Biggest Blunders of the World Cup 2025 (Classical)

Why not include tiebreaks? Simple: rapid and blitz playoffs are a blunder festival by nature. Under desperate time pressure, even top grandmasters can hang a rook in one move... just ask Esipenko. Fun to watch, but not really instructive.

Classical games, on the other hand, offer blunders that actually teach us something - and you’ll see exactly what in the diagrams and explanations that follow. Each example comes with a brief commentary highlighting the key moments, so you can pause, try to find the right move yourself, and take away a lesson from every mistake.

If you haven’t already, you might also want to check out my Top 10 Games of the FIDE World Cup 2025, published yesterday, for a selection of the tournament’s most exciting and instructive classical battles **HERE.> > > > With that in mind, let’s jump straight into the Biggest Blunders of the FIDE World Cup 2025 (Classical) - starting with our first example:

**#10 Yakubboev vs Esipenko> > > > WHITE TO MOVE.

Bxd5 was played. Why is it a blunder?
Think also about an alternative.

WHY: White needed to create some imbalance, that’s the first point, but he likely overlooked his opponent’s strong reply with b5!

**#9 Cardoso vs Jobava> > > > BLACK TO MOVE.

Qxf4 was played. Why is it a blunder?
Think also about an alternative.

WHY: Black was already a pawn up, and the key in the position was to stabilize. Instead, greed took over: Black captured another pawn, but in doing so, White gained a strong initiative.

**#8 Fedoseev vs Wojtazsek> > > > WHITE TO MOVE.

Nd1 was played. Why is it a blunder?
Think also about an alternative.

WHY: White likely overlooked the move Ng8. Knight ́s backward moves are often easy to miss, and in this case, the maneuver proved very strong.

**#7 Karthikeyan vs Idani> > > > WHITE TO MOVE.

Ne4 was played. Why is it a blunder?
Think also about an alternative.

WHY: White probably overlooked tactical possibilities on c2.

**#6 Aronian vs Erigaisi> > > > WHITE TO MOVE.

Qf1 was played. Why is it a blunder?
Think also about an alternative.

WHY: With the move Qf1, White loses coordination with his piece on e3, allowing a tactical strike through h2. Fatigue likely played a role, as White had to defend a difficult position against one of the world’s best tacticians. Surprisingly, his opponent didn’t fully capitalize on the opportunity.

**#5 Van Foreest vs Sarana> > > > BLACK TO MOVE.

Kh8 was played. Why is it a blunder?
Think also about an alternative.

WHY: Of course, Black overlooked a neat tactical shot. The key to successfully defending this position was returning material in time, as is often the case in such situations.

**#4 Tari vs Pranav> > > > WHITE TO MOVE.

G4 was played. Why is it a blunder?
Think also about an alternative.

WHY: A classic notorious blunder around move 40. White wanted to relieve the pressure on g3, but instead created a tactical weakness. The key move for gaining the initiative was Rh5.

**#3 Motylev vs Avila> > > > WHITE TO MOVE.

Re1 was played. Why is it a blunder?
Think also about an alternative.

WHY: Honestly, it’s hard to draw a clear conclusion here. Either White made a huge blunder, or it was an act of desperation.

**#2 Stremavicius vs So> > > > BLACK TO MOVE.

Would you resign here?

WHY: We all know what happened here: a top-10 player resigned in a drawn position, which we can definitely call a blunder. What lesson can be learned from this?
See for yourself on the board.

**#1 Makhnev vs Flores> > > > BLACK TO MOVE.

Qd6 was played. Why is it a blunder?
Think also about an alternative.

> > > > WHY:* Black tries to threaten mate, but fails to realize that White had already delivered it first.