Chennai Grand Masters 2024: Arjun
Continues Strong Start, Vaishali Earns First Points With Gritty Raunak Draw
Leon Mendonca and Pranav V jumped to
the top of the Challengers category with second successive wins
Chennai, November 6, 2024: Arjun
Erigaisi continued his strong start to the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 on
Wednesday by holding the second-highest-ranked player in the tournament,
American Grandmaster Levon Aronian, to a draw. Over in the Challengers, Vaishali
R, one of two female chess players debuting this year, earned her first points
by drawing top-seed Raunak Sadhwani.
Organised by MGD1 with ChessBase
India, 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 with the white pieces, Arjun
Erigaisi kicked things off with a Queen’s Pawn Opening, met by Levon Aronian’s
response in the Indian Game. The two grandmasters exchanged tactical manoeuvres
and strategic depth, pushing each other through every phase of the game before
ultimately settling for a hard-fought draw, both showing immense skill and
resilience.
The Chennai Grand Masters 2024
continued its intense battles on Day 2, with Aravindh Chithambaram and Maxime
Vachier-Lagrave drawing their bout in a tactical standoff. Amin Tabatabaei
scored a crucial win over Alexey Sarana, while Parham Maghsoodloo defeated
Vidit Gujrathi, pushing the stakes higher in this FIDE Circuit qualifier.
Meanwhile, in the Challengers
category, Pranesh M and Karthikeyan Murali settled into a balanced draw, while
Leon Mendonca impressed with a strong victory over Harika Dronavalli. V Pranav
showcased his skill with a decisive win against Abhimanyu Puranik, adding
momentum to his tournament run. Raunak and Vaishali, in an intense face-off,
battled admirably before agreeing to a draw.
After two rounds, it’s a three-way
tie at the top of the Masters category, with Arjun, Vachier-Lagrave, and
Tabatabaei leading the charge. Meanwhile, Leon and Pranav jointly lead the
Challengers category, after two wins out of two.
The Chennai Grand Masters 2024 is
taking place at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai from November 5 to 11,
2024, with tickets available for the general audience on BookMyShow for INR
100. Additionally, the tournament can be streamed online on ChessBase India’s
YouTube channel.
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