Gukesh potentially faces Arjun or Pragg in final as FIDE unveils pairings for upcoming World Cup in Goa

The pairings for the upcoming FIDE World Cup were unveiled on Monday, with Vidit Gujrathi facing the possibility of locking horns with Argentinian chess prodigy Faustino Oro, a.k.a. the ‘Messi of Chess’ in Round 2. Another key match-up in the second round would be that of GM Divya Deshmukh, who possibly faces fellow Indian GM Nihal Sarin.

Women’s World Cup winner Divya gets another wildcard entry

Deshmukh had recently won the FIDE Women’s World Cup in Georgia after beating veteran GM Koneru Humpy in an all-Indian final, and has gained a wildcard entry into the ‘Open’ World Cup, which takes place at Resort Rio in Arpora, Goa from 1 to 26 November.

Goa World Cup 2025: Round One Pairings Revealed 🔥

From October 30 to November 27, 2025, the world’s top chess players will gather on 🇮🇳 India’s west coast for one of the most thrilling events on the calendar—the 2025 FIDE World Cup 🏆

⚔️ World Cup Pairing Tree:… pic.twitter.com/oc2rharakR

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) October 4, 2025

D Gukesh meanwhile, enters the 206-player tournament as the top seed as the reigning Classical world champion despite a handful of players currently being ahead of him on the FIDE ratings. Gukesh and the other players in the top-50  – including fellow Indian stars Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa – have been given a first-round bye and will be in action from the second round.

And going by the draw, the tournament could witness a semi-final showdown between Arjun and Pragg, with the winner then going on to face Gukesh in the final. That, however, will only happen if all three players go the distance in Goa.

Gukesh, after all, has struggled to make an impact in 2025 after his magical run last year, and it remains to be seen if he can put the the disappointment of his hat-trick of defeats at last month’s FIDE Grand Swiss behind and start afresh.

Nakamura among top players missing from Goa World Cup

World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, who had won the previous edition in 2023 in Baku after beating Praggnanandhaa in the final, is among the notable players absent from the tournament, with the Norwegian chess icon having completely withdrawn from the world championship cycle since he opted against defending his world title in 2023.

Also missing is world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura, who appears to be focused on qualifying for next year’s Candidates via the rating spot and is currently exploiting a loophole in FIDE’s rules by bulldozing his way through lower-rated tournaments such as the Louisiana State Championship and Iowa Open in order to maintain himself at the No 2 spot.

World No 3 Fabiano Caruana, meanwhile, has already qualified for the Candidates as the winner of the 2024 FIDE Circuit, and has withdrawn from the tournament along expected lines.

What’s the format of the 2025 FIDE World Cup? And what’s at stake for the players? 

The top-50 players sit out of the first round and the remaining 156 face each other. The tournament then becomes a standard 128-player knockout event with the 78 winners from Round 1 joining the top-50, which then will be followed by six more rounds.

Each round features two games with Standard time controls. In case the two players finish level on scores, tie-breaks will follow. The time controls for the tie-breaks, however, have been decreased from 25+10 to 15+10. That will be followed by two 10+10 games followed by two 5+3 games and as many 3+2 games. If the players are still on level terms, then the winner will be decided via an Armageddon showdown.

The players, meanwhile, will be fighting for a place in next year’s Candidates with the top-three players set to qualify for the prestigious tournament where the winner will challenge Gukesh for his world title. The World Cup also features a $2 million prize fund, in which the winner and the runner-up bag $120,000 and $85,000 respectievely and first-round losers are guaranteed $3,500.