Shankland Defeats Dubov, Returns to World Cup Quarterfinals

GM Sam Shankland is the only American to reach the 2025 FIDE World Cup "elite eight" after defeating Russian GM Daniil Dubov 3–1 in the first rapid tiebreak in Round 5.

This is Shankland’s second trip to the final eight, where he was eliminated by GM Sergey Karjakin in the second tiebreak in 2021.

In the first classical game, Shankland found himself under some pressure from Dubov, but he equalized nicely.

After a simple, stable draw in the second classical game, Shankland appeared better prepared out of the opening in the first tiebreak game. Picking an early deviation from one of his own Chessable repertoires, he came prepared with a clear attacking plan that he converted into a winning endgame.

Like Hungarian GM Richard Rapport before him, Dubov was unable to come up with any tricky way to get a playable game as Black in the second playoff game. The endgame was drawn, but, needing a win to reach the second tiebreak, Dubov embarked on a losing plan and resigned shortly, sending Shankland to the quarterfinals.

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Graphic courtesy of FIDE

Round 6 is currently underway, with Shankland drawing Russian GM Andrey Esipenko as White earlier this morning. The return game is Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 3:30 a.m. CST, with playoffs (if needed) taking place at the same time on Wednesday. After Thursday’s rest day, the four semifinalists begin their matches on Friday, with all but one qualifying for next spring’s Candidates Tournament.

The other two Americans in the “Sweet 16” — GMs Levon Aronian and Samuel Sevian — both lost their second classical game on Saturday, to Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi and Chinese GM Yu Yangyi, respectively.

After a quiet first game, Aronian created a complicated position with mutual chances in the return game. But, before the time control, one tactical oversight gave Arjun the decisive blow:

Sevian’s game was a quieter affair. After sacrificing a pawn early, it looked like Sevian had some defending chances, but Yu kept narrowing the path until one critical moment:

Only two of the top eight players made it to the final eight: Yu and Arjun! And much like Arjun – Aronian was the only match in Round 5 to feature the two players who were “supposed” to be there (based on seeding), Round 6 features Arjun – Yu in what is again the only “chalk” (to use a basketball term) pairing of the round.

Moreover, none of the remaining players have ever qualified for the Candidates, meaning that, whatever the outcome, we are guaranteed three newcomers in Cyprus.