GM Vincent Keymer defeated GM Awonder Liang in round seven of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025 to break into the world top 10 for the first time. GM Arjun Erigaisi trails by 1.5 points after a quiet draw against GM Anish Giri and is joined in second place by GM Karthikeyan Murali, who won a thriller against GM Vidit Gujrathi. The day’s other winner was GM Nihal Sarin, against GM Ray Robson, while GM Jorden van Foreest looked on course to beat GM Pranav Venkatesh, but missed a trick in a queen endgame.
In the Challengers, GMs Pranesh M and Leon Luke Mendonca took over as co-leaders after defeating GMs Vaishali Rameshbabu and Diptayan Ghosh, with longtime leader GM Abhimanyu Puranik a half-point back after making a draw against GM Aryan Chopra.
Round eight will start on Thursday, August 14, at 5:30 a.m. ET/11:30 CEST/3 p.m. IST.
Standings After Round 7: Challengers
Masters: Keymer’s Dream Tournament Continues
Trailing the leader by a full point with only three rounds to go, it seemed Arjun was sure to push for a win with White in round eight, which was why Giri was initially pleased to have made a quick and comfortable draw. His perception would change after the game, however. He explained on the live broadcast:
I was happier until we spoke, for two reasons. First, he told me he was anyway out to make a draw, so my great achievement of making another draw wasn’t so great after all! The other reason was that I already suspected from the way he looked that he might have a virus, and I wanted to resist, but I was so curious from a professional point of view about the opening, to know what was the point, so I took the risk of asking him. I leaned in and I asked him something, he replied, and I’m afraid it might have entered my body now!
I leaned in and I asked him something, he replied, and I’m afraid [the virus] might have entered my body now!
—Anish Giri on his post-mortem with Arjun Erigaisi

Giri explained that he was puzzled that Arjun had gone for the same Queen’s Gambit Accepted line with 7.Be2 that GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu had used to beat Giri in Bucharest in 2024.
“To lose two times in the same line would be very damaging for my reputation as an opening expert, so that was my main concern,” said the Dutchman, adding, “Once people think they can play the same line against you that they played before, you cannot prepare anymore, because suddenly you have to check everything!”
That draw for Arjun gave Keymer the chance to extend his lead, but the German number-one’s opponent, Liang, could also have caught him with a win. The day before, the U.S. star had hit 2700 on the live rating list for the first time in his career, but he didn’t exactly exude confidence when asked about the upcoming struggle. He told commentator Kincso Toth:
Tomorrow I play Vincent Keymer, so preparing for a loss there already! I’ll do everything I can to stave off his play. He looks like he’s in really good form, so I’ll try and survive there and maintain my 2700 for one more hour.
At first, the negativity seemed out of place, since the opening went well for the American. Keymer confessed, “my opening today wasn’t really good, I was worse, I was imprecise,” but none of that mattered after the way Liang responded to 18…f5. Keymer called 19.Qb3? (19.exf5!) “kind of insane,” and after 19…f4! 20.Bd2 b5! he reflected, “This is the kind of position that if I don’t win, it’s really on me!”
To his credit, Liang later found ways to ask questions, but nothing could stop Keymer from scoring a hugely important win.
That’s our Game of the Day, which has been analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao below.
The victory knocked Liang out of the 2700 club again, but at the same time, it saw 20-year-old Keymer enter the world’s top 10, at least on the live rating list. Sometimes players play down such achievements, but Keymer called it “truly a special and memorable moment for me.”
Entering the World Top 10 for the very first time, truly a special and memorable moment for me. Thank you to all the many people who supported me along the way it wouldn’t have been possible without you. pic.twitter.com/ybCtt5PdKp
— Vincent Keymer (@VincentKeymer04) August 13, 2025
The victory puts Keymer on the verge of winning the Chennai Grand Masters, with only two rounds to go, but one of the players who could still stop him is a surprise. Karthikeyan was meant to play the Challengers until GM Vladimir Fedoseev dropped out of the Masters, but he’s now caught Arjun in second place after defeating Vidit.

The two-time Indian champion seemed under some pressure in the opening, then outplayed Vidit in the middlegame to ultimately gain a winning advantage, then let it slip, then finally came out on top in a wild time scramble when Vidit blundered with four seconds on his clock.
Van Foreest was close to scoring a third win in a row and joining Arjun and Karthikeyan in second place. Giri observed that the queen endgame a pawn up was much less drawish than computer evaluations made it seem, and it looked as though that would be demonstrated on the board.
Giri gives Jorden van Foreest a 50% chance of converting having a pawn up in this queen endgame! https://t.co/uxVqqRRtdq pic.twitter.com/3e2AQiZPnC
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 13, 2025
In the end, however, despite Pranav going astray, he found a beautiful escape with 70…Qc4!. As the watching Nihal noted, the position was mutual zugzwang since Black would be dead lost if it was his turn to move.

The day’s remaining game wasn’t important for the standings at the top, but it did see Nihal bounce back to defeat Robson. The Indian star was pressing for most of the game, but it’s noteworthy that when Robson blundered by offering a queen trade with 34.Qd4?, he was agonizingly close to surviving.

In Thursday’s penultimate round, Keymer is guaranteed to win the tournament with a round to spare if he defeats Van Foreest, while a draw will also be enough if Karthikeyan and Arjun fail to win.
If Van Foreest can beat Keymer, however, all bets are off! The German would still go into the final round as the sole leader, but he could be caught or overtaken.
Challengers: Pranesh, Mendonca Battle For 2026 Masters Spot
After suffering a first loss, a quiet draw was a decent result for Abhimanyu against Aryan, but his co-leaders seized the chance to pull away. Pranesh inflicted a fifth loss in a row on Vaishali, while Mendonca managed to weave a win against Diptayan in an endgame he started a pawn down.

47.Kg4? was the last mistake.
The other notable result was that GM Adhiban Baskaran took a draw by repetition in what was actually a winning position against GM Iniyan P, a result that likely excludes Adhiban from the fight for first place.

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.