Chess.com Open Play-In 3: 15-Year-Old Movahed, Dubov Hold Off Caruana To Qualify

Fifteen-year-old GM Sina Movahed won Play-In 3 of the 2026 Chess.com Open with 7.5/9 and picked GM Arjun Erigaisi as his knockout opponent. Four players scored 7/9, with GMs Vladislav Artemiev and Nihal Sarin missing out on tiebreaks, while GMs Daniil Dubov and Fabiano Caruana went to a playoff. Dubov won both games and said his first impulse was to pick GM Magnus Carlsen “without thinking for too long,” before choosing GM Javokhir Sindarov instead. 

The fourth and final GM Play-In will be on Wednesday, March 25, starting at 12:00 p.m. ET / 17:00 CET / 9:30 p.m. IST.

85 players competed in the third GM Play-In, including three players who made it through Sunday’s 2nd Titled Qualifier, IMs Aarav Dengla (about to officially become India’s 93rd GM), Polina Shuvalova, and Marco Materia. All performed creditably, but especially 16-year-old Materia, who beat five GMs and scored 5.5/8, despite missing round one! 

An even younger player topped the table, however, after another incredibly tight battle.  

Chess.com Open Play-In 3 Final Standings 

See full standings.

With only one Play-In remaining we know all but two of the 16 players who will compete for the $50,000 top prize and three spots in the Esports World Cup. 

Chess.com Open Play-Offs Bracket

The format was the standard one for the Play-Ins: a nine-round Swiss open with games played at 10 minutes per player with no increment. The top player would qualify directly, while the second and third-placed players would compete in a two-game mini-match.

As this was the penultimate chance to qualify the margin for error was small, so that any loss was painful. GM Wesley So fell in the first round, while in round two GM Levon Aronian was put to the sword by GM Alan Pichot, and GM Nihal Sarin self-destructed after taking a 1.5-minute think in this promising position.   

Nihal would fight all the way back to a tie for second place at the end, but the early loss impacted his tiebreaks.

Another player to suffer in round two was GM Hans Niemann, for whom a huge edge on the clock didn’t matter when he hung his queen.

Karthikeyan Murali catches Hans Niemann’s queen, provoking a furious reaction! https://t.co/CrjgIghBIw pic.twitter.com/a9vGxxDlYF

— chess24 (@chess24com) March 23, 2026

The early frontrunner was a player whose main focus this week will be the FIDE Candidates Tournament that starts on Sunday: Caruana. He wasn’t the only Candidate taking time out from preparation, with GMs Andrey Esipenko and Matthias Bluebaum also in action, and even playing each other (a turnaround win for Esipenko). Caruana looked to be the player most determined not to have to play the fourth Play-In, however, as he was in sparkling form. 

Pichot was blown off the board in 19 moves in round three.

A round later, 18-year-old IM Read Samadov was putting up resistance until grabbing a pawn on b6 ran into the beautiful refutation 41…Rb7!!.

Taking the rook with the bishop runs into a knight fork on c4, winning the queen.

Caruana’s momentum continued into round five, when he faced Movahed, the only other player on a perfect score, and won easily after refuting a wild attack in the 6.Be2 Najdorf. The commentators talked about how Caruana could afford to cruise a little for the remaining rounds of the event.

As it happened, however, fortunes were about to turn. In the next round Caruana’s lead was stolen by Dubov, who played an impressive game.

The wheels seemed to come off completely for Caruana as he then lost the next game as well, falling to Artemiev despite entering mutual time trouble with a healthy lead on the clock.

Huge frustration for Caruana, who blunders and loses a 2nd game in a row, to Artemiev, leaving him a point off the leaders with 2 rounds to go! https://t.co/xKxnvEXDva pic.twitter.com/8DhBqP2Bjc

— chess24 (@chess24com) March 23, 2026

That wasn’t the end of the story, but first we should get to Movahed, who would turn out to be the hero of the day.

The recent winner of the ChessKid Under 16 Youth Championship was the player who defeated So in round one, and it was a win completely on merit. Stars such as GMs Parham Maghsoodloo, Alexey Sarana, Nihal, and Aravindh Chithambaram would follow, and he might well have inflicted the day’s only loss on Artemiev in the final round if he hadn’t known as a near certainty that a draw would be enough to qualify.

