A few intriguing battles are on the cards at the Chess World Cup beginning in Goa on November 1. And some of them could involve all-Indian affairs.
Top seed D. Gukesh could open his campaign against R. Raja Rithvik, if the latter could overcome Kazybek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan in the first round. The World champion from Chennai is one of the 50 top players that have been seeded directly into the second round.
Second seed Arjun Erigiaisi, third seed R. Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, P. Harikrishna, Aravindh Chithambaram and Nihal Sarin, who could potentially run into Divya Deshmukh, the reigning women’s World Cup champion; the Nagpur youngster is pitted against a higher-rated player though: Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis of Greece.
Other prominent Indian players who have to play in the first round include S.L. Narayanan, Karthikeyan Murali, Raunak Sadhwani, V. Pranav and Pa. Iniyan.
The World Cup is one of the biggest events in the chess calendar and India is hosting it for only the second time; the last time was more than two decades ago, at Hyderabad.
Anish Giri, Wesley So, Vincent Keymer, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wei Yi, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Nordibek Abdusattorov are among the stars who will compete in Goa.
Published – October 04, 2025 08:42 pm IST
