GM Alexander Donchenko defeats compatriot GM Matthias Blübaum in Round 4 of the FIDE World Cup 2025! After GM Anish Giri in the previous round, Blübaum is now the second Candidates participant he has eliminated in the World Cup. 😮

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Alexander Donchenko: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jplEdbUyOg

GM Lê Quang Liêm advances to the Round of 16 in the World Cup, drawing Game 1 against GM Karthik Venkataraman and winning Game 2 with the black pieces.

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Lê Quang Liêm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouI8xv_d6BY

The 595. Lichess Bundesliga with 500+ teams and 4000+ players starts in 25 minutes, join the action! https://lichess.org/tournament/MvrmzUkl
All team pairings: https://lichess.org/forum/team-lichess-discord-bundesliga-team/595-lichess-bundesliga--november-13th--team-pairings

The 10th and final ChessMood 20/20 Grand Prix Qualifier Arena - again featuring a $1,000 prize fund - will be held on 20th November at 20:00 UTC! The event is open to all Lichess streamer teams.

Read our full announcement and register your team now.

GM Arjun Erigaisi defeated GM Peter Leko 2-0 in the tiebreaks and advances to Round 5 of the FIDE World Cup!

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Arjun Erigaisi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK_pO01-Ss8

GM Daniil Dubov defeated GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in Round 4 of the FIDE World Cup 2025, while GM Vincent Keymer, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and GM Matthias Blübaum were eliminated as well.

Read our recap, watch our interviews on YouTube, and follow all the games of Round 5 in our broadcast at 09:45 UTC.

📷 Michal Walusza / FIDE

GM Sam Shankland was "dumbstruck at how easy it was" after beating GM Richard Rapport 2-0 in the rapid tiebreaks of Round 4 of the FIDE World Cup, adding that "Richard is normally much stronger than that".

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Sam Shankland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1dyy4iEunU

GM Andrey Esipenko eliminated GM Vincent Keymer, current No. 4 in the world, and faces GM Aleksey Grebnev in the next round of the FIDE World Cup!

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Andrey Esipenko: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXN6QCOx0kc

GM Samuel Sevian likes to solve Lichess puzzles in preparation for the faster tiebreak games!

He managed to defeat the Italian GM Lorenzo Lodici - who previously eliminated GM Hans Niemann and GM Michael Adams - in their final tiebreak Sudden Death game of Round 4!

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Samuel Sevian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxNSkF7F208

Congratulations to K2N_chess for winning our Streamer Arena November 2025! 🎉

Congrats also to IM YOSEPH AND FRIENDS for taking 2nd place, to Chess City Team for 3rd place, and to ChessExpertsTeam for 4th place.

Thanks to all participating streamers and 1,316 registered players!

GM Arjun Erigaisi eliminates GM Levon Aronian in Round 5 of the FIDE World Cup and advances to the Quarter-Finals!

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Arjun Erigaisi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzSPVXGQcUs

GM Wei Yi wins the second game and the match against GM Samuel Sevian in Round 5 of the FIDE World Cup!

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Wei Yi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSpG4qzRyeg

GM Javokhir Sindarov beats GM Frederik Svane to advance to the Quarter-Finals of the FIDE World Cup!

He joined us to discuss the match and to talk about playing bullet and Puzzle Storm on Lichess.

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Javokhir Sindarov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGk9nYJA1PA

The 596. Lichess Bundesliga with 500+ teams and 4000+ players starts in 55 minutes: https://lichess.org/tournament/WsI8LOlD
https://lichess.org/forum/team-lichess-discord-bundesliga-team/596-lichess-bundesliga--november-16th--team-pairings

GM Alexander Donchenko won a tense match against GM Lê Quang Liêm in Round 5 of the FIDE World Cup 2025 to advance to the Quarterfinals!

Among others, top seeds GM Arjun Erigaisi and GM Wei Yi will face each other in the next round.

➡️ Read our recap, watch our interviews on YouTube, and follow the games in our broadcast at 09:45 UTC.

Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE

Check out our new puzzle theme: the Balestra Mate. Read about how we identify these patterns from our puzzles database in the blog post by @dirkster99 and get involved.

Start in 45 minutes: 165. Lichess Rapid League https://lichess.org/tournament/zdJ68fRy
Links of all leagues: https://lichess.org/forum/team-rapid-league-info/lichess-rapid-league-165th-edition-november-17th-monday-all-team-pairings#1
Join the info team https://lichess.org/team/rapid-league-info

Due to a Cloudflare outage outside of our control, you may experience issues when accessing our website. Cloudflare is working on a fix and we are monitoring the situation: https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/incidents/8gmgl950y3h7

We will keep you updated and apologize for the inconvenience.

In the meantime, you can use our mobile app, which is not affected by the issues:

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.lichess.mobileV2
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lichess/id1662361230

Lichess should be back online.

According to Cloudflare, "a fix has been implemented" and they "believe the incident is now resolved". We will continue to monitor the situation: https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/incidents/8gmgl950y3h7

We apologize again for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

GM Nodirbek Yakubboev crossed 2700 in the live ratings and is the first player to advance to the Semifinals of the FIDE World Cup!

He defeated GM Alexander Donchenko in Game 1 of the Quarterfinals and won the match by drawing Game 2 today.

➡️ Watch our interview with GM Nodirbek Yakubboev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yceeBuovG7s

GM Wei Yi, GM Javokhir Sindarov, GM Andrey Esipenko, and GM Nodirbek Yakubboev are through to the Semifinals of the FIDE World Cup 2025!

➡️ Read our recap, watch our interviews on YouTube, and follow all the games in our broadcast.

The tournament will continue on 21 November at 09:45 UTC, after tomorrow's rest day.

Photo: Michał Walusza / FIDE