 "Arjun Erigaisi becomes India's No.1 chess player in live rating after first round win at Chennai Grand Masters 2025")
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi is the new Indian No.1, at least in the live ratings, as he defeated American Awonder Liang to make a winning start to the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025 on Thursday (7 August). With his 49-move victory over Liang, Erigaisi jumped to the fourth spot in the live world ranking, surpassing compatriot R Praggnanandhaa.
Arjun recaptures No.1 Indian chess player spot
Arjun, who has a best Elo rating of 2801, is currently on 2779.9, while Praggnanandhaa is 2779. World champion D Gukesh, who suffered a crushing 5-1 defeat to Jan Krzysztof Duda in a series of exhibition blitz games on Thursday, is in the sixth spot with a live rating of 2776. Magnus Carlsen (2839), as always, is at the top, followed by Hikaru Nakamura (2807) and Fabiano Caruana (2784).
Besides Arjun, Germany’s young prodigy Vincent Keymer was the only one to win a match in the first round, as he defeated India’s Nihal Sarin in 52 moves despite facing time trouble.
Dutch GM Anish Giri, who was playing with White pieces, was held to a draw by American Ray Robson. Vidit Gujrathi suffered the same fate against the Netherlands’ Jorden van Foreest.
The all-India clash between V Pranav (White) and Karthikeyan Murali also ended in a draw.
The Chennai Grand Masters 2025 was scheduled to start on Wednesday (6 August), but it was postponed by a day after a fire broke out at the venue – Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chennai. The fire reportedly broke out in a pantry on the 12th floor of the hotel at around 12.30 am on Wednesday. None of the players were hurt as they were evacuated in time and spent the night at a different hotel. They returned to the venue the next day.
This is the third edition of the Chennai Grand Masters. Gukesh won the inaugural tournament in 2023, beating Arjun on tiebreaks. In 2024, Aravindh Chitharambam secured the title, beating Levon Aronian and Arjun on tiebreaks.
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