2nd Chennai GM R5: Perfect Parham denies Arjun a hat-trick, Aronian maintains his chase
Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) played perfect chess to deny Arjun Erigaisi a hat-trick of wins at 2nd Chennai Grand Masters. He is still in the sole lead 4/5. Levon Aronian (USA) played another great game to beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA). The World Blitz 2021 winner made a strange anti-positional knight exchange after which his position went downhill. Aronian positionally outplayed him beautifully. Vidit Gujrathi had a well contested draw against M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI). Aravindh Chithambaram drew his fifth consecutive game at this event. This time against Alexey Sarana (SRB). In the Challenger section, Raunak Sadhwani halted Pranav Venkatesh's winning streak. Leon Luke Mendonca salvaged a draw against Pranesh M. Round 6 starts tomorrow at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: Anmol Bhargav
Challengers: Raunak halts Pranav's winning streak, Leon escapes against Pranesh
The fifth round witnessed a lot of interesting games, despite the result might not revealing the same. Levon Aronian's win against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was certainly the game of the day. Parham Maghsoodloo became the only second player at this event to draw against Arjun Erigaisi. Raunak Sadhwani halted the sole leader Pranav Venkatesh's winning streak. Pranav is still a full point 4.5/5 ahead of the competition, as Leon Luke Mendonca 3.5/5 drew his game against Pranesh M. The latter missed his opportunity to beat Leon. It would have only increased Pranav's lead. Only two rounds left, Arjun and Pranav seem to be poised to run towards the finish line.
Masters: Arjun - Parham: 0.5-0.5
Arjun Erigaisi (2799) defeated Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI, 2712) at the same event last year. However, this time Parham played perfect and held Arjun to a draw.
Aronian - Vachier-Lagrave: 1-0
The last decisive game between Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave occured over two years ago. The only two-time World Cup winner in history, Aronian won that game.
Black made a questionable anti-positional decision of trading the knight 16...Nxe2 It was not like Nxd4 was a huge threat for Black. 17.Bxe2 Rf7 18.Qd2 Qf8 19.Nb6 Rd8 20.Rad1 h6 21.Be3 Rc7 22.b4 White improved his position and went on to win the game. Black attempted to generate some counterplay, but it was futile.
Challengers: Pranesh - Leon: 0.5-0.5
Leon Luke Mendonca (2631) has never lost a Classical rated game against Pranesh M (2580). However, Leon was on the verge losing today.
44...Ra1? created a winning opportunity for White. 43.Nd4+ Kf6 now White needed to go 44.e5+ Kg7 45.e6 and Black would have been in serious trouble. Instead, he played 45.Rdd7? Bxh4 47.Rxf7+ Kg5 and Black managed to escape with a draw.
Abhimanyu - Karthikeyan
Black is threatening h6 to capture the g4-pawn. Which pawn White should save here - a4, f2 or g4? Abhimanyu made the incorrect choice and his chances of draw evaporated immediately.
Photo Gallery
Tata Play CFO, Sambasivan Ganesan, flew all the way from Mumbai, to make the ceremonial first move. GM B Adhiban changed his mind to make 1.b3 as his first move. You can see everyone is overjoyed by the nice gesture of the guest, making the Grandmaster's favorite first move.
During the fifth round live commentary, the Tata Play CFO, Sambasivan Ganesan mentioned that he always makes it a point to follow Indian chess players in action all over the world in various live streams, even if it means following the commentary in silent mode, due to his work and busy schedule. He is undoubtedly a keen follower of the chess universe.
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Video Gallery
Replay live stream
Replay Masters Round 5 games
Replay Challengers Round 5 games
Masters Round 5 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2739 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | ½ - ½ | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | 2686 | 8 | PGN | ||
| 2 | 4 | 2739 | GM | Aronian, Levon | 1 - 0 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2737 | 2 | PGN | ||
| 3 | 5 | 2679 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | ½ - ½ | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | 2706 | 1 | PGN | ||
| 4 | 6 | 2799 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | ½ - ½ | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2712 | 7 | PGN |
Standings after Round 5
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2799 | 4 | 0 | 8,75 | 3 | 3 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | Aronian, Levon | USA | 2739 | 3,5 | 0 | 8,00 | 2 | 0 | |
| 3 | 8 | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | IRI | 2686 | 3 | 0 | 5,50 | 2 | 1 | |
| 4 | 1 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2706 | 2,5 | 0 | 5,75 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | 2 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2737 | 2 | 1 | 4,00 | 1 | 0 | |
| 6 | 7 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | IRI | 2712 | 2 | 0 | 4,25 | 1 | 0 | |
| 7 | 5 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | SRB | 2679 | 1,5 | 0 | 4,00 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | 3 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2739 | 1,5 | 0 | 3,75 | 0 | 0 |
Round 6 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 2686 | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2712 | 7 | ||||
| 2 | 1 | 2706 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2799 | 6 | ||||
| 3 | 2 | 2737 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2679 | 5 | ||||
| 4 | 3 | 2739 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2739 | 4 |
Challengers Round 5 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2580 | GM | Pranesh, M | ½ - ½ | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2631 | 8 | PGN | ||
| 2 | 4 | 2602 | GM | Pranav, V | ½ - ½ | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | 2677 | 2 | PGN | ||
| 3 | 5 | 2493 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | ½ - ½ | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2490 | 1 | PGN | ||
| 4 | 6 | 2652 | GM | Puranik, Abhimanyu | 0 - 1 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | 2625 | 7 | PGN |
Standings after Round 5
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | GM | Pranav, V | IND | 2602 | 4,5 | 0 | 8,00 | 4 | 2 | |
| 2 | 8 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | IND | 2631 | 3,5 | 0 | 5,75 | 2 | 1 | |
| 3 | 2 | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | IND | 2677 | 3 | 0 | 8,25 | 1 | 0 | |
| 4 | 3 | GM | Pranesh, M | IND | 2580 | 2,5 | 0,5 | 5,50 | 1 | 0 | |
| 5 | 7 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | IND | 2625 | 2,5 | 0,5 | 4,25 | 2 | 1 | |
| 6 | 6 | GM | Puranik, Abhimanyu | IND | 2652 | 2 | 0 | 4,75 | 1 | 1 | |
| 7 | 1 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2490 | 1 | 0,5 | 2,00 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | 5 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | IND | 2493 | 1 | 0,5 | 1,50 | 0 | 0 |
Round 6 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 2631 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | 2625 | 7 | ||||
| 2 | 1 | 2490 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | GM | Puranik, Abhimanyu | 2652 | 6 | ||||
| 3 | 2 | 2677 | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | 2493 | 5 | ||||
| 4 | 3 | 2580 | GM | Pranesh, M | GM | Pranav, V | 2602 | 4 |
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.
