Pranesh secures Quantbox Chennai GM Challengers title
With GM Vincent Keymer winning the Masters title a day earlier, all eyes were on the Challengers section of the Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters 2025 at Hotel Hyatt Regency Chennai. Overnight Challengers leader GM Pranesh Munirethinam (6.5/9) won the title despite losing to International Master Harshavardhan G B since second placed GMs Abhimanyu Puranik and Leon Luke Mendonca lost their games as well. Pranesh could cross the line with 6.5 points and the second place was shared by GMs Adhiban Baskaran, Abhimanyu Puranik and Leon Luke Mendonca at 6.0 points each.
Handsome cash prizes were distributed to the participants, with the Masters king GM Vincent Keymer getting Rupees 2,500,000 (approx USD 28,522) for his grand show, while the Challengers winner GM Pranesh Munirethinam took home Rupees 700,000 (approx USD 7986) along with a direct entry to the Masters Group next year. While Keymer, Giri and Erigaisi completed the podium for the Masters, Pranesh, Adhiban and Puranik took the top three spots in the Challengers section.
For once, the final round games didn’t disappoint, entertaining the chess world to the brim. All the games in the Challengers section ended positively, while the Masters group saw battles that went up to the last remaining seconds in the clock. Having won the title, champion Vincent Keymer fought his way to victory over American Ray Robson, showing fighting spirit beyond achievement. Keymer’s ELO 2917 performance finishing 2.0 points ahead of the strong field showed the German star would be the man to beat. “I think it’s the highest performance I’ve ever had in classical chess,” said a happy looking Keymer at the prize function. Cementing his place in the World Top 10 with his final round win, Keymer also gets 24 FIDE Circuit points that count for the Candidates 2026 race.
Matching Keymer’s fighting spirit word for word were the Dutch Grandmasters Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest who fought gamely before Giri could emerge the winner. It was a game that sent the heart beat soaring with both players putting up uncompromising play. On one occasion Giri had barely two seconds remaining on his clock when he completed the move. The complicated position saw Jorden van Foreest slip in the final moments which his fellow Dutchman spotted to land his first win. The thrilling finish saw Anish Giri sharing the second spot with Erigaisi Arjun and Karthikeyan Murali with 5.0 points.
In the Challengers section, bottom seed International Master Harshavardhan G B turned the tables on leader GM Pranesh Munirethinam. The defeat left Pranesh standing at 6.5 points, which after all the completed games, proved enough for a clear title. Second placed GMs Abhimanyu Puranik and Leon Luke Mendonca suffered painful final round losses in the hands of GMs Adhiban Baskaran and Iniya Pa leaving them stranded at 6.0 points.
Successfully organising the third edition, the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters has confirmed its status as India’s premier classical chess tournament. Organised by MGD1, the 2025 event brought together two elite 10-player all-play-all events of Masters and Challengers spread over nine intense days, offering Rupees 10,000,000 (approx USD 114133) as prize money.
The champions from Chennai Grandmasters have been making chess history with the winner of the first edition GM Gukesh Dommaraju, going on to win the world championship in 2024. GM Aravindh Chithambaram who won the title last year won the Prague Masters 2025 and broke into 2700 rating. And GM Vincent Keymer the winner this year, appears all set to conquer everything that comes his way.
The chess lovers would now turn their attention to the Sinquefield Cup starting on the other side of the world at St. Louis, USA after a day’s breather, on 17th August, 2025. Indian interest is bound to be high with the participation of two of India’s bright stars, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.
