut Women's Candidates 2024. Now she has two out of the three Grand Swiss Women triumphs on her name. She is also the first player among Open and Women to win two editions of Grand Swiss tournament.
The total prize fund in the Open section was US$ 625000. The top three prizes were US$ 90000, 75000 and 62000. The total prize fund in the Women's event was US$ 230000. The top three prizes were US$ 40000, 31000 and 25000.
Bluebaum - Firouzja: 0.5-0.5
Germany no.2, GM Matthias Bluebaum (2671) drew against the World no.8, GM Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2754) to finish second and secure himself a spot in the FIDE Candidates 2026. Firouzja opted for the Dutch Defence with the black pieces. However, neither player got any chances throughout the game.
Giri - Niemann: 1-0
GM Anish Giri (NED, 2746) and GM Hans Niemann (USA, 2733) have plenty of games and matches. However, when it comes to Classical rated games, they played seven. The first one was at the very same event in the previous edition. Giri won that game. After that, Giri won another in a match and Niemann won two. The remaining three games ended in draws. Giri won their eighth Classical battle against each other.
31...Rd6? was the beginning of the end for Black. 32.bxc5 bxc5 33.Rxb3 Bxb3 34.Bxc5 Kd7 35.Bxd6 Kxd6 36.g5 and White won the same color bishop endgame comfortably.
Anish Giri thanked his supporter, Optiver in a tweet mentioning a nice fact
Also, a tweet aged quite well. From lurking behind a sole leader, GM Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) to overtaking him and becoming a clear champion.
Zhongyi - Vaishali: 0.5-0.5
GM R Vaishali (2452) drew against the 16th Women's World Champion, GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN, 2531) to win FIDE Grand Swiss Women for the second consecutive time. This triumph also earned her a spot at the FIDE Women's Candidates 2026.
For more Prize distribution ceremony photos, click here
Schedule
Every day game starts at 30 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST from 4th to 15th September 2025. Rest day is on Wednesday 10th September 2025. The last round on 15th September will start at 2 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST.
Time Control
The time control for each game is: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1 in the Open section. For Women, the time control is 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.
Qualification
Open: The winner and the runner-up of Grand Swiss shall qualify for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026. If any of these players is the FIDE World Champion as of 1 January 2025 or have already qualified for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 at the moment of the beginning of the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2025, or withdraws the qualification spot(s) shall be awarded, in the order of priority, to the player ⁃ in the 3rd place in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2025; ⁃ in the 2nd place according to the FIDE Circuit 2024 ranking list; ⁃ who is next yet unqualified in the FIDE Circuit 2025 ranking list.
Women: The winner and the runner-up of WGS shall qualify for the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2024. If one or both these players has (-ve) already qualified to the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 at the moment of the beginning of WGS via different qualification track or do (-es) not need to qualify for the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026, the qualification spot(s) shall go to the highest-placed player(s) in the final standings who has/have not yet qualified to the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 at the moment of the beginning of WGS.
Prizes
The total prize fund in the Open is US$ 625000 with the first prize being $90000. For Women's the total prize fund is $230000, first prize $40000. Total numbers of prizes are 73, Open - 50 and Women - 23.
Watch live stream
Replay Round 11 Open games
Replay Round 11 Women games
Round 11 Open results
| Bo. | No. | White | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Black | Rtg | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 32 | GM | Bluebaum, Matthias | 2671 | 7 | ½ - ½ | 7 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | 2754 | 4 | ||
| 2 | 7 | GM | Giri, Anish | 2746 | 7 | 1 - 0 | 7 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | 2733 | 12 | ||
| 3 | 2 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2771 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 7 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2751 | 5 | ||
| 4 | 6 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2748 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | GM | Liang, Awonder | 2698 | 19 | ||
| 5 | 11 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2738 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2693 | 20 | ||
| 6 | 108 | GM | Woodward, Andy | 2557 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2714 | 15 | ||
| 7 | 16 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2712 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | GM | Mishra, Abhimanyu | 2611 | 86 | ||
| 8 | 25 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2687 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2742 | 9 | ||
| 9 | 10 | GM | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2741 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | 2660 | 39 | ||
| 10 | 28 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2681 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2731 | 13 |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | GM | Giri, Anish | NED | 2746 | 8 | 2668 | 62 | 66,5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | 32 | GM | Bluebaum, Matthias | GER | 2671 | 7,5 | 2695 | 66 | 70 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | FRA | 2754 | 7,5 | 2684 | 64 | 68,5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | GER | 2751 | 7,5 | 2668 | 62,5 | 68 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | 86 | GM | Mishra, Abhimanyu | USA | 2611 | 7 | 2731 | 69,5 | 73,5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | 2 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2771 | 7 | 2687 | 63 | 67,5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | 108 | GM | Woodward, Andy | USA | 2557 | 7 | 2686 | 61 | 64,5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | 12 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | USA | 2733 | 7 | 2668 | 60,5 | 64,5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 | 20 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | IND | 2693 | 7 | 2666 | 61,5 | 65,5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 10 | 6 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | UZB | 2748 | 7 | 2663 | 63 | 68 | 0 | 0 |
Round 11 Women results
| Bo. | No. | White | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Black | Rtg | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Tan, Zhongyi | 2531 | 7 | ½ - ½ | 7½ | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2452 | 13 | ||
| 2 | 4 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | 2505 | 7½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | IM | Fataliyeva, Ulviyya | 2385 | 33 | ||
| 3 | 44 | GM | Krush, Irina | 2366 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 7 | IM | Song, Yuxin | 2409 | 21 | ||
| 4 | 3 | GM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2505 | 7 | ½ - ½ | 6 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2535 | 1 | ||
| 5 | 6 | GM | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2484 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Danielian, Elina | 2405 | 23 | ||
| 6 | 9 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2472 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | IM | Guo, Qi | 2371 | 42 | ||
| 7 | 15 | IM | Tsolakidou, Stavroula | 2445 | 5½ | 1 - 0 | 5½ | IM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2492 | 5 | ||
| 8 | 36 | WGM | Zhai, Mo | 2380 | 5½ | 0 - 1 | 5½ | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | 2449 | 14 | ||
| 9 | 27 | GM | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2395 | 5½ | 0 - 1 | 5½ | IM | Narva, Mai | 2386 | 31 | ||
| 10 | 30 | GM | Girya, Olga | 2386 | 5½ | 1 - 0 | 5½ | IM | Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra | 2379 | 37 |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2452 | 8 | 2434 | 66,5 | 71,5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | FID | 2505 | 8 | 2433 | 65,5 | 70 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | KAZ | 2505 | 7,5 | 2425 | 65,5 | 70 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | Tan, Zhongyi | CHN | 2531 | 7,5 | 2423 | 61 | 64 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | 21 | IM | Song, Yuxin | CHN | 2409 | 7,5 | 2411 | 63,5 | 67 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | 33 | IM | Fataliyeva, Ulviyya | AZE | 2385 | 7 | 2461 | 69 | 74,5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | 44 | GM | Krush, Irina | USA | 2366 | 7 | 2419 | 58,5 | 63 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | 6 | GM | Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | 2484 | 7 | 2404 | 58 | 62 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 | 42 | IM | Guo, Qi | CHN | 2371 | 6,5 | 2436 | 64,5 | 69 | 0 | 0 | |
| 10 | 30 | GM | Girya, Olga | FID | 2386 | 6,5 | 2430 | 64,5 | 68,5 | 0 | 0 |
Links
Tournament Regulations: Open and Women
