Nihal downs Erigaisi, Keymer leads @ Quantbox Chennai GM

Former Asian Blitz Champion Nihal Sarin brought down World No. 5 Erigaisi Arjun, while tournament leader Vincent Keymer drew Anish Giri maintaining his lead with 3.5 points, after the fourth round of the Rupees 10,000,000 (approx USD 114133) prize money Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters 2025 tournament at Hotel Hyatt Regency Chennai. Despite the loss, Erigaisi held on to the sole second place with 2.5 points. Sharing the third spot were GMs Anish Giri, Ray Robson, Awonder Liang, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and Karthikeyan Murali at 2.0 points.

In the Challengers section, GM Abhimanyu Puranik led with 3.5 points accounting for GM Vaishali Rameshbabu. Following the leader with 3.0 points were GMs Pranesh M, Diptayan Ghosh and Mendonca Leon Luke. The Chennai Grand Masters 2025 is sponsored by Quantbox, organised by MGD1 and supported by the Government of Tamil Nadu.

After three wins in a row, tournament leader Germany No. 1 Keymer met his match when Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri held him to a comfortable draw. In other games, two time National Champion Karthikeyan Murali bounced back from yesterday’s defeat with a stunning win over higher rated Dutch No. 2 Jorden van Foreest.The all-American encounter between GMs Ray Robson and Awonder Liang ended peacefully. Also drawn was the duel between World Junior Champion Pranav Venkatesh and GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi.

Nihal after letting off promising positions in the earlier rounds, hung on gamely upsetting the apple-cart of fellow Indian and top seed Erigaisi Arjun. The opening phase didn’t go that well for the star from Kerala who found himself in some early disadvantage. But a flashy knight sacrifice with 24. Nh5! exposing the black king brought Nihal back into the game. Subsequent exchanges saw the game swinging both sides before entering the final phase. On to the end game the advantage lay more with Nihal, who had a rook, bishop, knight and six pawns against Erigaisi’s two rooks and three pawns. With the writing on the wall, Erigaisi fought back, with slim chances for black to hold. After close to five hours of play, just when draw was round the corner, Erigaisi fell for a deadly trap falling for 67…Rxc5?? capturing a fatal white pawn. In just three more moves, Nihal wrapped up the game for his first win, thanks to a winning knight fork.

Earlier, Indian chess legend, five time world champion Viswanathan Anand joined the LIVE broadcast commentary sharing his in-depth views of the Quantbox Chennai GM games. Vishy, as the icon is popularly known, delighted his legion of fans posing for pictures and signing autographs. The fifth round starts by Monday, 11th August at 5:30 AM ET/11:30 CEST/3 PM IST.

Round 5 pairings (Masters): Giri – Karthikeyan Murali, Vidit – Keymer, Erigaisi – Pranav, Liang – Nihal, van Foreest – Robson

Round 5 pairings (Challengers): Vaishali – Harshavardhan, Harika – Puranik, Pranesh – Mendonca, Chopra – Adhiban, Ghosh – Iniyan

Round 4 results (Masters): Karthikeyan Murali (2.0) beat Jorden van Foreest (1.0), Ray Robson (2.0) drew with Awonder Liang (2.0), Nihal Sarin (1.5) beat Erigaisi Arjun (2.5), Pranav Venkatesh (1.5) drew with Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2.0), Vincent Keymer (3.5) drew with Anish Giri (2.0)

Round 4 results (Challengers): Harshavardhan G B (0.5) lost to Diptayan Ghosh (3.0), Iniyan Pa (2.5) beat Aryan Chopra (1.0), Adhiban Baskaran (2.0) drew with Pranesh M (3.0), Leon Luke Mendonca (3.0) beat Dronavalli Harika (0.5), Abhimanyu Puranik (3.5) beat Vaishali Rameshbabu (1.0)

Nihal Sarin (2692) – Erigaisi Arjun (2776) 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b3 c5 3. Bb2 Nc6 4. e3 g6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bb5 Bg7 7. Ne4 e5 8. Ng3 O-O 9. O-O a6 10. Be2 e4 11. Ne1 h5 12. c4 h4 13. Nh1 h3 14. f3 Qe7 15. Ng3 hxg2 16. Nxg2 exf3 17. Bxf3 Ne5 18. Nf4 Nfg4 19. Bd5 Kh7 20. Qe2 Nf6 21. Qg2 Rb8 22. Ne4 Bf5 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 24. Nh5 Nf3+ 25. Rxf3 Bxb2 26. Raf1 Qh4 27. Ng3 Bh3 28. Rxf7+ Bg7 29. Nf5 Bxg2 30. Rxg7+ Kh8 31. Nxh4 Bxf1 32. Rxg6 Bh3 33. Nf3 Kh7 34. Rxd6 Kg7 35. Kf2 Rf6 36. Rxf6 Kxf6 37. Kg3 Be6 38. Kf4 Rg8 39. Bxe6 Kxe6 40. h4 Rf8+ 41. Ke4 b6 42. d4 cxd4 43. exd4 a5 44. a3 Rc8 45. Ne5 Rg8 46. b4 axb4 47. axb4 Rg2 48. d5+ Kd6 49. Kd4 Rd2+ 50. Nd3 Rh2 51. c5+ bxc5+ 52. bxc5+ Ke7 53. d6+ Ke6 54. Nf4+ Kd7 55. Ng6 Rh1 56. Ne5+ Ke6 57. Nf3 Rc1 58. h5 Rh1 59. Ng5+ Kd7 60. Ne4 Rh4 61. Ke3 Ke6 62. Ng5+ Kd7 63. Ne4 Ke6 64. Ng5+ Kd7 65. Nh7 Rc4 66. Nf8+ Ke8 67. Kd3 Rxc5 68. d7+ Ke7 69. d8=Q+ Kxd8

70. Ne6+ 1-0

Karthikeyan Murali (2658) – Jorden van Foreest (2697) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. h3 h6 11. b3 Kc8 12. Bb2 a5 13. Rfe1 Bb4 14. a3 Bxc3 15. Bxc3 Be6 16. b4 axb4 17. axb4 Rxa1 18. Rxa1 Kb8 19. g4 Ne7 20. Kh2 g5 21. Kg3 Ng6 22. Re1 b6 23. Nd4 Kb7 24. Bd2 Ra8 25. c3 Ra2 26. Be3 Bd5 27. Nf5 Nxe5 28. Nxh6 Ra3 29. Rc1 f6 30. Bd4 Nd3 31. Rb1 Ne5 32. Nf5 Nf3 33. Bxf6 Nd2 34. Re1 Ne4+ 35. Rxe4 Bxe4 36. f4 c5 37. bxc5 b5 38. fxg5 b4 39. Kf4 b3 40. c4 Bd3 41. h4 Ra6 42. h5 Rxf6 43. gxf6 Bxc4 44. h6 Bg8 45. c6+ Ka7

46. Nd4 1-0

Photo courtesy: MGD1

Official Twitter / X page

Follow all the action LIVE through lichess.org and chess.com

Official Site: https://chennaigrandmasters.com/