In Chess, Indian Grandmaster Karthik Venkataraman advanced to the fourth round of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025 in Panaji, Goa. He reached the fourth round after defeating Romanian Grandmaster Bogdan-Daniel Deac in a tense tiebreaker. With this, Karthik joins four other Indian players-Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, P Harikrishna, and world junior champion V Pranav-in the fourth round.

 

 

Grandmasters Vidit Gujrathi and S.L. Narayanan were both eliminated in their respective tiebreak encounters. Gujrathi lost to America’s Sam Shankland, while Narayanan went down to China’s Yangyi Yu in the first set of rapid games. Out of 206 Indian participants who began the competition, only five now remain in contention for the title.  The top three finishers in the World Cup will qualify for the prestigious Candidates Tournament.