Quantbox Chennai GM R3: Vincent Keymer outplays Karthikeyan Murali, scores a hat-trick

by Shahid Ahmed - 10/08/2025

GM Vincent Keymer (GER) has made a perfect start at Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025. He completely outplayed GM Karthikeyan Murali after the latter made a couple of positional mistakes in consecutive moves. Keymer is the sole leader at 3/3. GM Arjun Erigaisi is the only player at 2.5/3. Arjun defeated GM Ray Robson (USA) comfortably after getting a dream position out of the English opening. GM Awonder Liang (USA) and GM Vidit Gujrathi scored their first wins of the event against GM Jorden van Foreest (NED) and GM Nihal Sarin respectively. Nihal for the second consecutive game, struggled to convert his advantage into a win. This time, the outcome cost him a full point. Round 4 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: Anmol Bhargav

White wins four in Masters

The Challengers section had three decisive games. GM Abhimanyu Puranik defeated IM Harshavardhan G B comfortably. GM R Vaishali went wrong in a relatively balanced rook and few pawns endgame against GM Leon Luke Mendonca. GM Pranesh M won against GM Iniyan Pa to stay in the lead with Abhimanyu 2.5/3. GM Diptayan Ghosh salvaged a draw in a tough endgame against GM Aryan Chopra to move to 2/3.

Masters: Keymer - Karthikeyan: 1-0

This is quite possibly the first-ever Classical rated game between GM Vincent Keymer (GER, 2730) and GM Karthikeyan Murali (2658). Karthikeyan made a positional mistake early in the game.

Position after 14.Qg3

12...Be7 13.h5 h6? 13.Qg3 and we reached the above position. Two consecutive inaccuracies 12...Be7 and 13...h6 worsened Black's position. 12...Bd6 and 13...0-0 were better options. Now Black cannot castle on the kingside due to Bxh6 looming large. Hence, 14...Kf8 15.Kb1 waiting to see what Black does and also reinforcing his king at the same time. 15...Ra7 16.Be5 Rg8 17.f4 Nd7 18.exd5 exd5 19.Ne2 White is not worried about trading his strong bishop with the knight as it will only open the f-file. White went on to win the game in the next few moves.

Vincent Keymer (GER) scored a hat-trick of wins by completely outplaying Karthikeyan Murali

GM Anish Giri (NED) - GM Pranav Venkatesh: 0.5-0.5

Vidit - Nihal: 1-0

GM Vidit Gujrathi (2720) and GM Nihal Sarin (2692) have plenty of Rapid and Blitz games against each other. However, this is the first time they battled in a Classical rated game. Nihal got himself a substantial advantage.

Position after 38.f3

Black needed to go 38...Rh7 first before playing d4. Try to find out the difference. The game continued 38...d4 39.Qc4 Bd5 40.Qxd4 Qd8? Black needed to form a battery Qa8 to attack on f3. 41.Kf2 Qf8 42.Qxa4 Bxc5+ 43.Kg2 c6?? was the final mistake 44.Bh6+- Black lost the exchange and the game in no time.

GM Vidit Gujrathi scored his first win of the event as his opponent GM Nihal Sarin struggled to convert his chances in second game in-a-row

Arjun - Robson: 1-0

The only time GM Arjun Erigaisi (2776) faced GM Ray Robson (USA, 2687) in a Classical rated game was nearly three years ago. It had ended in a draw. Arjun got a lot stronger since then. Robson made a questionable choice of opening. Arjun got a dream position for English opening players, gained an exchange and managed to convert his advantage into a win with ease.

Arjun Erigaisi - Ray Robson, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

GM Arjun Erigaisi had a relatively easy day at the office

GM Awonder Liang (USA) continues his steady climb towards 2700 as he defeated the reigning Dutch champion - GM Jorden van Foreest (NED)

Challengers: Abhimanyu, Leon and Pranesh win

GM Abhimanyu Puranik punished IM Harshavardhan G B's incorrect positional decision

GM Leon Luke Mendonca bounced back with a win after GM R Vaishali misplayed in a relatively balanced rook and few pawns endgame

GM Harika Dronavalli - GM Adhiban Baskaran: 0.5-0.5

GM Pranesh M scored a crucial win over GM Iniyan Pa to maintain his lead 2.5/3

GM Diptayan Ghosh saved a tough endgame against GM Aryan Chopra

Sambasivan G, CFO, Tata Play made the ceremonial first move on GM Vincent Keymer (GER) and GM Karthikeyan Murali's board

For more Round 3 photos, please click here.

