Chennai: Monday brought the blues to the Chennai Grand Masters, as most battles fizzled into draws. In the masters section, four out of five matches ended evenly, except for the Jorden van Foreest-Ray Robson contest. Jorden bounced back from two straight defeats to notch up his first victory, in the tournament’s longest encounter.
Even in the Challengers section, draws dominated the fifth round. Three matches ended without a winner, leaving only Abhimanyu Puranik and GB Harshavardhan GB to come up trumps.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!As the tournament crosses its halfway point, Vincent Keymer continues to hold the reins in masters, maintaining a one-point cushion over top seed Arjun Erigaisi. Abhimanyu extended his lead to one point in the challengers after defeating D Harika.
Among the drawn games in the masters, V Pranav’s battle against Arjun stood out. After opting for a risky opening, the 18-year-old defended resolutely despite the pressure of a rapidly draining clock in the endgame, especially against Arjun, who is a beast in such clutch moments. Defying the expectations that heavily favoured Arjun, Pranav’s resilient performance felt almost like a victory.
Meanwhile, Awonder Liang and Nihal Sarin were clearly relieved to share the point. Awonder, candid about his performance during the live commentary after the match, said he was battling fatigue even before the game began.
“I was really sleepy and tired before the game even began. I started blundering early on, and then he (Nihal) spent a long time thinking and began making mistakes too. When I realised a draw was likely, I was like, ‘Hurray, let’s go!’. I stayed up until 3:30 am watching YouTube, that’s why the fatigue. I don’t prepare before every game, just before the tournament, and today I wasn’t quite in rhythm,” said Awonder.
However, Tuesday’s crucial sixth round could prove decisive. Arjun, with black pieces, will take on leader Vincent in a highly-anticipated clash. Meanwhile, close friends Vidit Gujrathi and Anish Giri will face off in what is set to be another thrilling encounter.
ResultsRound 5: Masters: Anish Giri drew with Murali Karthikeyan; Vidit Gujrathi drew with Vincent Keymer; Arjun Erigaisi drew with V Pranav; Liang Awonder drew with Nihal Sarin; Jorden van Foreest bt Ray Robson.
Challengers: GB Harshavardhan bt R Vaishali; Abhimanyu Puranik bt D Harika; M Pranesh drew with Leon Luke Mendonca; Aryan Chopra drew with B Adhiban; Diptayan Ghosh drew with Pa Iniyan.
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