Prediction: 2025 FIDE World Championship Winner

As a chess enthusiast, I enjoy following FIDE tournaments in my spare time. This year, for example, I followed, among others, the FIDE World Cup, which was very instructional and, in my opinion, enlightening. The open section featured such notable players as the great grandmasters Magnus Carlsen, MVL, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, as well as many young prodigies; and it is safe to say that the prodigies performed beyond mass expectation. Vincent Keymer, for instance, took Nakamura out of the tournament; MVL lost his chance at World Champion at the hands of Javokhir Sindarov; and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa went head-to-head with Magnus Carlsen in the final rounds of the tournament. Praggnanandhaa in particular sparked mass interest, and I have heard several people predict him to be the next Magnus Carlsen. Chances seem quite high, if he continues on his track, that he might indeed stand a chance to win the 2024 World Cup, and rightfully so. However, the next question becomes, who might come after him? Who might stand a chance to win perhaps even the next year’s tournament, the 2025 World Cup?

A reasonable answer might be Vincent Keymer, who trails not too far behind Praggnanandhaa in terms of rating and strength; in my view, however, I look to Javokhir Sindarov as a promising candidate for 2025 World Champion. The 18-year old Uzbek grandmaster, who in the span of a month raised his standard FIDE rating from 2681 to 2701 (officially joining the rank of the 2700 rated players), shows every sign of becoming a formidable opponent. With big wins in the last year, particularly against MVL in the 2023 FIDE World Cup and GM Levon Aronian in the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss, and a significant drive to rise higher in mastery, 2024 promises to be a year of intense growth and challenge, particularly as he continues to face higher rated opponents and more customarily extremely high rated GMs. And between now and 2025, that could translate into the impetus needed for him to win the 2025 World Champion title.

Having seen him play against Praggnanandhaa in the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League this past summer, and having followed some of his games here and there from tournaments since then, I recognize the makings of a truly masterful player who has the realizable potential to become one of the youngest FIDE World Championship winners in history. But that’s just my opinion, and, in fact, when I get the chance, I’ll ask him if he agrees (hedging bets is a good practice in life).

Regardless of whether I am right or wrong—I can say with confidence that the next World Cup winner can definitely learn a thing or two from Humpy and Alexandra.