GM Vincent Keymer has won the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025 and a prize of almost $30,000 with a round to spare after making a draw against GM Jorden van Foreest. All the other games were drawn as well, with GM Arjun Erigaisi held by GM Vidit Gujrathi, while GM Karthikeyan Murali, the other player who could have delayed Keymer’s coronation, did well to survive against GM Nihal Sarin.
In the Challengers, GM Pranesh M has taken the sole lead after beating GM Harika Dronavalli and will now face the bottom seed in the final round. GMs Leon Luke Mendonca and Abhimanyu Puranik are half a point behind.
Round nine starts three hours earlier on Friday, August 15, at 2:30 a.m. ET/ 08:30 CEST / 12 p.m. IST.
Standings After Round 8: Masters
Standings After Round 8: Challengers
Masters: Keymer Clinches Title
The Chennai Grand Masters has no rest days after a fire in the hotel saw round one postponed by a day, and exhaustion may be one reason that we got our first day of all draws in the Masters. Keymer had no reason to complain about that, however, since all draws meant he kept a 1.5-point lead and can no longer be caught in the final round.
A near-perfect performance saw him gain 16.5 rating points, enter the live top-10 for the first time, pick up around $30,000, and also earn 24 FIDE Circuit points. That will take him up to sixth-seventh on the leaderboard and give him chances of Candidates qualification, at least if one or two of the frontrunners like GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu qualify by other means.
Keymer faced Dutch number-two Van Foreest, and an intriguing endgame followed just when it seemed we were headed for a draw without any drama. That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Dejan Bojkov has analyzed below.
That draw was enough for first place since neither of Keymer’s main pursuers were able to win.
Arjun seems to be trying to limit the damage as he plays in Chennai while unwell, and his opponents are wisely choosing not to poke a sleeping bear. That doesn’t mean there are no tactics, however. Vidit’s 15.Nxf7! was the only way to keep the balance.
From there, however, things fizzled out fast.
Karthikeyan was the other player who could have kept in contact with Keymer with a win, but instead he came under extreme pressure before holding against Nihal.
Draws came more easily in GM Pranav Venkatesh vs. GM Ray Robson and GM Anish Giri vs. GM Awonder Liang, with the latter game seeing Giri close to making it a perfect nine draws in Chennai.
An 8th draw now for Giri! https://t.co/I75K93X2QR pic.twitter.com/qxjCBQejra
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 14, 2025
The Dutch number-one has explained that he’s mainly treating the Chennai Grand Masters as a way to get back in the classical chess groove before playing in the FIDE Grand Swiss and the FIDE World Cup.
Giri will face his compatriot Van Foreest in the final round, while second spot may be decided in the battle of the two players who currently occupy that place, Arjun and Karthikeyan. The games start three hours earlier than in previous rounds.
Challengers: Pranesh Has Fate In His Own Hands
In the Challengers nothing is yet decided, though there’s a clear frontrunner. 18-year-old Pranesh won a third game in a row to take the sole lead after Harika stumbled with 37.Ne5? in what was an equal position. Suddenly after 37…Bf5! White was busted.
Pranesh knows he can guarantee himself the title and a place in next year’s Masters if he wins his final game, and he has every chance, since he has the white pieces against the event’s lowest-rated player, IM Harshavardhan G B, who lost in 81 moves to GM Adhiban Baskaran in round eight.
If Pranesh doesn’t win, though, that opens the door for the players in second place: Mendonca, who was held to a frustrating draw by GM Iniyan P, and Abhimanyu, who won a nail-biting endgame against GM Diptayan Ghosh. Neither player has an easy task, however: Abhimanyu has Black against Iniyan, while Mendonca is Black against Adhiban.
How To Watch
The third 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.
