Three highly exciting encounters
The third edition of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters began on 7 August, a day later than planned after a fire broke out late on Tuesday night in the tournament venue, the Hyatt Regency Chennai. The incident, which started in a pantry storage area on the ninth floor at around 12:30 a.m., was brought under control within an hour. All guests were safely evacuated to the ground floor, and the chess players were accommodated overnight in another hotel.
By the following morning, the venue was ready to host the games, allowing the opening round to proceed without further disruption. The Hyatt Regency itself has a notable place in chess history, having hosted celebrations after Magnus Carlsen won his first World Championship title there back in 2013.
This year’s tournament consists of two ten-player round-robins: the Masters and the all-Indian Challengers. The Masters features four players rated above 2700 – India’s top seed Arjun Erigaisi, Anish Giri of the Netherlands, Germany’s Vincent Keymer, and Vidit Gujrathi. They are joined by Jorden van Foreest, Awonder Liang, Nihal Sarin, Ray Robson, Karthikeyan Murali, and Pranav Venkatesh, who qualified by winning last year’s Challengers.
The event is supported financially by the Government of Tamil Nadu and the state’s Sports Development Authority, with a total prize fund of ₹1 crore – ₹75 lakh for the Masters and ₹25 lakh for the Challengers. The Masters’ champion will receive ₹25 lakh, while the Challengers’ winner earns ₹7 lakh.
In the Masters, only two games could be described as quiet draws. Ray Robson employed the Petroff Defence to hold Anish Giri with little difficulty, while Pranav Venkatesh defended a slightly inferior position against Karthikeyan Murali in a blocked pawn structure that offered neither side realistic winning chances. The remaining draw, between Vidit Gujrathi and Jorden van Foreest, was anything but uneventful. Both players created imbalances and generated attacking chances, but neither was able to find the decisive continuation in a complex middlegame, and the point was eventually split.
Jordan van Foreest taking a stroll
The two decisive results put Arjun Erigaisi and Vincent Keymer in the early lead. Arjun, playing White against Awonder Liang, faced a bold piece sacrifice from the American in pursuit of a kingside attack. The Indian defended with precision, neutralising the threats and consolidating his material advantage before converting in the endgame.
Amid a highly complex position, which engines still evaluated as balanced, Liang gave up his bishop with 29…Be4, when sacrificing it with 29…Bxg4 was a much better alternative. Of course, the ensuing lines are very difficult to calculate.
After 29…Bxg4 30.fxg4 Qxg4, the position remains unclear: White can try 31.Nc7, but after 31…Rf8 Black is coordinating, and the game is still very much in the balance.
In the game, on the other hand, after 30.fxe4 dxe4 31.Rxe4 Rae8, White was able to consolidate his extra piece without facing immediate tactical threats, and the pressure on Black’s position began to mount.
Arjun Erigaisi defeated Awonder Liang
Keymer’s win over Nihal Sarin came in a Grünfeld Defence where the Indian, with black, was forced to give up the exchange not long after the opening.
This position was reached after move 27. Engines greatly favour White’s extra exchange, however, after 28.h4, as played by Keymer, Nihal got drawing chances – much stronger was 28.b5. Trying to make progress while Black had the annoying passer on f2 protected by the dark-squared meant that conversion would be no easy task for Keymer.
Nihal continued to defend resourcefully, until he faltered decisively with 49…Rh7
Keymer quickly replied by the winning 50.Rc7. Perhaps Nihal was relying on 50…Rh1, when 51.Kxh1 f1Q+ is the winning idea. However, White is not forced to capture at once, and can start with 51.Rf7+, gaining a key tempo with check.
The best alternative for Black was to play 49…Ke4, activating the king.
In the game, there followed 50…Rh8 51.b7 Ba7 52.Rc8, and Nihal resigned.
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Vincent Keymer and Nihal Sarin before the start of their round-one encounter
Standings after round 1
All games
Challengers: Three winners in round one
The Challengers section began with three decisive games.
Leon Luke Mendonca defeated Harshavardhan G. B. after gradually increasing the pressure until his opponent’s position collapsed. Diptayan Ghosh scored against Harika Dronavalli in a game where the queens came off early, but imbalances in pawn structure left Black under lasting pressure. Pranesh M got the better of Aryan Chopra, winning a sharp tactical battle.
The other games ended drawn, leaving Mendonca, Ghosh and Pranesh as the first leaders in the standings.
Leon Luke Mendonca got the better of Harshavardhan G. B.
Aryan Chopra was defeated by Pranesh M in a 26-move encounter
