Ambassador Rauan Zhumabek of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Dr. Ismaeil Alkhoury, Asian Chess Federation Assistant General Secretary for West Asia, start the clock in the Wild Card Match for FIDE Grand Swiss on 22 July 2025 in Al Ain, UAE between Kazebek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan and Pranav Venkatesh of India. Looking on are, from left Technical Delegate Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh of Iran, Al Ain Chess and Mind Games Club Manager Rajai Al Susi of Palestine and Asian Chess Federation Executive Director Casto Abundo of Philippines.
Asian Chess Federation General Secretary Hisham Al Taher (center) announces the Wild Card Match for the FIDE Grand Swiss. Assisting are ACF Executive Director Casto Abundo (left) and Sultan Al Dhaheri of the Al Ain Chess and Mind Games Club.
The match will consist of two standard chess games. In case of tie, two Rapid chess games shall be played and in case of another tie, two blitz games shall be played. Finally an Armageddon game shall decide a further tie.
In game 1, Nogerbek played aggressively with White against the Bogo Indian defense of Pranav. After an exchange of Queens on the 14th move, Nogerbek made a temporary Knight sacrifice that led to an exchange of minor pieces. Nogerbek forced a draw by repetition of position on the 30th move.
The match between the two world junior champions of 2024 and 2025 is organized by the Al Ain Chess and Mind Games Club under the auspices of Asian Chess Federation and FIDE under patronage of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council in cooperation with the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium.
Asian Chess Federation shall nominate the winner to the FIDE Grand Swiss scheduled September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
The match is being played at the VIP lounge of the Hazza Bin Zayed Football Stadium in Al Ain, UAE.
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