FIDE announces list of players for the 2025 Grand Swiss: Will Magnus Carlsen participate in the event?

The FIDE Grand Swiss is set to return for its fourth edition, featuring a star-studded lineup of young talents vying for top spots ahead of the 2026 Candidates. The tournament will take place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from September 3 to 16, promising another thrilling competition in a Swiss system format.

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Total players taking part in FIDE Grand Swiss

It is one of the most significant tournaments in the Chess calendar and will serve as a gateway to reach the Candidates tournament. The 11-round Swiss format competition will witness 172 players take part – 116 in the Open and 56 in the Women’s tournament. As per the rules, those who finish top two in both Open and the women's competition will qualify for the 2026 Candidates tournament, where the challenger for the current World Champion will emerge.

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Aside from pushing the rightful qualifiers for the Candidates, the 2025 Grand Swiss will also render a notable prize fund, which has been considerably increased from the last edition. The prize fund in the Open is $625,000 and $230,000 in the Women's competition.   

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The Open tournament

Out of 116 players in the open, 101 have qualified by rating and the rest of the spots have been allocated to Continental representatives, six FIDE wildcards and five are nominated from the local organiser.

From India, No.1 seed Arjun Erigaisi and World Champion D Gukesh will be there in the tournament along with R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin.

Moreover, prominent players like Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Alireza Firouzja, two-time world champion candidate Ian Nepomniachtchi, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Fedoseev will take part in the tournament too.

Further bolstering the young presence at the event are Hans Niemann (22), Vincent Keymer (20), Javokhir Sindarov (19), and Awonder Liang (22), who are all among the top 20.

Former candidate for the title of world champion Boris Gelfand and former Women's World Champion challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina have also received wildcard invitations and will feature in the tournament.

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The Women’s tournament

In the Women's Grand Swiss, 44 players have qualified by rating. Four additional players will join them from Continental spots, four via FIDE wildcards, and another four as nominations from the local organiser.

The Women's Grand Swiss features a strong lineup, including top players like Tan Zhongyi, Humpy Koneru, Anna Muzychuk, and Kateryna Lagno. Past winners Vaishali Rameshbabu and Lei Tingjie are also participating, alongside young talents like Divya Deshmukh, Lu Miaoyi, and Leya Garifullina, promising an exciting competition.

The full list of participants of the Women’s Grand Swiss can be found here:

Open: grandswiss2025.fide.com/open-event-participants/ 

Women: grandswiss2025.fide.com/women-event-participants/ 

Major Misses

While the tournament will feature most of the heavyweights, the final boss, Norway's Magnus Carlsen won't be present at the event. Plus, Viswanathan Anand, as well as heavyweights who participated in previous Grand Swiss tournaments – Le Quang Liem and Peter Svidler, will not participate. Former World Champion Ding Liren will also remain absent from the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament. With Carlsen missing the event, there will be no Gukesh vs Magnus at the tournament.

The rule requiring 30+ classical rated games between July 2024 and June 2025 is the reason behind the exclusion of several high profile names.