{"id":3073,"date":"2025-09-09T09:40:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T01:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2025-09-09T09:40:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T01:40:17","slug":"a-round-of-piece-sacrifices-and-surprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/a-round-of-piece-sacrifices-and-surprises\/","title":{"rendered":"A round of piece sacrifices and surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Iran\u2019s Parham Maghsoodloo maintains the sole lead in the FIDE Grand Swiss after a victory over Richard Rapport. Meanwhile, both Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa suffered shock defeats. In the Women\u2019s event, Wagner and Fataliyeva joined Vaishali and Lagno at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The games of round five of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss were marked by piece sacrifices, blunders, and several even endgames thrown away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The round started with former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov making the first move in the game between Abdusattorov and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, which ended in a late draw after the Uzbek star failed to convert a better position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parham Maghsoodloo continues to lead the Open tournament after defeating Richard Rapport on board one in the London system. The position was largely even until the endgame, when Rapport miscalculated and lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were two big surprises in the results on the top boards. Playing on board two, Praggnanandhaa lost to Matthias Bluebaum in the Queen\u2019s Pawn Opening. Playing as Black, the Indian found himself in a tense endgame and overlooked a pawn on the queenside which ended up costing him a point. That\u2019s now a third consecutive victory for Bluebaum, who is having a great event so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day also saw the World Champion Gukesh D stunned by Abhimanyu Mishra. In the Giuoco Piano, Gukesh overstretched himself in the early stages of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Black has played 12\u2026g4? <\/strong>allowing White a piece sacrifice which offered him more than sufficient compensation with 13.exd6 gxf3 14.dxc7 Qe7 15.Nf3 <\/strong>In the moves that followed, Mishra was not precise in executing his advantage and even allowed Gukesh to equalise. However, in another critical moment, Gukesh misplayed again:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Black\u2019s best choice was to play 36\u2026Rd3 and force a draw with checks. Instead, Gukesh blundered with 36\u2026Ne2??<\/strong> after which he is lost as his king is in a mating net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

37.Kf1 Nf4 38.Bd4 Rf3+ 39.Ke1 Nd3+ 40.Kd2 Nxe5 41.Bxe5 Kxe5 42.Rg5+ Ke6 43.Rgxd5 <\/strong>And now White has a passer on the g-file in addition to the c7-pawn, which has pinned one of Black\u2019s rooks to the eighth rank. Gukesh played on but had to resign in the end. A major early upset for the World Champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another exciting game, Arjun Erigaisi \u2013 playing as White \u2013 defeated Nikita Vitiugov in the Classical Line of the Catalan. Black traded her queen for two rooks, but the resulting position was slightly better for White. Disaster struck Vitiugov on move 24. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Here Vitiugov blundered with 24\u2026Rb5??<\/strong> Giving up a pawn on a7 and allowing White to take the initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
25.Qxa7 Bd3 26.Bxf6 gxf6<\/strong> Doubling Black\u2019s pawns and then 27.Qd4! \u2013 attacking the bishop and pinning f6. 27\u2026Bg6 28.Nd5<\/strong> and White is winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After blundering in the endgame against Maghsoodloo in round three, Alireza Firouzja had the favour returned in today\u2019s game, as he managed to swing a drawn endgame thanks to Sam Shankland blundering in one move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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It\u2019s not easy for White to hold as Black is pressing. 47.Ke2 was the only move, but Sam had to foresee that in the line 42\u2026d4 43.exd4 Ke4 44.b5! Kxd4 45.Kf3! Kc4 46.Ke4 Kb4 47.Kd5 Kxa4 48.Kc6! White maintains equality, reminiscent of the famous Botvinnik \u2013 Euwe endgame (Groningen, 1946). Instead, Shankland played 47.bxa5 bxa5 48.Kd4<\/strong> and after 48\u2026Kf3<\/strong> he could not prevent the fall of the h2-pawn.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In another surprise of the round, Marc\u2019Andria Maurizzi defeated Vincent Keymer in the Sicilian. The position was even until the endgame when Keymer blundered in one move and lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Women\u2019s event<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day five saw tournament leaders Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno face off on board one. In the Ruy Lopez, after three and a half hours of play, neither side found a way to tip the balance and a draw was agreed on move 35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Playing with the black pieces against Irina Bulmaga, Dinara Wagner opted for the Najdorf. After Irina\u2019s inaccuracy on move seventeen, Dinara got an edge thanks to better coordination of her bishops and rooks. Eventually, Bulmaga miscalculated, entering an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops a pawn down which was absolutely hopeless for White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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44\u2026b6!<\/strong> Black creates the second passer on the a-file. Since the passed pawns are too far apart, the opposite-coloured bishops do not rescue White. Fifteen moves down the road, Irina capitulated. 0-1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ulviyya Fataliyeva defeated the former World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, who blundered in the endgame, walking into a mating net. With their victories, Wagner and Fataliyeva joined Vaishali and Lagno at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On board two, former Women\u2019s World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova drew with Uzbekistan\u2019s Afruza Khamdamova in the King\u2019s Pawn Opening. Stefanova had more initiative but could not make a tangible advantage. In other notable results on the top boards, Tan defeated Elina Danielian as Black, and Bibisara Assaubayeva prevailed over Nurgyul Salimova after snatching a pawn in the middlegame and forcing a won rook endgame. Olga Girya toppled the US Women\u2019s Champion Carissa Yip with the black pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a strong start in the first two rounds, Olga Badelka has now hit a rough patch. Following an unfortunate loss to Vaishali in round three, she made a draw with Tsolakidou in round four but lost today to Song Yuxin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rating favourite in the Women\u2019s event, Anna Muzychuk, scored her first victory in the tournament. Playing as White, she defeated India\u2019s Vantika Agrawal in the Closed Sicilian. Agrawal made a blunder in a tense position:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Here, Black should have continued with 29\u2026Rb8 and then if 30.Rc7 she should have played Bb8, defending in a difficult position. Instead, she went for a rook exchange which turned out to be fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
29\u2026Rxc1 30.Rxc1 Rb8 31.Rc5!!<\/strong> Winning a pawn as Agrawal apparently overlooked the checkmate on the eighth rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
31\u2026g5 32.Rxb5<\/strong> Not only has White created an extra pawn on the b-file, but her centralised rook and pieces caused further chaos for Black. 1-0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following a shocking loss in round one, Anna struggled in the tournament, with three consecutive draws. Maybe this victory will mark a turning point in her tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With six rounds to go, the Women\u2019s field remains wide open, with four players sharing the lead and several others closing in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Written by Milan Dinic<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos: Michal Walusza<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran\u2019s Parham Maghsoodloo maintains the sole lead in the FIDE Grand Swiss after a victory over Richard Rapport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,7],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-3073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-newsbeat","tag-chess"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE.jpg",1000,617,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE-300x185.jpg",300,185,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE-768x474.jpg",640,395,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE.jpg",640,395,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE.jpg",1000,617,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE.jpg",1000,617,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"International<\/a> Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/D05-Parham-PAGE.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3075,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073\/revisions\/3075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}