'This is not him': Head in hands, D Gukesh suffers third straight loss at FIDE Grand Swiss - watch

World champion D Gukesh suffered his third consecutive defeat at the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, losing to 16-year-old Turkish Grandmaster Ediz Gurel in the seventh round on Thursday.

This loss came after previous defeats to USA's Abhimanyu Mishra and Greece's Nikolas Theodorou.Despite a rest day, Gukesh's performance continued to decline as he made a critical error, losing a bishop in the endgame. With three points from seven matches, he must win all remaining games to stay competitive. His desire to win the title, however, is not possible anymore.

Indian GM Nihal Sarin moved into joint lead after defeating overnight leader Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran.

German GM Matthias Bluebaum, who won against Arjun Erigaisi, shares the top position with Sarin at 5.5 points.Seven players are tied for second place with five points, including Vidit Gujrathi, Alireza Firouzja, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Hans Niemann, and Abhimanyu Mishra. All secured victories in their seventh-round matches.

R Praggnanandhaa advanced to 4.5 points after defeating Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein.

He joins a group of 10 players at this score, including Erigaisi and Pranav Venkatesh.

In the women's section, defending champion Vaishali Rameshbabu claimed sole leadership by defeating Chinese IM Guo Qi, marking her fifth win in the tournament. GM Divya Deshmukh also secured a victory in her match.The tournament holds significant importance as the top two finishers from both men's and women's sections will qualify for the 2026 Candidates tournament, which determines the challenger for the World Championship match.