Chennai Grand Masters 2024: Aravindh Chithambaram Clinches Masters Title

A late surge by GM Aravindh Chithambaram, which involved winning last two classical rounds, saw him crowned Chennai Grand Masters 2024 champion while GM V Pranav remained unbeaten throughout to claim Challengers title at Anna Centenary Library here on Monday.

With Masters category witnessing a three-way tie for top spot, Aravindh defeated GM Levon Aronian in first blitz play-off and n held his nerve to draw second with black pieces to clinch second edition of competition.

Organised by MGD1 and sponsored by Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nu, Chennai Grand Masters 2024 features two categories–Masters & Challengers. With a rating average of 2729, Masters presented a more competitive field this time around. debuting Challengers, meanwhile, was designed to provide emerging Indian talent chance to compete in a top-class tournament.

Earlier, Aravindh h catapulted himself into title contention by registering his second successive win in competition while overnight joint leers GM Arjun Erigaisi and Levon Aronian were held to a draw.

Aravindh, who h ended Arjun’s unbeaten run in earlier round, dominated final round game against GM Parham Maghsoodloo with black pieces. He opted for Queen’s Gambit declined in English opening and took control of board in middle game after Parham tred queens in 24th move. He n drove home vantage in a knight-pawn ending and force a three-way tie for top spot.

On or boards, Aronian settled for a quick draw against GM Amin Tabatabaei and Arjun failed to breach defense of GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 38 moves and shared point.

With Aravindh topping table with a superior tie-break score, Aronian and Arjun faced-off in two game blitz play-off and both players managed to win game with black pieces to force a sudden-death.

Aronian n bid 6.40 minutes to play black and held Arjun to a draw to set up final against Aravindh.
In title clash, Aravindh pounced on a late error from Aronian to win a rook-pawn end game with white in first blitz game. Indian n held on with black to grab title.

Since three players were tied on 4.5 points after 7 classical rounds, all three will take home a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh each.

In Challengers category, Pranav needed just a draw against GM Luke Mendonca while latter h to find a way to win against Indian to clinch crown.

Playing white, Pranav opted for King Pawn opening with Mendonca responding with Sicilian Defense. Indian played a solid game and did not allow his opponent any opportunities to control board and signed truce after 41 moves to take home Challengers title and a prize purse of Rs 6 lakh.

Pranav, who ended competition with four wins and three draws, will now also get a direct entry in Masters category next year.

In day’s or matches, GM Murali Karthikeyan defeated GM R Vaishali while GM Abhimanyu Puranik played out a draw against GM Raunak Shwani. GM D Harika tried her best to eke out her first win of tournament but h to settle for a draw against GM M Pranesh.