Keymer increases lead @ Quantbox Chennai GM

GM Vincent Keymer (5.5/7) increased his lead scoring over GM Awonder Liang in the 7th round of the Rupees 10,000,000 (approx USD 114133) prize money Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters 2025 at Hotel Hyatt Regency Chennai. GM Karthikeyan Murali joined GM Erigaisi Arjun sharing the second place with 4.0 points. Behind the leading trio were GMs Anish Giri, Awonder Liang and Jorden van Foreest at 3.5 points.

In the Challengers section, GMs Pranesh Munirethinam and Mendonca Leon Luke led the table with 5.5 points. GM Abhimanyu Puranik who led until the half way mark is holding the sole second place with 5.0 points. GMs Adhiban Baskaran and Iniyan Pa share the third place with 4.0 points each. The Chennai Grand Masters 2025 is sponsored by Quantbox, organised by MGD1 and supported by the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Keymer’s defeat of American GM Awonder Liang giving his fourth win here, propelled him into World No. 10 in LIVE rankings. The German now has an ELO 2747 ahead of illustrious GMs viz., Anish Giri, Viswanathan Anand and Wesley So. Facing the Italian Game Two Knights Defense from Liang, the in-form German went for a quiet game. An early queen retreat 19.Qb3 by Liang looked puzzling as it allowed Keymer to make serious inroad’s into black territory. The American tried out a cameo knight sacrifice, but Keymer was upto the task. Not allowing spanner into the works, black played out to precision gradually increasing the advantage. Facing huge material deficit Liang gave up on the 39th turn.

Keymer posted his progress in X(formerly Twitter), “Entering the World Top 10 for the very first time, truly a special and memorable moment for me. Thank you to all the many people who supported me along the way it wouldn’t have been possible without you,” thanking those who stood by him and made it possible.

On a bright day for Indian stars, GM Nihal Sarin overcame GM Ray Robson, while GM Karthikeyan Murali defeated GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi inching up the leader-board.In a mini Indo-Dutch match up, Ergaisi Arjun faced Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest took on Pranav Venkatesh. Both the games ended in draws. The race to catch up leader Keymer looks increasingly difficult, with the rest of the lot looking to run for the runner-up slot.

The race for the Challengers title, looks like a three horse race with GMs Pranesh, Mendonca and Puranik giving it a go. The winner of the lower section gets promoted to the Masters group next year. International Master Harshavardhan G B continued to impress defeating GM Dronavalli Harika in an exciting game.

The 8th round starts by Thursday, 14th August at 5:30 AM ET/11:30 CEST/3 PM IST.

Round 8 pairings (Masters): Karthikeyan Murali – Nihal, Pranav – Robson, Keymer – van Foreest, Giri – Liang, Vidit – Erigaisi

Round 8 pairings (Challengers): Harshavardhan – Adhiban, Mendonca – Iniyan, Puranik – Ghosh, Vaishali – Chopra, Harika – Pranesh

Round 7 results (Masters): Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (3.0) lost to Karthikeyan Murali (4.0), Erigaisi Arjun (4.0) drew with Anish Giri (3.5), Awonder Liang (3.5) lost to Vincent Keymer (5.5), Ray Robson (2.5) lost to Nihal Sarin (3.0), Jorden van Foreest (3.5) drew with Pranav Venkatesh (2.5)

Round 7 results (Challengers): Dronavalli Harika (1.5) lost to Harshavardhan G B (3.0), Pranesh M (5.5) beat Vaishali Rameshbabu (1.0), Aryan Chopra (2.0) drew with Abhimanyu Puranik (5.0), Diptayan Ghosh (3.5) lost to Leon Luke Mendonca (5.5), Iniyan Pa (4.0) drew with Adhiban Baskaran (4.0)

Liang Awonder (2696) – Keymer Vincent (2730) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 h6 5. O-O d6 6. d4 Bg4 7. c3 Be7 8. d5 Nb8 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Re1 c6 11. c4 Nc5 12. Nc3 Nxd3 13. Qxd3 O-O 14. h3 Bd7 15. Be3 cxd5 16. cxd5 Nh7 17. Qc4 Kh8 18. Rac1 f5 19. Qb3 f4 20. Bd2 b5 21. Ne2 Qe8 22. Rc7 Bd8 23. Rb7 a5 24. Nxf4 Bc8 25. Rxb5 exf4 26. Rb8 a4 27. Qb4 Ba5 28. Qxd6 Rxb8 29. Bxa5 Rxb2 30. Bc3 Rc2 31. Bd4 Kg8 32. h4 Rc4 33. Qb6 Nf6 34. Qb2 Qe7 35. d6 Qb7 36. Qe2 Be6 37. Qd3 Ng4 38. e5 Rfc8

39. Qd2 0-1

Ray Robson (2687) – Nihal Sarin (2692) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Nf6 7. e3 Nh5 8. Bg5 Be7 9. Bxe7 Nxe7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. h3 Nf6 12. Qc2 g6 13. g4 Qd6 14. Ne2 Bd7 15. Ng3 Bb5 16. g5 Nd7 17. h4 Rfe8 18. Kf1 Bxd3+ 19. Qxd3 c5 20. dxc5 Nxc5 21. Qa3 Qb6 22. Kg2 Ne4 23. Nxe4 dxe4 24. Nd4 Rad8 25. Qb3 Qa5 26. Qc4 Nf5 27. Nxf5 Qxf5 28. Qe2 Rd3 29. Rad1 Rc8 30. Rxd3 exd3 31. Qf3 Qd7 32. Rd1 d2 33. Qf4 b5 34. Qd4 Qxd4 35. exd4 Rc2 36. b4 Rxa2 37. Kf3 Rb2 38. Ke3 Rxb4 39. Rxd2 a5 40. d5 Kf8 41. Rc2 a4 42. Rc7 a3 43. d6

43…Ke8 0-1

Photo courtesy: MGD1

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