Chennai Grand Masters: Aravindh creates a surprise!

11/11/2024 – After a very quiet start, with five draws in five games, Aravindh Chithambaram toppled Arjun Erigaisi, who until then had dominated the tournament head and shoulders. Initially, the defeat of the man who had previously been ranked 2nd in the world in the virtual Elo ranking, benefited Levon Aronian, who took the lead on a par with Erigaisi. In the final round, the Armenian-born Aronian settled for a quick draw with white against Amin Tabatabaei, while Erigaisi came within a whisker of beating MVL’s Grünfeld. For his part, Chithambaram beat Parham Maghsoodloo with the Blacks to join the leading duo. Even better: he had the best tie-break, and could wait for the result of the play-off between Aronian and Erigaisi to find out his final opponent. It would be the American, after he had cancelled with the Blacks in the Armaggedon. But the experienced Levon, despite the freshness retained by his non-match in the final round, was crushed 2-0 by Aravindh, who was unleashed during the last two days of the tournament! | In the challenger tournament, another outsider came out on top. Young Pranav V (18 – on the right in the photo) clearly dominated the competition, where the ladies had to make do with the last places.