 "M Pranesh and Vincent Keymer won the Challengers and Masters' titles at the Chennai Grand Masters tournament while Arjun Erigaisi narrowly missed out on the title once again. Image: Chennai Grand Masters/Freestyle Chess")
Germany’s Vincent Keymer and India’s M Pranesh were crowned winners of the Masters and Challengers sections respectively as the third edition of the Chennai Grand Masters tournament concluded on Friday, with Arjun Erigaisi finishing runner-up for a third year in a row.
Keymer had already clinched the title with a game to spare, signing off with a breezy win over USA’s Ray Robson to bring his final score to 7 out of 9. The German GM thus earns Rs 25 lakh (US$ 28,500 approx), a place among the world’s top-10 as well as 24 crucial FIDE Circuit points that will count towards the qualification for next year’s Candidates tournament.
Indian GM Erigaisi, who lost the title to compatriots D Gukesh and Aravindh Chithambaram in 2023 and 2024 respectively, finished joint-second on five points with Anish Giri and Karthikeyan Murali.
Erigaisi and Karthikeyan split the point in the final round while Awonder Liang was held by Vidit Gujrathi. Nihal Sarin outplayed Pranav V to leapfrog into the mid-table.
The defining win of the day came on board three, where Giri defeated Jordan van Foreest with black pieces to join Erigaisi and Karthikeyan in second place.
Indian GM Pranesh, on the other hand, emerged triumphant despite a setback in the final round – suffering a defeat against IM GB Harshvardhan despite playing as white.
The section saw dramatic swings as Pa Iniyan stunned Abhimanyu Puranik, while Adhiban Baskaran overcame Leon Luke Mendonca in a clash that propelled the former level on points with Leon and Abhimanyu in second spot.
Diptayan Ghosh and Aryan Chopra also ended on a high, defeating Vaishali Rameshbabu and Dronavalli Harika, respectively.
But Pranesh (6.5 points) had built a crucial .5 lead from the previous day which came handy for him despite the contenders making a strong dash.
However, in the final round he went down to IM GB Harshavardhan.
But Pranesh became richer by Rs 7 lakh and also earned a promotion to the Masters category next year.
With PTI inputs