Chennai Grand Masters 2024: GM Aravindh Chithambaram inflicts first defeat of the tournament on Arjun Erigaisi

Chennai:  GM Aravindh Chithambaram ended the unbeaten run of table topper GM Arjun Erigaisi to throw open the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 title race while GM Vidit Gujrathi eked out a draw against GM Levon Aronian in Round 6 here on Sunday. Arjun and Aronian are now in joint lead with four points each with Aravindh, with his first win of the competition, and GM Amin Tabatabaei half a point behind. Organised by MGD1 and sponsored by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 features two categories–Masters & Challengers. With a rating average of 2729, the Masters presents a more competitive field this time around. The debuting Challengers, meanwhile, is designed to provide emerging Indian talent the chance to compete in a top-class tournament. Playing white, Aravindh Chithambaram opted for a queen pawn opening and Arjun, currently second in the world in live rankings, was guilty of conceding the advantage to his compatriot in the 16th and 17th move. Aravindh, who had drawn all his earlier matches, then slowly but surely build on that advantage to tighten the noose around his opponent’s king and grabbed full points in 48 moves. On the last board, Levon Aronian had a chance to overtake Arjun as he has the time advantage against Vidit on the fourth board. However, the Indian pulled out a draw with just two kings left on the board after 70 moves. The other two matches ended in a draw with GM Alexy Sarana holding GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with black pieces while Amin failing to breach the defense of GM Parham Maghsoodloo on the first board. In the Challengers category, GM Pranav V continues to top the standing despite being held to a second successive draw after winning the first four rounds. On Sunday, he accepted an offer to share points against GM M Pranesh after just 39 moves and now has five points. The match between GM Raunak Sadhwani and GM D Harika also ended in a stalemate while GM Abhimanyu Puranik returned to winning ways with a victory over GM R Vaishali with black pieces. GM Leon Mendonca was the only one to register a win in Round 6 as he defeated GM Karthikeyan Murali to get within half a point of Pranav. –IANS