Final Standings (Masters): 1. Vincent Keymer – 7.0, 2-4 Anish Giri, Arjun Erigaisi, Karthikeyan Murali – 5.0, 5-6 Nihal Sarin, Awonder Liang – 4.5, 7-8 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Jorden van Foreest – 4.0, 9-10 Pranav V, Ray Robson – 3.0
Final Standings (Challengers): 1. M Pranesh – 6.5, 2-4 Adhiban Baskaran, Abhimanyu Puranik, Leon Luke Mendonca – 6.0, 5. P Iniyan – 5.5, 6. Diptayan Ghosh – 4.5, 7-8 Harshavardhan G B, Aryan Chopra – 4.0, 9. Harika Dronavalli – 1.5, 10. Vaishali Rameshbabu – 1.0
Round 9 results (Masters): Karthikeyan Murali (5.0) drew with Erigaisi Arjun (5.0), Awonder Liang (4.5) drew with Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (4.0), Jorden van Foreest (4.0) lost to Anish Giri (5.0), Ray Robson (3.0) lost to Vincent Keymer (7.0), Nihal Sarin (4.5) beat Pranav Venkatesh (3.0)
Round 9 results (Challengers): Harshavardhan G B (4.0) beat Pranesh M (6.5), Aryan Chopra (4.0) beat Dronavalli Harika (1.5), Diptayan Ghosh (4.5) beat Vaishali Rameshbabu (1.0), Iniyan Pa (5.5) beat Abhimanyu Puranik (6.0), Adhiban Baskaran (6.0) beat Leon Luke Mendonca (6.0)
Robson Ray (2687) – Keymer Vincent (2730) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 g6 6. Qc2 d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bf4 a6 9. g3 Bg7 10. Bg2 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Rfd1 Nbd7 13. Rac1 c6 14. a4 a5 15. Bd6 h5 16. e3 Nb8 17. Be5 Na6 18. b3 Nb4 19. Qb1 Bc8 20. Qb2 Bf5 21. Qe2 Bf8 22. h4 Bg4 23. Na2 Rc8 24. Nxb4 axb4 25. Qa6 Ne4 26. a5 bxa5 27. Rxc6 Rxc6 28. Qxc6 Qa8 29. Rc1 Qxc6 30. Rxc6 Rc8 31. Rxc8 Bxc8 32. Ng5 Nc3 33. Nf3 a4 34. bxa4 b3 35. Bf1 b2 36. Bd3 Bb4 37. Kg2 Bf5 38. Bxf5 gxf5 39. Nd2 Nxa4 40. Nb1 Nc3 41. Nd2
41…Nb5 0-1
Jorden van Foreest (2697) – Giri Anish (2748) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. e3 b6 8. b4 Nbd7 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Qb2 c5 11. Nf3 Qc7 12. Bd2 c4 13. Qc2 b5 14. Ng5 N7f6 15. e4 e5 16. exd5 exd4 17. O-O-O c3 18. Kb1 a5 19. Bc1 Qb6 20. Bd3 h6 21. Nf3 Bg4 22. Nxd4 Bxd1 23. Rxd1 axb4 24. Qb3 bxa3 25. Bc2 a2+ 26. Ka1 b4 27. Nf5 Qxf2 28. d6 Rfe8 29. Ne7+ Kh8 30. Bxh6 Nd7 31. Bc1 Nc5 32. Rd3 Nxb3+ 33. Bxb3
33…Qb2+ 0-1
Pranesh Munirethinam (2589) – Harshavardhan G B (2454) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nd7 8. Qd2 Ne5 9. O-O-O Nxf3 10. gxf3 Be6 11. Kb1 Qd7 12. Bd4 Rg8 13. Bd3 g6 14. Qh6 c5 15. Be3 O-O-O 16. Be4 d5 17. Bxd5 Bxd5 18. c4 Qf5 19. cxd5 Qxf3 20. c4 Bd6 21. Ka1 Rde8 22. h4 Re4 23. Qxh7 Rge8 24. Rb1 Be5 25. Qh6 Bf6 26. h5 Rh8 27. Qxh8+ Bxh8 28. hxg6 Be5 29. gxf7 Qxf7 30. Bxc5 Rxc4 31. Bxa7 Qxd5 32. Rbc1 Qb5 33. Rxc4+ Qxc4 34. Rb1 b5 35. Be3 Qc2 36. Bb6 b4 37. Be3 Kb7 38. f3 Bf6 39. f4 Ka6 40. f5 Kb5 41. Bh6 b3 42. a4+ Ka6 43. Bf8 Qc4 44. Ba3 Qxa4 45. Re1 Qxa3+ 46. Kb1 Qxb2# 0-1
Photo courtesy: MGD1
Follow all the action LIVE through lichess.org and chess.com
