4th President Cup Masters 2025 R4: Nihal Sarin plays quick draw against Alexander Grischuk
Nihal Sarin made quick draw in the fourth round of 4th International President Cup 2025 Masters. The game lasted less than an hour against the former three-time World Blitz champion, Alexander Grischuk. It was a theoretical draw arising out of Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence. Yuriy Kuzubov (UKR) scored the sole victory of the round against Frederik Svane (GER). The previous round leaders - Mukhiddin Madaminov (UZB), Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB) and Nihal are still at the top of the standings with a score of 3/4 each. They are closely followed by Shant Sargsyan (ARM) and Bardiya Daneshvar (IRI) at 2.5/4 each. Round 5 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST. Photo: UzChess
Kuzubov scores the sole win
The ten-player nine-round, Round-Robin Super tournament will take place from 4th to 12th December 2025 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Grischuk - Nihal: 0.5-0.5
Former three-time World Blitz champion, GM Alexander Grischuk (2654) and GM Nihal Sarin (2701) have played a lot of games online. However, this was the first time they faced each other in a Classical rating tournament. The game was a quiet theoretical draw arising out of Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence.

Replay Round 4 games
Round 4 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2561 | GM | Abdisalimov, Abdimalik | ½ - ½ | GM | Lagarde, Maxime | 2608 | 7 | PGN | ||
| 2 | 8 | 2610 | GM | Kuzubov, Yuriy | 1 - 0 | GM | Svane, Frederik | 2653 | 6 | PGN | ||
| 3 | 9 | 2654 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | ½ - ½ | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2701 | 5 | PGN | ||
| 4 | 1 | 2665 | GM | Sargsyan, Shant | ½ - ½ | GM | Vokhidov, Shamsiddin | 2641 | 4 | PGN | ||
| 5 | 2 | 2552 | GM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | ½ - ½ | GM | Daneshvar, Bardiya | 2600 | 3 | PGN |
Standings after Round 4
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | w-we | K | rtg+/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | UZB | 2552 | 3 | 0 | 4,5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1,37 | 10 | 13,7 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | Vokhidov, Shamsiddin | UZB | 2641 | 3 | 0 | 4,5 | 2 | 0 | 0,5 | 0,96 | 10 | 9,6 | |
| 3 | 5 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | IND | 2701 | 3 | 0 | 3,75 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0,61 | 10 | 6,1 | |
| 4 | 1 | GM | Sargsyan, Shant | ARM | 2665 | 2,5 | 0 | 5,25 | 1 | 0 | 1,5 | 0,09 | 10 | 0,9 | |
| 5 | 3 | GM | Daneshvar, Bardiya | IRI | 2600 | 2,5 | 0 | 4,75 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0,61 | 10 | 6,1 | |
| 6 | 8 | GM | Kuzubov, Yuriy | UKR | 2610 | 1,5 | 0 | 2,5 | 1 | 0 | 0,5 | -0,29 | 10 | -2,9 | |
| 7 | 7 | GM | Lagarde, Maxime | FRA | 2608 | 1,5 | 0 | 2,5 | 0 | 0 | 0,5 | -0,33 | 10 | -3,3 | |
| 8 | 6 | GM | Svane, Frederik | GER | 2653 | 1 | 1 | 1,25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1,18 | 10 | -11,8 | |
| 10 | GM | Abdisalimov, Abdimalik | UZB | 2561 | 1 | 1 | 1,25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0,67 | 10 | -6,7 | ||
| 10 | 9 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | FID | 2654 | 1 | 3 | 2,75 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1,17 | 10 | -11,7 |
Round 5 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2600 | GM | Daneshvar, Bardiya | GM | Abdisalimov, Abdimalik | 2561 | 10 | ||||
| 2 | 4 | 2641 | GM | Vokhidov, Shamsiddin | GM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 2552 | 2 | ||||
| 3 | 5 | 2701 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | GM | Sargsyan, Shant | 2665 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | 6 | 2653 | GM | Svane, Frederik | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2654 | 9 | ||||
| 5 | 7 | 2608 | GM | Lagarde, Maxime | GM | Kuzubov, Yuriy | 2610 | 8 |
Links
Uzbekistan Chess Federation : Official site, Telegram and fb page