“You have to beat four or five super-GMs, which is very tough, especially in rapid,” said Movahed on why he hadn’t qualified previously, but this time he managed. He noted he’d played “very well” in the first Play-In but been unlucky, before adding: “This time I played good enough and I was very lucky!”

This time I played good enough and I was very lucky!

—Sina Movahed 

Movahed cited as an example the penultimate round, when Dubov suddenly blundered a full rook with 36.Nf1??.

“When I thought it was going my way, I blundered a free rook, literally a free rook in a much better position, in a game more or less for first place,” was how Dubov described that incident, but he had absolutely no complaints, since he felt he’d been the one on the receiving end of gifts:

If people blunder each game then I am still capable of winning games, apparently… I have to say it’s much easier to play when people blunder a lot!

If people blunder each game then I am still capable of winning games, apparently!

—Daniil Dubov

An example of such blunders was when, with five minutes on the clock, GM Nikolas Theodorou made a very bad choice of how to capture back on g8.

Dubov recovered from his unfortunate loss to win the next game and reach a playoff for the second spot, where he would be joined by a player who had an even rougher ride.

After two losses in a row, Caruana had to win on demand in round eight, and was well on course to do that against Theodorou. He lost his way, however, and then was left with one hope—the clock! The U.S. star pulled it off, leaving it just a side note that his Greek opponent had mate-in-seven in the final position.

Caruana flags his way to victory to keep some hopes alive going into the last round! https://t.co/QhEXnn5RSv pic.twitter.com/wq6Ft5iG5Q

— chess24 (@chess24com) March 23, 2026

The same story repeated itself in the final round. GM Vidit Gujrathi had played a fine unbeaten tournament, including dispatching So in the previous round, and if he’d won he would have matched Movahed’s 7.5/9. That could easily have happened after Caruana again lost control, but again the clock came to the rescue. He had 1.3 seconds remaining when Vidit flagged.

That recovery to finish in second place made it feel like this was Caruana’s day, but the first game of the qualification match that followed suddenly turned Dubov’s way. 22…d5!, threatening …Ra6 and …d4, was brutal.

In fact Caruana had been doomed a move earlier when he played the completely natural-looking 21.Qa1?.

That meant the second game was a must-win for Caruana to force an armageddon decider. He played the King’s Indian Defense and, eventually, did get winning chances, though Dubov summed up what happened as follows:

Then in the second game unfortunately he didn’t blunder much until we got into a time scramble, and then I don’t think it really mattered. I was probably worse at some point, but I think we both felt that once you are under 20 seconds you start playing random moves, and whatever happens, happens. Even if I lose all the pawns he’s not going to win and checkmate me, someone will be flagged. I was lucky one more time! 

Once you are under 20 seconds you start playing random moves, and whatever happens, happens.

—Daniil Dubov

Caruana got the winning position he needed but lost control in the time scramble and Dubov delivered checkmate to reach the Playoffs! https://t.co/v4vaPmi39A pic.twitter.com/NBGF5SX5Lj

— chess24 (@chess24com) March 23, 2026

Dubov’s description is accurate, even if Caruana was very close to the win he needed.

Dubov was asked about playing from bed, and explained that he’d done it since the “professional” approach hadn’t been working out for him:

I don’t want to be serious about it anymore. I had a tough day and I thought, OK, I will play from my bed and they will probably beat me twice in the first five rounds. I’ll probably quit and go and have fun, but it wasn’t meant to be!

I’ll probably quit and go and have fun, but it wasn’t meant to be!

—Daniil Dubov

All that was left was the business of picking an opponent for the double-elimination knockout. Movahed explained: “My experience is better against the madman, Arjun, so I will pick Arjun Erigaisi!”

That left Dubov the options of Carlsen, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, or Sindarov. When asked how he approached the decision he commented, “My first intention was to take Magnus without thinking for too long,” before having second thoughts: “Let me actually face my good friend Javokhir!”

That leaves just one Play-In on Wednesday to decide the final two spots, which will be the last chance for the likes of So and Caruana—can they squeeze in at the last moment? 

How To Watch

The Chess.com Open, taking place online from March 14 to April 26, is the world’s biggest open chess event. The tournament features open qualifiers, titled qualifiers, and Play-Ins that funnel into a 16-player double-elimination knockout. Up to $250,000 in prizes are available, on top of three direct qualification spots to the 2026 Esports World Cup. 

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