Chennai Grand Masters 2024: Perfect Pranav racks up fourth straight win, Arjun goes on top

Pranav V prolonged his perfect start to the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 by registering his fourth win in as many games against Vaishali R on Friday in Chennai. Meanwhile, World no. 2 Arjun Erigaisi beat Amin Tabatabaei in a clash of the leaders to go top of the Masters' standings.

The Chennai Grand Masters 2024 features two categories Masters and Challengers. With a rating average of 2729, the Masters presents a more competitive field this time around. The debuting Challengers, meanwhile, is designed to provide emerging Indian talent the chance to compete in a top-class tournament.

Coming into the match on the back of a perfect start, Pranav sacrificed his Queen early, taking away Vaishali's corresponding piece in a bold play. With the field levelled, the pair exchanged heavy blows across the board before Pranav, playing with black pieces, forced his opponent into a corner and claimed the win.

In the Masters category, Arjun continued his unbeaten run in the tournament by defeating Tabatabaei in a battle of the table-toppers; the recently-crowned World no. 2 has accumulated 3.5 points after four rounds and now stands alone on top of the charts. Furthermore, Vidit Gujrathi and Aravindh Chithambaram held Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian, respectively, to stalemates, while Parham Maghsoodloo and Alexey Sarana, too, played out a draw.

Elsewhere in the Challengers category, Leon Mendonca and Abhimanyu Puranik fought to a balanced draw, while Karthikeyan Murali secured a strong win over Harika Dronavalli, showcasing his skill in a competitive game. Raunak Sadhwani and Pranesh M also concluded their match with a well-contested draw but lost ground on runaway leader Pranav as a consequence. The Chennai Grand Masters 2024 is taking place at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai from November 5 to November 11. Additionally, the tournament can be streamed online on ChessBase India's YouTube channel. (ANI)