Chennai Grandmasters chess | Champion Keymer remains unbeaten; Pranesh clinches Challengers crown

German Vincent Keymer capped a memorable triumph in the Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters chess tournament 2025 with a convincing win in the final round of the Masters section over American GM Ray Robson here on Friday.

As unstoppable as Keymer was in the tournament, Indian GM M. Pranesh emerged champion in the Challenger category, though he suffered a defeat at the hands of IM G.B. Harshavardhan in the ninth and final round. Pranesh was helped by the fact that title contenders Leon Luke Mendonca and Abhimanyu Puranik fell to B. Adhiban and Pa. Iniyan, respectively.

Pranesh lost to Harshavardhan in the final round.
| Photo Credit:
B. VELANKANNI RAJ

In the Masters event, Keymer’s defeat of Robson enabled him to finish unbeaten in the tournament (seven points). During his splendid run here, the 20-year-old also entered the top 10 in world ranking (live ratings) for the first time in his career.

“I think this is my best performance in a classical tournament. It’s just a very nice feeling to play good chess, and the event has gone fantastically. I do have the habit of ruining very nice tournaments. I was dangerously close to repeating that same mistake yesterday [Thursday]. Very glad I didn’t go that far,” said Keymer.

Keymer pounced on a mid-game error from Robson to turn an equal game in his favour. The German GM then closed out the match quickly to register his fifth win of the championship.

Meanwhile, Dutchman Anish Giri snapped his eight-game draw streak, outwitting compatriot Jorden van Foreest. The win allowed Anish to finish joint second, along with India’s Arjun Erigaisi and Karthikeyan Murali, who played out a 49-move draw in the final round.

Action in the Challengers section kept the goodly crowd interested for the major part of the day. After the thrills and spills and chaos, Pranesh was crowned the champion.

The results: Ninth and final round: Masters: Arjun Erigaisi (5) drew with Karthikeyan Murali (5); Awonder Liang (USA, 4.5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (4); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4) lost to Anish Giri (Ned, 5); Ray Robson (USA, 3) lost to Vincent Keymer (Ger, 7); Nihal Sarin (4.5) bt V. Pranav (3).

Challengers: M. Pranesh (6.5) lost to G.B. Harshavardhan (4); Aryan Chopra (4) bt D. Harika (1.5); Diptayan Ghosh (4.5) bt R. Vaishali (1); Pa. Iniyan (5.5) bt Abhimanyu Puranik (6); B. Adhiban (6) bt Leon Luke Mendonca (6).

Final standings: Masters: 1. Keymer, 2. Anish, Arjun, Karthikeyan, 5. Nihal, Liang, 7. Vidit, van Foreest, 9. Pranav, Robson.

Challengers: 1. Pranesh, 2. Adhiban, Abhimanyu, Mendonca, 5. Iniyan, 6. Diptayan, 7. Harshavardhan, Aryan, 9. Harika, 10. Vaishali.