Overview
- Diptayan Ghosh eliminated Ian Nepomniachtchi in Round 2 by winning the second classical game with Black after drawing the first, taking the match 1.5–0.5.
- The decisive game followed the Ruy Lopez Morphy Defense, where Ghosh sacrificed his dark-squared bishop on move 18 to seize the initiative.
- Engines showed a clear edge for Ghosh in the endgame, and Nepomniachtchi resigned on move 46 after entering an opposite-colored bishops position.
- Nepomniachtchi, a two-time Candidates winner and two-time World Championship runner-up, exited the event after receiving a first-round bye.
- Ghosh called it the biggest win of his career, telling FIDE that defeating Nepomniachtchi was “the icing on the cake,” as other Indians like Arjun Erigaisi and D. Gukesh also advanced.