Overview
- Germany’s Frederik Svane eliminated D Gukesh 1.5–0.5, converting a knight-and-pawn endgame after an Italian Game to hand the top seed a round‑three exit in Goa.
- Other heavyweights fell as well, with Anish Giri ousted by Alexander Donchenko and Nodirbek Abdusattorov beaten by Jose Martinez, as a strong German cohort advanced.
- Four Indians reached Round 4: R Praggnanandhaa defeated Robert Hovhannisyan, while Arjun Erigaisi, Pentala Harikrishna and V. Pranav qualified after securing needed draws; Erigaisi next faces Peter Leko.
- Vidit Gujrathi, S L Narayanan and Karthik Venkataraman head to Sunday tiebreaks (from 3 p.m. IST), with places in the last 32 still to be decided.
- Off‑board moments included a viral video of six security guards escorting Gukesh, a formal warning to Pranav V over scorekeeping, and an arbiter touch‑move ruling in Keymer–Pranesh that preceded a draw before Keymer won the match.