Esports World Cup Week 4 Day 1 recap: Chess EWC kicks off

Week four of the 2025 Esports World Cup kicked off on Tuesday, July 29, with Chess and PUBG Mobile getting clear air before Mobile Legends: Bang Bang returns on Wednesday and Overwatch 2 starts on Thursday.

Make sure you check out the top esports betting sites, which will offer outright betting markets and individual match markets throughout the tournament.

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Chess Esports World Cup

The opening day of the Chess Esports World Cup featured three series in each of the four groups, with four players securing their playoff spots after claiming wins in the upper bracket final.

After the second day of competition, the playoffs bracket will be set, with the other four spots going to the lower bracket final winners.

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  The bookies' bookie

Day 1 results

Group A

• Andrey Esipenko (1.5) defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi (0.5)
• Levon Aronian (1.5) defeated Vladislav Artemiev (1.5) – won in a tiebreaker
• Levon Aronian (2) defeated Andrey Esipenko (0) – Levon Aronian advanced to playoffs

Group B

• Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (1.5) defeated Anish Giri (0.5)
• Arjun Erigaisi (2) defeated Nihal Sarin (0)
• Arjun Erigaisi (2) defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (1) – Arjun Erigaisi advanced to playoffs

Group C

• Hikaru Nakamura (2) defeated Javokhir Sindarov (0)
• Alireza Firouzja (1.5) defeated Wei Yi (0.5)
• Alireza Firouzja (1.5) defeated Hikaru Nakamura (1.5) – Alireza Firouzja won in a tiebreaker & advancd to playoffs

Group D

• Magnus Carlsen (1.5) defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov (0.5)
• Jan-Krzysztof Duda (1.5) defeated Fabiano Caruana (0.5)
• Magnus Carlsen (1.5) defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda (0.5) – Magnus Carlsen advanced to playoffs

PUBG Mobile World Cup

Day one of the PUBG Mobile World Cup survival stage featured six of the 12 games that are scheduled to be held over the two days. Following the first six games, Fire Flux Esports, POWR eSports and Regnum Carya Esports sit inside the top three in the standings.