Grandmaster Levon Aronian of the United States defeated GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of the nation to close the distance on table-topper GM Arjun Erigaisi, who had been held to a draw by Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo, in the final round of the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 on Saturday. Meanwhile, in the Challengers division, an all-female match between Dronavalli The actress, and Vaishali, her Rameshbabu – a first for Chess Grand Masters – resulted in a stalemate, with the two players tactically canceling each other out.
Aronian, playing white, chose the King’s Indian Defence, and his opponent reacted with the Alekhine Anti-Grunfeld Variation. The game appeared evenly placed throughout the early exchanges, but Aronian grabbed control of the board by the 30th move, and MVL’s mistake of moving his e-file pawn a few moves later paid him dearly. Aronian is presently in second place with 3.5 points, while Erigaisi remains the leader with four points.
All other matches in the Masters’ class ended in deadlock, despite Erigaisi and the veteran Vidit Gujrathi’s efforts to win. Gujrathi worked hard but had to settle for a draw after 57 moves against GM Amin Tabatabaei, whereas GM Alexey Sarana and GM Aravindh Chithambaram signed a truce after 33 moves.
In the Challengers category, GM Raunak Sadhwani ended Pranav V’s four-game winning streak when the two Indians tied after 39 moves. Meanwhile, GM Murali Karthikeyan was the only player to earn a complete point in Round 5, defeating compatriot GM Abhimanyu Puranik.
The Chennai Grand Masters 2024 has two categories: Masters and Challengers. This year’s Masters field is more competitive, with a rating average of 2729. Meanwhile, the debuting Challengers are intended to present young Indian talent with the opportunity to compete in a top-level competition.