Four Americans Remain After Three Rounds in Goa

Four Americans are through to the fourth round of the 2025 FIDE World Cup in Goa, India. GM Sam Shankland’s upset over 19th-seeded Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi was the best result of the round, and he’ll be joined by GMs Levon Aronian, Samuel Sevian, and Awonder Liang. The fifth American who made it to Round 3, GM Jeffery Xiong, was eliminated after losing 1½–½ to Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem.

After two level draws in the classical portion, Shankland was on the ropes on Sunday after losing the first rapid tiebreak before bouncing back to win on demand as Black:

In the second rapid tiebreak (with the time control shortened from 15 minutes per side to 10, with the same 10-second increment), Shankland managed to hold a draw as White before returning to the same aggressive opening choice that worked in the first tiebreak, again winning as Black.

Shankland, who was seeded 46th in the field, will face the notoriously creative Hungarian GM Richard Rapport (seeded 14th) in Round 4.

It was business as usual for Aronian against GM Salem Saleh (UAE), with Aronian reaching a messy position with mutual chances after taking some risks as Black in a quiet opening to begin their match.

But, after missing a stunning resource, Saleh was unable to convert his advantage, making a strategic error just before the time control. From there, Aronian took over in the endgame:

Aronian quickly drew the return game to clinch the match 1½–½. In Round 4, Aronian will face Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek, who upset 18th-seeded Slovenian GM Vladimir Fedoseev 2–0 to advance.

Image

Image Caption

Awonder Liang (R) defeated Rasmus Svane in Round 3 (Photo courtesy FIDE/Michal Walusza)

After holding a draw with Black in their first game, Liang defeated German GM Rasmus Svane as White in the second classical game to win 1½–½. The game looked equal past the first time control, but rook endgames are never so simple:

Liang, seeded 21st, now faces 76th-seeded Armenian GM Gabriel Sargissian. Sargissian eliminated 117th-seeded Indian IM Diptayan Ghosh 1½–½ after the latter knocked out 12^th-seeded Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in Round 2.

After Nepomniachtchi’s unceremonious exit, Liang was the highest-rated player remaining in his section, making him the rating favorite to qualify for Round 5.

Image

Image Caption

Samuel Sevian needed tiebreaks to knock out Evgeniy Najer, but won the first tiebreak with a convincing 2–0 route of his Russian opponent. (Photo courtesy FIDE/Michal Walusza)

Sevian was the only American to join Shankland for Sunday’s tiebreaks, also emerging victorious. The result was a bit less dramatic, though with Sevian defeating Russian GM Evgeniy Najer in both rapid games to win the match 3–1 thanks to nerves of steel in a complex queen-and-pawn endgame in the first game:

Sevian did not give Najer any chances in the return game, winning with the white piece in just 29 moves.

Like Liang, the 23rd-seeded Sevian became the highest-rated player in his group after GM Hans Niemann was eliminated by Italian GM Lorenzo Lodici in Round 2. Sevian will now face the 119th-seeded Lodici after his run of upsets continued with a 1½–½ victory against British GM Michael Adams. 

Finally, Xiong was unable to bounce back against Webster University’s head coach after dropping the first game, losing the match 1½–½ to the 13th seed.

Image

Image Caption

Jeffery Xiong (L) and Le Quang Liem exchange smiles after their game. (Photo courtesy FIDE/Michal Walusza)

The flurry of upsets on top boards continued in Round 3, with four more top-16 seeds dropping, including top-seeded World Champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju, who lost 1½–½ to 64th-seeded German GM Frederik Svane. Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (8th) and Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamdeyarov (9th) were also eliminated after losing to Mexican GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara and Swedish GM Nils Grandelius, respectively, by 2–0 and 1½–½ margins.

The above upsets are all concentrated in the top quadrant of the bracket, meaning the match between 16th-seeded Uzbek GM Jakovhir Sindarov and 17th-seeded Chinese GM Yu Yangyi will produce the ratings favorite in Round 4.

Image

Image Caption

Frederik Svane signs autographs after becoming the 123rd member of the "Mikhail Chigorin Club" of players to defeat the current world champion in a classical game. (Photo courtesy FIDE/Michal Walusza)

To make things more interesting, the final top seed to fall was fourth-seeded Dutch GM Anish Giri, who would have been on track to face the winner of the Gukesh-less top quadrant. Giri lost 1½–½ to German GM Alexander Donchenko.

At most nine of the top 16 seeds will make it to the final 16, with five of these seven upsets concentrated in the top half of the bracket, where Liem (13th) and Sindarov (16th) are the two top seeds remaining.

The two top remaining overall players, then, are a pair of Indian GMs: second-seeded Arjun Erigaisi and third-seeded GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. The former is paired against 34th-seeded Hungarian GM Peter Leko — who is having a great run after his mini-upset over 31st-seeded Austrian GM Kirill Alekseenko — and the latter will face 30th-seeded Russian GM Daniil Dubov.

After today’s rest day, Round 4 begins with the first classical game tomorrow, Nov. 11, at 3:30 a.m. CST. All pairings are available here.