Chennai Grandmasters 2025: Erigaisi takes dominant win, Keymer downs Sarin
India’s Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi started his Chennai Grandmasters marketing campaign in commanding trend, defeating American Awonder Liang within the opening spherical on Thursday. Germany’s Vincent Keymer additionally registered a major win over India’s Nihal Sarin because the high-stakes worldwide event received underway.
The occasion, which incorporates a prize pool of 1 crore, is being held in a round-robin format comprising 9 rounds of classical chess throughout two sections — Masters and Challengers. The event will run for 10 days, with 20 gamers every in each segments, and gives essential FIDE score factors that rely in the direction of qualification for the 2026 Candidates Event. The eventual winner of that cycle will problem reigning world champion D Gukesh for the title.
The day additionally featured a number of tightly contested attracts. A much-anticipated conflict between two of Chennai’s homegrown grandmasters, Pranav V and Karthikeyan Murali, led to a hard-fought stalemate. Dutch GM Jorden van Foreest held India’s Vidit Gujrathi to a draw, whereas Anish Giri’s high-profile encounter in opposition to Ray Robson of the USA additionally completed degree.
Among the many standout performances, Keymer’s victory over Nihal Sarin was notably noteworthy, as he capitalised on minor inaccuracies to grind out a full level.
The Challengers phase noticed a promising begin for the Indian contingent. Grandmasters Diptayan Ghosh, Leon Luke Mendonca, and M Pranesh scored wins of their opening matches to set the tempo early within the competitors. Ghosh beat D Harika, whereas Mendonca and Pranesh outplayed Harshavardhan GB and Aryan Chopra, respectively.
In the meantime, R Vaishali, Abhimanyu Puranik, and Iniyan Pa needed to calm down
With a number of essential FIDE factors and a shot at climbing the worldwide ranks on provide, the event has added significance for lots of the taking part gamers. The performances right here will weigh closely within the race to the 2026 Candidates, the place India’s rising chess star Gukesh awaits his challenger.
ROUND 1 RESULTS
Masters: Arjun Erigaisi 1–0 Awonder Liang, Vincent Keymer 1–0 Nihal Sarin, Anish Giri – Ray Robson, Vidit Gujrathi – Jorden van Foree
Challengers: Diptayan Ghosh 1–0 D Harika, Leon Mendonca 1–0 Harshavardhan GB, M Pranesh 1–0 Aryan Chopra, Adhiban Baskaran – Abhimanyu Puranik, R Vaishali – Iniyan Pa
– Ends
