World Cup 2025 Delivers Wild Round 2

This was the tiebreak day where things got WILD. Here are the biggest storylines:

MASSIVE UPSET: Lorenzo Lodici (2572) eliminated Hans Niemann (2729) in the upset of the day. Lodici said he "felt the pressure much more than me and that was kind of what did the trick." Magnus Carlsen even joined the broadcast to call it "an absolutely wild game."

CRAZY MARATHON MATCH: Rasmus Svane defeated Rauf Mamedov after NINE tiebreak games, reaching the first Armageddon tiebreak of the entire event.

INDIAN DRAMA:

Pragg's Miracle Escape: Praggnanandhaa nearly got eliminated by Temur Kuybokarov after playing an unsound piece sacrifice in the second classical game, but escaped with a perpetual check "by the skin of his teeth". He then advanced in the 5+3 blitz portion.

Vidit vs. 12-Year-Old: Vidit Gujrathi defeated 12-year-old prodigy Faustino Oro, drawing the first game and winning the second to advance.

Indian Casualties: Nihal Sarin was eliminated after missing several opportunities against Greek GM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis, while Aravindh Chithambaram lost to compatriot K Venkatramanan.

Winners Who Advanced: Abdusattorov, Vidit, Sam Sevian, Pragg, Yu Yangyi, Pouya Idani, S L Narayanan, and Michael Adams all advanced to Round 3.

More to explore:

1. Why the World Cup Feels Like the Most Democratic Event in Chess
2. FIDE World Cup 2025 - Round 1 Tiebreak Drama
3. Diptayan Ghosh Eliminates Nepomniachtchi, Leaving No Russians in the Candidates