Keymer stays ahead after splitting the point with Arjun

German Vincent Keymer continued his unbeaten streak as he settled for a draw with the top seed Arjun Erigaisi in the sixth round of the Masters section in the Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters chess tournament here on Tuesday.

The result meant the 21-year-old Keymer, who has three wins and an equal number of draws, remains on top of the standings with 4.5 points with a one-point lead over the rest of the field. Arjun has 3.5 points in his kitty.

The 42-move stalemate between the top two players means the race for the top prize could get interesting as the tournament enters the business end.

American Awonder Liang joined Arjun in the second spot, getting the better of the World junior champion V. Pranav in long-drawn encounter.

There was heartbreak for Nihal Sarin as he crashed to a defeat at the hands of Dutchman Jorden van Foreest a day after he had upset Arjun.

Dutch GM Anish Giri’s quest for a first win continued as he drew his sixth match on the trot, against good friend Vidit Gujrathi in 109 moves.

Indian GM Karthikeyan Murali split the point with American Ray Robson in the longest game of the championship so far. The match which lasted nearly five hours and 123 moves saw the local player defend superbly to earn half a point.

In the Challengers section, GM Abhimanyu Puranik’s unbeaten run came to a halt with local lad M. Pranesh pulling off an upset in the sixth round. The two share the top spot with 4.5 points along with Leon Luke Mendonca, who put it across Aryan Chopra.

The results (sixth round): Masters: Karthikeyan Murali (2.5) drew with Ray Robson (USA, 2), Nihal Sarin (2) lost to Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 3), V. Pranav (2) lost to Awonder Liang (USA, 3.5), Vincent Keymer (Ger, 4.5) drew with Arjun Erigaisi (3.5), Anish Giri (Ned, 3 ) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (3)

Challengers: G. B. Harshavardhan (2) drew with Pa. Iniyan (3.5), B. Adhiban (3.5) bt Diptayan Ghosh (3.5), Leon Luke Mendonca (4.5) bt Aryan Chopra (1.5), Abhimanyu Puranik (4.5) lost to M. Pranesh (4.5), R. Vaishali (1) lost to D. Harika (1.5).

Seventh round pairings: Masters: Vidit vs. Karthikeyan, Arjun vs. Anish, Liang vs. Keymer, van Foreest vs. Pranav, Robson vs. Nihal. Challengers: Harika vs. Harshavardhan, Pranesh vs. Vaishali, Aryan vs. Abhimanyu, Diptayan vs. Mendonca, Iniyan vs. Adhiban.