GM Vincent Keymer made it 3/3 with another brilliant win, this time over GM Karthikeyan Murali, but he leads the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025 by only half a point after GM Arjun Erigaisi eased to victory over GM Ray Robson. It was a day of four white wins, with GM Awonder Liang defeating GM Jorden van Foreest and GM Vidit Gujrathi again flirting with disaster before beating GM Nihal Sarin. GM Anish Giri made the only draw, against GM Pranav Venkatesh, and it cost the Dutchman a place in the world top-10.
GMs Pranesh M and Abhimanyu Puranik lead the Challengers after wins over IM Harshavardhan G B and GM Iniyan P, respectively, while GM Leon Luke Mendonca bounced back to squeeze out a win over GM Vaishali Rameshbabu in a rook endgame.
Round three will start on Sunday, August 10, at 5:30 a.m. ET/11:30 CEST/3 p.m. IST.
Standings After Round 3: Challengers
Masters: Keymer, Arjun, Liang, Vidit All Win
Keymer is now up to world no. 15, with the top-10 in his sights, after a third win in a row against Indian opposition. “Today’s game was maybe the smoothest I had so far,” said the German number-one, whose rare 6.Bf4 seemed to catch Karthikeyan, a late replacement for GM Vladimir Fedoseev, off-guard.
Keymer feared his opponent might have known the line well since it was played by GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov against GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in the recent UzChess Cup Masters, though it helped that Praggnanandhaa played the same 6…d6 and went on to win with Black. Keymer pointed out, “6…Bb4 is kind of the move you can play, and if you know another 30 engine moves you’ll make a draw with Black!”
That powerful win is our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.
Keymer isn’t a runaway leader yet, since top-seed Arjun scored his second win in three games to move to 2.5/3—and also yo-yo back to Indian number-one and world number-four, above Praggnanandhaa.
The game followed an infamous predecessor, GM Christopher Yoo vs. GM Fabiano Caruana from the 2024 U.S. Chess Championship, which saw Yoo expelled from the tournament after reacting violently after he lost.
Arjun varied with the modest 8.Nf3!? but went on to build a huge advantage in space and, perhaps more importantly, on the clock. Robson played 24…a5?! with under two minutes to spare, while Arjun still had 37 minutes. The almost inevitable outcome followed.
There was another one-sided win, for Liang over Van Foreest, but to hear the 22-year-old American talk about it the win was a complete accident. He cheerfully exclaimed on the live broadcast: “I’m not really sure what happened! Somehow we were just making moves and then he resigned, and I was like, ‘What?'”
Somehow we were just making moves and then he resigned, and I was like, “What?”
—Awonder Liang on his win over Jorden van Foreest
Liang, who said he was playing his first super-tournament apart from the U.S. Championship, also reflected, “Here’s the thing—I don’t actually know how to play chess!” before lamenting, “Unfortunately during the game there’s no [eval] bar, and that makes it really hard for me!”
The game saw queens exchanged on move seven, but was more or less equal until Van Foreest grabbed a pawn on c3 with the wrong knight and was immediately punished by 22.Nd4!. There was no way back.
Asked about how he was enjoying India, Liang commented, “The players here are too good… Gotta beat the non-Indians!”
The players here are too good… Gotta beat the non-Indians!
—Awonder Liang on playing in India for the first time
The day’s final win came in a clash of two players who had both suffered gut-wrenching losses in rollercoaster games in the first two rounds. It would be the same scenario again, with Vidit finally going on to win after Nihal’s 43…c6? was the last blunder.
44.Bh6! was a crushing blow and Vidit went on to convert, though before that he’d spoilt a close-to-winning position and Nihal had looked on the brink of victory himself.
Nihal resigns against Vidit and Round 3 of the Chennai Grand Masters is over! pic.twitter.com/0fyba0r5jx
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 9, 2025
The one player who didn’t manage to win with the white pieces was Giri, who borrowed an idea GM Boris Gelfand had once played against him in an online game to gain an edge. A case of the wrong rook then let Pranav back into the game, and a long grind that stretched to move 71 didn’t help Giri, who slipped out of the top-10 in favor of GM Wesley So.
For Giri to pick up his first win he’ll need to beat leader Keymer with the black pieces in Sunday’s round four, while Nihal follows a tough loss by facing Arjun.
Challengers: Pranesh Hits The Front, Joined By Abhimanyu
GM Harika Dronavalli got on the scoreboard after two losses with a draw against GM Adhiban Baskaran, but her compatriot Vaishali fell to a first loss after Mendonca squeezed out a win in a drawish endgame.
Mendonca is in third place on 2/3, while Abhimanyu leads on 2.5/3 after a comfortable win over bottom-seed Harshavardhan. He’s joined at the top by 18-year-old Pranesh, who scored a win in a 6.f4 Najdorf. Iniyan didn’t help his cause with the strange 14…Rf8?!, but the way Pranesh dominated across the board was impressive.
In round four Pranesh will be Black against Adhiban, while Abhimanyu is White against Vaishali.
How To Watch
The 3rd edition of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters is taking place August 7-15, 2025, in Chennai, India. There are two 10-play round-robins, the Masters and the Challengers, with 90 minutes for all moves, plus a 30-second increment from move 1. The top prize is ₹25,00,000, which is almost $30,000.
