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India's Diptayan Ghosh defeated Russia's Ian Nepomniactchi. (PHOTO: Eteri Kublashvili/FIDE)
In perhaps the biggest upset of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025 in Goa, Indian Grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh defeated Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, a two-time Candidates winner and two-time World Championship runner-up. After holding Nepomniachtchi to a draw with the white pieces in their first classical game on Tuesday, Diptayan followed it up with a dominating performance on Wednesday to eliminate one of the event’s heavy favourites.
Playing with Black, Diptayan was guided into the “Morphy Defense” of the Ruy Lopez game by Nepomniachtchi. Out of the opening, it was the Indian who blitzed out his moves and began to build pressure on the Russian with his accurate play.
WATCH: IAN NEPOMNIACHTCHI RESIGNS VS DIPTAYAN GHOSH
🚨 UPSET ALERT
Ian Nepomniachtchi (2732) loses to 🇮🇳 Diptayan Ghosh (2573) in Game 2 and is eliminated from the #FIDEWorldCup! pic.twitter.com/Ar2z3fWjpm
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) November 5, 2025
On the 18th move, Diptayan sacrificed his dark-squared bishop to gain a tempo and chop off White’s knight on d2.
By the time the contest entered the endgame, with the queens off the board, Diptayan was already in a much more favourable position, with the engine showing a +2.0 advantage for him. In an endgame with opposite-colored bishops and an extra pawn, the Indian had no real trouble converting smoothly. He continued to force exchanges with a material advantage and eventually compelled the 12th-seeded Nepomniachtchi to resign on the 46th move, crashing out in his first match. Nepomniachtchi had received a bye in the opening round, while Diptayan had defeated Peng Xiongjian of China in the tiebreaks.
The Kolkata GM called this result the biggest day of his career. Speaking to Chessbase India after the win, Diptayan said, “Probably the biggest day of my chess career.”
In other big results for the Indian contingent, Arjun Erigaisi beat Martin Petrov 2-0 to qualify for the third round in style. In the battle between the Classical World Champion and the Junior Champion, between India’s D. Gukesh and Kazakhstan’s Kazybek Nogerbek, the Indian got the better of his opponent in the second match to join Arjun in the third round. R. Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi have been held to draws by their opponents, Temur Kuybokarov and Faustino Oro, respectively, as they will head to tiebreaks, which will be played tomorrow.
A total of 17 Indians are in the fray in the second round of the Chess World Cup.
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