If D Gukesh’s participation speaks of hunger, Divya Deshmukh speaks of ambitions. (Photo Credit: Agencies) New Delhi: When Fide Grand Swiss 2025 starts on Thursday in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, all eyes will be on two Indians who have already rewritten a chess script in their own way, the world champion D Gukesh and the winner of the Women’s Destya Deshmukh World Cup.For Gukesh, 19, it is a surprising decision to take the field in the tournament, where the first two qualify for candidates, an event that decides on its other challengers.As a world champion, he cannot play with candidates. His choice is to tell and the only way to maintain the driving force and to renounce critics who have called him “not a good world champion”. And if everything goes as planned, Gukesh will also take part in the upcoming World Cup Fide in Goa, where the three best finishes will get a place in candidates 2026. There, too, for the World Champion, the only prize that matters is the title itself.If Gukesh’s participation speaks of hunger, Divy’s talk about ambitions.Nineteen of Nagpur, who stunned the world by winning the World Women’s Cup, already luxury of jumping the event. She is qualified for female candidates where she will be decided on Challenger for the World Women’s Champion.Instead, she decided to try her Mettle against the strongest men and women on the scene.“At this age, of course, it will be very ambitious and focused on reaching 2700, which is a dream for every player. Now it is almost 2500, so it makes absolute sense to compete in a stronger event. She will play more GM and try to prepare it and how she has been strong comeback,” Shyam Sundar M, coach. She confirmed her participation in the open part of the Grand Swiss 2025.Her guide during the Women’s World Championship, Abhimanyu Puranik, will also be interested in Samarkand. But he had a different way to prepare.“I had a monthly holiday in Disneyland,”, Puranik, who recently finished third in the Challengers section of Chennai Grand Masters 2025, laughed during an exclusive cottage. “I don’t know if you watched one of those X-Men movies. There is a proverb for the right focus, you have to find the perfect mental state between rage and calm. You have to concentrate and need this instinct to fight hard, and that’s what I want to achieve.”Murali Karthikeyan, representing a tricolor in Uzbekistan, was also honest: “I will not focus too much on the title, but I would like to go to the candidates, see how it is possible. I want to take it at the time, how I start, how it works, but how it works, but abandons it is.The 19 -year -old Leon Mendonco will be Grand Swiss on the evaluation of his progress.“My first half of 2025 was not good at all, but the last few tournaments, they went quite well. And I take it as a sign that I do anything (to remove the lunges in my game), has some effect and for me is a kind of work,” Timesofindia.com said.The best rated Indian grandmother R Pragggnanandhaa remains one of the most popular to ensure its deadlines for its candidates 2026, while Arjun Erigaisi, see Gujrathi, Pental Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin and Praranav add fire fire to the 15-Playeer.15 Indians among 116 players in an open section
- Pragggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2779) – qualified by rating
- Gukesh Dommaraju (2776) – qualified by evaluation
- ARJUN ERIGAISI (2776) – qualified by evaluation
- See gujrathi (2720) – qualified by rating
- Harikrishna Pentala (2709) – qualified by rating
- NIHAL SARIN (2692) – qualified by evaluation
- RAUNAK SADHWANI (2676) – qualified by rating
- Karthikeyan Murali (2658) – qualified by rating
- Abhimanyu Puranik (2635) – qualified by evaluation
- Aryan Chopra (2634) – qualified by evaluation
- Leon Luke Mendonca (2606) – qualified by rating
- Narayanan SL (2595) – qualified by evaluation
- Aditya Mittal (2560) – qualified by evaluation
- Divya Deshmukh (2478) – a surrogate entry
- Pranav V (2597) – qualified by the victory of Asian surrogate match
Also read: Exclusive | “Very Surprising”: India World Junior Chess Champion Pranav V’s Grand Swiss 2025 Entry has a wild storyIn the female section, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbaba and Vantika Agrawal will accuse.3 Indians among 56 players in the female section
- Harika Dronavalli (2487) – qualified by rating
- Vaisali Rameshbabu (2476) – qualified by rating
- Vantika Agrawal (2375) – qualified by evaluation
With $ 625,000 in Open and $ 230,000 in the Women’s War Fund and two candidates at stake in each of them, Grand Swiss promises a high drama.Also read: Exclusive | “I tried to live like a man but I couldn’t”: the first trans-shocked player to achieve WIM, now French women’s championsFormats:OPEN11-bound SwissTime control: 100+30, with 50 minutes added after moving 40 and 15 minutes added after moving 60Points: 1 point for victory, 0.5 for draw and 0 for lossWomen11-bound SwissTime control: 90+30, with adding 30 minutes after moving 40Points: 1 point for victory, 0.5 for draw and 0 for lossFor India, however, it is already historical as the ruling world champion, the winner of the Women’s World Championship and the Golden Generation ready to shine in the chess most popular scene that will close on September 15th.
