2nd Chennai GM R1: Vidit fumbles big time, Arjun Erigaisi crosses 2800 again
2nd Chennai Grand Masters is off to a fantastic start. The opening round witnessed a rollercoaster battle between GM Vidit Gujrathi and GM Arjun Erigaisi. Vidit had winning chances in the rook and minor piece endgame. Despite being control for the better part of it, time trouble caused him to miss all his chances and eventually make a terrible blunder which turned the tables. The World no.4 and India no.1 won the game and crossed 2800 once again. World Blitz 2021 winner, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) scored the only other win against GM Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI). GM Aravindh Chithambaram could have had a difficult outcome if his opponent, GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) pressed further. Round 2 starts tomorrow at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: Himank Ghosh and Anmol Bhargav
Only decisive games in Challengers
The rating favorites won their games in the Challengers section. It resulted in all four games ending decisively. GM Leon Luke Mendonca scored the fastest win of the round against GM R Vaishali. GM Harika Dronavalli made an incorrect break in an equal rook and knight endgame against GM Pranav V.
Masters: Vidit - Arjun: 0-1
GM Arjun Erigaisi (2799) won the last Classical game against GM Vidit Gujrathi (2739) at WR Masters Cup last month. This time the majority of the game was a rook and bishop vs. rook and knight endgame. Vidit even got a decisive advantage at one point.
White's rook and bishop are already placed better. What he needed to was to bring the king in action 53.Kc4. It was not easy to figure that out in time trouble especially when it is not the obvious plan. 53.Rc7 Ke8 54.Rc8+ Kf7 55.Rd8 Nb6 56.Rf8+ Kg7 57.Rf6 and White got few more small chances.
After battling for more than four hours, Vidit blundered when he took the poisoned pawn at e5. 87.Ke6 would have kept the game going. 87.Kxe5?? ended things in a hurry Kg6! Black does not need to rush playing Re4+ as 88.Kf6 saves the day. Instead, 87...Kg6! ends the game 88.Ke6 Re4+ 89.Kd7 Nf5 forcing the rook exchange. Black ran the h-pawn down the board and won the game.
Aravindh - Tabatabaei: 0.5-0.5
Last month, GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2706) defeated GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI, 2686) at Spanish League Honor Division. This time, the Iranian made things difficult in the endgame.
White is going to lose the exchange as it is not possible to save it. 31.Qxa4 Qd3 32.Qxb4 Qxe2 33.Kh2 Rc2 34.Qg4 h5?! instead 34...f5 would have made things practically difficult for White. 35.Qg5 Rxb2 36.e4 White opened up the bishop's path Rd2 37.h4 and the game ended in a draw via perpetual check in the next few moves.
Vachier-Lagrave - Parham
In time trouble, GM Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI, 2712) made an incorrect choice to save his h4-pawn 31...Rh8? What he needed to do was stop the passed a5-pawn from rolling freely 31...Bb7 is what he should have played. 32.a6 Kc7 33.a7 Nd6 34.Bc3 Ra8 35.Be5 Kd7 36.Ra6 Nc4 37.Bb8 and the rook got fixed at the corner of the board on a8. It became just a matter of time before White won the game.
The above position can almost be treated like pawn endgame where e5 and g4 are mined squares. So White has to go 51.Ke6 Kg4 52.Ke5 to win the game instead of going 51.Ke5?? directly. It leads to a draw after 51...Kg4.
Challengers: Vaishali - Leon: 0-1
This was the first ever Classical rated game played between GM R Vaishali (2490) and GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2631). Leon was coming into this game with a great form, the same cannot be said for his opponent. Despite Vaishali being the first to launch an attack, she retreated her pieces very quickly. Leon's hint of attack shattered her kingside after her blunder.
29.Rb1?? invited disaster Ne2+ 30.Kh1?? Qxf2! and it was over as checkmate is inevitable.
Pranav - Harika
GM Harika Dronavalli (2493) did the only thing she should not have done 40...f5?? Instead, 40...b6 was a plausible break. GM Pranav V (2602) had no trouble capitalizing on his opportunity 41.gxf5+- Nxf5 42.Nxf5 Rxf5 43.hxg5 hxg5 44.Rh7+ Kc8 45.Rg7 and White went on to win the game.
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Masters Round 1 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2706 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | ½ - ½ | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | 2686 | 8 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2737 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 1 - 0 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2712 | 7 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 2739 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 0 - 1 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2799 | 6 | |||
| 4 | 4 | 2739 | GM | Aronian, Levon | ½ - ½ | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2679 | 5 |
Standings after Round 1
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2799 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2737 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 1 | 0 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2706 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | GM | Aronian, Levon | USA | 2739 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 5 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | SRB | 2679 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 8 | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | IRI | 2686 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 7 | 3 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2739 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | IRI | 2712 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 |
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 2686 | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2679 | 5 | ||||
| 2 | 6 | 2799 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2739 | 4 | ||||
| 3 | 7 | 2712 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2739 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 1 | 2706 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2737 | 2 |
Challengers Round 1 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2490 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 0 - 1 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2631 | 8 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2677 | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | 1 - 0 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | 2625 | 7 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 2580 | GM | Pranesh, M | 0 - 1 | GM | Puranik, Abhimanyu | 2652 | 6 | |||
| 4 | 4 | 2602 | GM | Pranav, V | 1 - 0 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | 2493 | 5 |
Standings after Round 1
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | GM | Puranik, Abhimanyu | IND | 2652 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | IND | 2631 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 2 | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | IND | 2677 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 1 | 0 | |
| 4 | GM | Pranav, V | IND | 2602 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 1 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2490 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | GM | Pranesh, M | IND | 2580 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 5 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | IND | 2493 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 7 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | IND | 2625 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 |
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 2631 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | 2493 | 5 | ||||
| 2 | 6 | 2652 | GM | Puranik, Abhimanyu | GM | Pranav, V | 2602 | 4 | ||||
| 3 | 7 | 2625 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | GM | Pranesh, M | 2580 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 1 | 2490 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | 2677 | 2 |
Where to watch
The entire event will be live-streamed on ChessBase India youtube channel. You can also visit the venue by getting the tickets from Bookmyshow.
