Karthikeyan wore down the higher-rated Vidit Gujrathi in 72 strikes within the seventh spherical of the Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters chess match on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
Vincent Keymer simply retains getting higher. The German GM was in his component, beating American Awonder Liang to notch up his fourth victory on Wednesday and prolong his lead within the Masters part of the Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters chess match to 1.5 points with simply two rounds to play.
With prime seed Arjun Erigaisi, affected by the consequences of a chilly, settling for a fast draw in opposition to the Netherlands’ Anish Giri, the spectacular Keymer took an enormous step in the direction of the highest prize, choosing up a full level with black items.
“I mean, I don’t think it’s a secret because he coughs a little bit. So, he has some throat issue. Hopefully, it’s not a big deal. But I can imagine that you can’t perform at your best when you have such an issue,” mentioned the Dutchman after the match.
The star of the day was Chennai’s personal Karthikeyan Murali, who wore down the higher-rated Vidit Gujrathi in a 72-move match.
V. Pranav, the present World junior champion, defended beautifully from a seemingly misplaced place to maintain Dutch GM Jorden van Foreest in 98 strikes.
Laudable show
The 18-year-old Chennai lad, at 2597 ELO, the lowest-rated participant within the Masters occasion, continued his spectacular run after having beforehand held Anish and Arjun to attracts.
Nihal Sarin bounced again after Tuesday’s loss to get the higher of American Ray Robson to take his tally to three points.
In the Challengers part, M. Pranesh outclassed a struggling R. Vaishali to share the lead with Leon Luke Mendonca, a winner over Diptayan Ghosh, on 5.5 points.
Abhimanyu Puranik, who break up the purpose with Aryan Chopra, trails the leaders by half-a-point.
The outcomes (seventh spherical): Masters: Vidit Gujrathi (3) misplaced to Karthikeyan Murali (4), Arjun Erigaisi (4) drew with Anish Giri (3.5), Awonder Liang (USA, 3.5) misplaced to Vincent Keymer (Ger, 5.5), Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 3.5) drew with V. Pranav (2.5), Nihal Sarin (2) bt Ray Robson (USA, 2.5).
Challengers: D. Harika (1.5) misplaced to G. B. Harshavardhan (3), M Pranesh (5.5) bt R. Vaishali (1), Aryan Chopra (2) drew with Abhimanyu Puranik (5), Diptayan Ghosh (3.5) misplaced to Leon Luke Mendonca (5.5), Pa. Iniyan (4) drew with B. Adhiban (4).
Eighth spherical pairings: Masters: Karthikeyan vs. Nihal, Pranav vs. Robson, Keymer vs. van Foreest, Anish vs. Awonder, Vidit vs. Arjun.
Challengers: Harshavardhan vs. Adhiban, Mendonca vs. Iniyan, Abhimanyu vs. Diptayan, Vaishali vs. Aryan, Harika vs. Pranesh.
Published – August 13, 2025 09:20 pm IST
