Vincent Keymer, Arjun Erigaisi play out draw, Awonder beats Pranav in wonderkid clash

Chennai, Aug 12 (PTI) Indian ace Arjun Erigaisi held tournament leader Vincent Keymer to a hard-fought draw in the marquee sixth round clash at the Chennai Grand Masters chess tournament here on Tuesday.

The result allowed the German GM to maintain his one-point lead at the top of the Masters standings after six rounds, with Arjun remaining in hot pursuit.

In another key result, 22-year-old GM Awonder Liang of the United States defeated 18-year-old Pranav V in a much-anticipated battle, moving level on points with Arjun and adding fresh intrigue to the chase for the title.

Now in its third year, the Chennai Grand Masters is India's strongest classical chess event. It features two elite 10-player round-robin sections -- Masters and Challengers -- across nine rounds in 10 days.

With a Rs 1 crore prize pool, the Masters winner earns Rs 25 lakh, the Challengers winner Rs 7 lakh and a 2026 Masters berth. The event also offers FIDE Circuit points, with the Masters champion securing 24.5 toward 2026 Candidates qualification.

Unbeaten so far, Keymer opened with the Queen's Pawn, quickly transposing into a Queen's Gambit by move two, while Arjun responded with the Slav Defense.

The German seized the early momentum, but Arjun clawed his way back, ensuring the pace-setter didn't turn into a runaway leader.

Elsewhere in the Masters, Vidit Gujrathi and Anish Giri settled for a draw, while Jorden van Foreest bounced back with a win as Black against Nihal Sarin. Karthikeyan Murali, too, held Ray Robson to a draw.

In the Challengers, M Pranesh halted leader Abhimanyu Puranik's unbeaten run, turning what had looked like a one-man march into a tight three-way fight for the title.

The victory brought Pranesh level with Abhimanyu at the top, where they were joined by Leon Luke Mendonca after his win over Aryan Chopra.

GM Harika Dronavalli prevailed against compatriot Vaishali Rameshbabu in the all-women Grandmaster clash, while Adhiban Baskaran outplayed Diptayan Ghosh to climb up the standings. Pa Iniyan and Harshavardhan GB split the point after a draw. PTI AH AH KHS