Replay Round 3 live stream

Replay Round 3 live commentary by CM Sahil Tickoo, Kincso Toth (HUN), IM Sagar Shah and GM Sahaj Grover | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 3 Masters games

Replay Round 3 Challengers games

Masters Round 3 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Club/City		White	Result		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	2	2730	Germany	GM	Keymer, Vincent	1 - 0	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	2658	India	10	PGN
2	3	2748	Netherlands	GM	Giri, Anish	½ - ½	GM	Pranav, V	2597	India	1	PGN
3	4	2720	India	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	1 - 0	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2692	India	9	PGN
4	5	2776	India	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	1 - 0	GM	Robson, Ray	2687	USA	8	PGN
5	6	2696	USA	GM	Liang, Awonder	1 - 0	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2697	Netherlands	7	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 3

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	2	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2730	Germany	3	2,50	3	1
2	5	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2776	India	2,5	3,50	2	0
3	8	GM	Robson, Ray	USA	2687	USA	1,5	2,25	1	0
4	6	GM	Liang, Awonder	USA	2696	USA	1,5	1,50	1	0
5	3	GM	Giri, Anish	NED	2748	Netherlands	1,5	1,50	0	0
6	4	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2720	India	1,5	1,00	1	0
7	7	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2697	Netherlands	1	2,00	0	0
8	1	GM	Pranav, V	IND	2597	India	1	1,25	0	0
	10	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2658	India	1	1,25	0	0
10	9	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2692	India	0,5	0,75	0	0

Details

Round 4 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Club/City		White	Result		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	10	2658	India	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali		GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2697	Netherlands	7
2	8	2687	USA	GM	Robson, Ray		GM	Liang, Awonder	2696	USA	6
3	9	2692	India	GM	Nihal, Sarin		GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2776	India	5
4	1	2597	India	GM	Pranav, V		GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2720	India	4
5	2	2730	Germany	GM	Keymer, Vincent		GM	Giri, Anish	2748	Netherlands	3

Details

Challengers Round 3 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Club/City		White	Result		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	2	2635	India	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	1 - 0	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	2454	India	10	PGN
2	3	2476	India	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	0 - 1	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2606	India	1	PGN
3	4	2487	India	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	½ - ½	GM	Adhiban, B.	2534	India	9	PGN
4	5	2589	India	GM	Pranesh, M	1 - 0	GM	Iniyan, Pa	2586	India	8	PGN
5	6	2634	India	GM	Aryan, Chopra	½ - ½	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2576	India	7	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 3

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	5	GM	Pranesh, M	IND	2589	India	2,5	3,50	2	0
2	2	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	IND	2635	India	2,5	3,25	2	1
3	7	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	IND	2576	India	2	2,25	1	1
4	1	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2606	India	2	1,50	2	1
5	9	GM	Adhiban, B.	IND	2534	India	1,5	2,00	0	0
6	8	GM	Iniyan, Pa	IND	2586	India	1,5	1,00	1	0
7	3	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2476	India	1	1,50	0	0
8	6	GM	Aryan, Chopra	IND	2634	India	1	1,25	0	0
9	4	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	IND	2487	India	0,5	0,75	0	0
10	10	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	IND	2454	India	0,5	0,50	0	0

Details

Round 4 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Club/City		White	Result		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	10	2454	India	IM	Harshavardhan, G B		GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2576	India	7
2	8	2586	India	GM	Iniyan, Pa		GM	Aryan, Chopra	2634	India	6
3	9	2534	India	GM	Adhiban, B.		GM	Pranesh, M	2589	India	5
4	1	2606	India	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke		GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2487	India	4
5	2	2635	India	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu		GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2476	India	3

Details

Prize

The total prize fund is ₹1 Crore, for Masters it is ₹7500000, an increase of 50% from previous edition. The top three prizes are ₹2500000, ₹1500000 and ₹1000000. The prize fund in Challengers section is ₹2500000. The top three prizes are ₹700000, ₹400000 and ₹325000.

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