Raunak holds high-flying Pranav; Aronian closes in on Erigaisi with fine win

GM Raunak Sadhwani ended the four-match winning run of promising Pranav V, holding the latter for a draw in the Challengers category of the Chennai Grand Masters here on Saturday.

The two Indians agreed to share the point after 39 moves in the fifth-round contest, but Grandmaster Levon Aronian was in roaring form while dispelling the challenge of GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Aronian now has 3.5 points to close in on table-topper GM Arjun Erigaisi (4) who was held to a draw by GM Parham Maghsoodloo.

Aronian, playing with white, opted for the Kings Indian defense and his opponent responded with Alekhine Anti-Grunfeld variation.

The game looked evenly-poised during the initial exchanges but Aronian took control of the board by the 30th move and Maxime’s error of pushing his e-file pawn a few moves later cost him dearly.

The experienced Vidit Gujarathi tried hard for a win but had to settle for a draw after 57 moves against GM Amin Tabatabaei, while GM Alexey Sarana and GM Aravindh Chithambaram signed the truce after 33 moves.

In the Challengers category, the all-women clash between D Harika and Vaishali Rameshbabu ended in a stalemate.

GM Murali Karthikeyan was the only player to claim a full point in Round 5 in this category, beating compatriot GM Abhimanyu Puranik.