Quantbox Chennai GM R7: Vincent Keymer outplays Awonder Liang, storms into World no.10

Leon survives the Diptayan challenge

GM Vincent Keymer has taken a huge lead of 1.5 points after his win over GM Awonder Liang. If Keymer manages to beat GM Jorden van Foreest in the penultimate round, it will be make him the champion. Even if he draws and GM Arjun Erigaisi cannot beat GM Vidit Gujrathi, Keymer still becomes the champion. Those who followed Keymer's career trajectory would not be surprised by his performance at this event. GM Karthikeyan Murali won against Vidit to move to 4/7. GM Anish Giri made his seventh consecutive draw to move to 3.5/7. In the Challengers section, GM Pranesh M and GM Leon Luke Mendonca scored victories over GM R Vaishali and GM Diptayan Ghosh to stay in the lead 5.5/7. Diptayan did not make things easy for Leon. In fact, Diptayan was better in the endgame and only after he faltered in the final moments, Leon walked away with a full point. GM Abhimanyu Puranik splitting the point with GM Aryan Chopra pushed him a half point behind the leaders at 5/7.

Masters: Black wins three

Vidit - Karthikeyan: 0-1

GM Vidit Gujrathi (2720) won three Classical rated games against GM Karthikeyan Murali (2658), drew one and lost two. So the score between them was 3.5-2.5 in favor of Vidit. Their last Classical battle was nearly nine years ago. A lot has changed since then. In the endgame, Karthikeyan opted to give up his rook for two minor pieces.

49...Rc6 would have sufficed, as it prevents 50.Bc7+. Where White went wrong was 48.Bh4+? instead he should have recaptured 48.Bxf4. The game continued 48...Ke5 49.Bd8 Ne3!? 50.Bc7+ Kf6 51.Bd8+ Ke5 52.Bc7+ Kf6 53.Bd8+ Kg7 54.Bxe6 Rb3 55.Kh3 Rb1 threatening Rh1# 56.Rg8+?? Kh7 57.Kh4 f3 clearance 58.gxf3 Rh1+ 59.Kg5 Rg1+ White loses material due to skewer and Black converted his extra material advantage into a win comfortably.

Awonder - Keymer: 0-1

The only rated game between GM Awonder Liang (USA, 2696) and GM Vincent Keymer (GER, 2730) took place nearly a decade ago at World Under-12 Championship. Awonder won that game. It was a long time ago before they were GM. So that score almost does not count today. When Keymer went for 18...f5 break, his opponent did not respond correctly.

Taking the pawn 19.exf5 Bxf5 20.Nd2 was the best choice for White. However, 19.Qb3? did not help White f4 20.Bd2 b5 21.Ne2 Qe8 22.Rc7 Bd8 23.Rb7 a5 White's position was falling apart. So, he made a desperate sacrifice 24.Nxf4 Bc8! 25.Rxb5 exf4 26.Rb8 a4 27.Qb4 Ba5 and it became just a matter of time before Black converted his advantage into a win.

Jorden - Pranav

GM Jorden van Foreest (NED, 2697) was winning the majority of the queen endgame until he blundered 70.Qf7?? Find out why it is a big mistake and what GM Pranav Venkatesh (2597) did to get back in the game in the above position.

Robson - Nihal

34.e4 would have probably caused the game to end in a draw. Instead, GM Ray Robson (USA, 2687) blundered 34.Qd4?? Qxd4-+ 35.exd4 Rc2 GM Nihal Sarin (2692) won the game in the next few moves.

Challengers: Pranesh and Leon stay in the lead

Diptayan - Leon: 0-1

GM Diptayan Ghosh (2576) faced GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2606) only once in a Classical rated game, a little over three years ago. Diptayan won that encounter. He put up a good fight. In fact, he was better at one point.

White needed to focus on his strength - the queenside pawns. 27.c3 g5 28.b4. Not capitalizing on his advantage allowed Black to get back in the game 27.Kf1 e5 28.g4 Nxe5 29.Nxe5+ Bxe5 30.c3 h5 31.gxh5 soon the game liquidated into a rook and few pawns endgame.

White's final mistake was 47.Kg4?? Rxf2-+ things shifted in Black's favor completely. 47.c4+ Kd4 48.c5 Kxc5 49.Rxe4 was not easy to find.

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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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