World Champion D Gukesh crashes out in round 3 of FIDE World Cup 2025

World Champion D Gukesh was stunned by Germany's Frederik Svane as he suffered a third-round exit in the ongoing FIDE World Cup 2025 in Goa on Saturday, November 8. Gukesh, who was held for a draw in the first round, went down in the second one to go down 0.5:1.5 on aggregate.

The outcome is a major upset in the World Cup, considering Gukesh, the world champion, is the ninth-ranked player in the world and lost to the World No. 85 Svane. 

The 19-year-old Gukesh was earlier held for a draw in the first round with black pieces and wanted to win this game. But the Indian was forced to shake hands and end the contest in a



knight-and-pawn ending. He had no option to hold with his pawn structure.

Meanwhile, four Indians have progressed to the next stage of the tournament with the likes of GM Praggnanandhaa, Harikrishna, GM Arjun Erigaisi and World Junior Champion GM Pranav V.

Harikrishna and Pranav made it to the last 32 stage after eliminating Daniel Dardha of Belgium and Titas Stremavicius of Lithuania, respectively, by an identical 1.5-0.5 score at the end of the second game of the second round here on Saturday. Harikrishna was the first Indian to make his way into the next round and was then joined by Erigaisi, Pranav and then Praggnanandhaa.