Chennai Grandmasters 2024, Day 6: Aravindh Chithambaram beats Arjun Erigaisi to open up title race

With this win, Chithambaram (3.5) has joined Iranian Amin Tabatabaei (3.5) to trail leaders Erigaisi (4) and Levon Aronian (4) by just half-point.

Aravindh Chithambaram defeated Arjun Erigaisi in sixth round of the Chennai Grandmasters. | Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B/ The Hindu

Aravindh Chithambaram beat Arjun Erigaisi in the sixth round to open up the title race in the second edition of the Chennai Grandmasters classical chess tournament at the Anna Centenary Library auditorium here on Saturday.

Chithambaram repeated the Trompowsky opening, which he played against Levon Aronian (US) in the fourth round. He said he thought Erigaisi probably wasn’t expecting him to repeat it.  

“When I was in time pressure, I was really nervous. The position was still complicated. I thought I would blunder,” he said, speaking about the time he felt the most unnerved during the game. 

Asked what his mindset was going into the game, knowing that he would be facing an in-form Erigaisi, he said: “I didn’t think too much about it. I knew it would be a fighting game, because I was playing Arjun and he’s always a fighter. I also tried to be solid.”

With this win, Chithambaram (3.5) has joined Iranian Amin Tabatabaei (3.5) to trail leaders Erigaisi (4) and Aronian (4) by just half-point.

If both Erigaisi and Aronian win in the seventh and final round on Sunday, the title-winner will be decided on tie-break. For Chithambaram to win the tournament, Erigaisi and Aronian have to lose and he has to win versus Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo in the final round.

A three-way tie is also a possibility, should Erigaisi and Aronian draw with Chithambaram winning.

Erigaisi and Aronian will face Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and Tabatabaei in the final round.

In the Challengers section, it’s a winner-takes-all final round between V. Pranav (5) and Leon Luke Mendonca (4.5). In case of a draw, Pranav will be the champion. 

The results (sixth round, Indians unless mentioned):

Masters: Amin Tabatabaei (Irn, 3.5) drew with Parham Maghsoodloo (Irn, 2.5); Aravindh Chithambaram (3.5) bt Arjun Erigaisi (4); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2.5) drew with Alexey Sarana (Ser, 2); Vidit Gujrathi (2) drew with Levon Aronian (US, 4).

Challengers: Leon Luke Mendonca (4.5) bt Karthikeyan Murali (2.5); R. Vaishali (1) lost to Abhimanyu Puranik (3); Raunak Sadhwani (3.5) drew with D. Harika (1.5); M. Pranesh (3) drew with V. Pranav (5).