Vincent Keymer wins Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025 with a round to spare

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/08/2025

Vincent Keymer (GER) drew his game against Jorden van Foreest (NED) to win Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025 with a round to spare. Arjun Erigaisi had a lukewarm draw against Anish Giri to move to 4.5/8, 1.5 points behind Keymer. Karthikeyan Murali also shared the point with his opponent, Nihal Sarin to take his score 4.5/8. Arjun and Karthikeyan will face each other in the final round to determine the rest of the podium. Pranesh M emerged sole leader 6.5/8 in the Challengers section. Abhimanyu Puranik and Leon Luke Mendonca are at 6/8 each. Round 9 starts today at 12 p.m. IST. Photos: Dr. Vidhi Karelia

Can Pranesh win the Challengers?

GM Pranesh M can become the champion of the Challengers section if he manages to beat IM Harshavardhan G B in the final round. However, a draw may see three players finishing with the same score 7/9 if GM Abhimanyu Puranik and GM Leon Luke Mendonca manages to win their respective Round 9. Arguably the most exciting finish of the round was between Abhimanyu and GM Diptayan Ghosh. Diptayan missed a resource in a rook vs knight endgame where both sides were attempting to promote their respective passed pawns.

Masters: Five draws

Keymer - Jorden: 0.5-0.5

GM Vincent Keymer (GER, 2730) and GM Jorden van Foreest (NED, 2697) played four Classical rated games against each other. Jorden won the first one. The remaining three ended in draws. Their fifth battle also ended in a draw.

Final moments: Vincent Keymer - Jorden van Foreest | Video: ChessBase India

Vincent Keymer is the fan favorite | Video: ChessBase India

GM Vincent Keymer (GER) had a well contested draw against GM Jorden van Foreest (NED) to win the tournament with a round to go

Karthikeyan - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

GM Karthikeyan Murali (2658) and GM Nihal Sarin (2692) played two Classical rated games only. The first one was last year which ended in a draw. The second encounter was a few months ago in April which Karthikeyan won. Their third battle was a well contested draw.

GM Karthikeyan Murali - GM Nihal Sarin: 0.5-0.5

Interview with Vidit Gujrathi | Video: ChessBase India

GM Vidit Gujrathi - GM Arjun Erigaisi: 0.5-0.5

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.

Position after 18...f5

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.

GM Vincent Keymer (GER) scored his fourth win of the event, reached 2747 and become World no.10 in live ratings

Vincent Keymer is now World no.10 in live ratings | Source: 2700chess.com

Jorden - Pranav

Position after 70.Qf7??

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.

GM Jorden van Foreest (NED) missed a win against GM Pranav Venkatesh who showed his resiliency to salvage a half point

Robson - Nihal

Position after 33...b5

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.

For the second time in this event, GM Nihal Sarin bounced back with a win after suffering a loss

Challengers: Pranesh emerges sole leader

Interview with GM Pranesh M | Video: ChessBase India

GM Pranesh M got the better of GM Harika Dronavalli to emerge sole leader heading into the final round

GM Adhiban Baskaran scored his second win of the event

Abhimanyu - Diptayan

Position after 63.g6

There is only one way for Black to save the game. Find out what it is. GM Diptayan Ghosh (2576) could not find it in time trouble. He played 63...b4?? and lost the game against GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2635).

GM Abhimanyu Puranik won an exciting finish against GM Diptayan Ghosh

Interview with the 87th GM of India - Harikrishnan A Ra | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 8 live stream

Replay Round 8 live commentary by CM Sahil Tickoo, Kincso Toth (HUN), IM Sagar Shah and GM Sahaj Grover | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 8 Masters games

Replay Round 8 Challengers games

Masters Round 8 results

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

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	2	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2730	Germany	6	0	23,00	4	2
2	5	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2776	India	4,5	0	17,25	2	0
3	10	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2658	India	4,5	0	16,25	2	1
4	3	GM	Giri, Anish	NED	2748	Netherlands	4	0	16,00	0	0
5	7	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2697	Netherlands	4	0	15,00	2	1
6	6	GM	Liang, Awonder	USA	2696	USA	4	0	14,50	2	1
7	4	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2720	India	3,5	1	14,25	1	0
8	9	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2692	India	3,5	0	13,75	2	1
9	1	GM	Pranav, V	IND	2597	India	3	0,5	11,75	0	0
10	8	GM	Robson, Ray	USA	2687	USA	3	0,5	11,25	1	0

Details

Round 9 pairings

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

Details

Challengers Round 8 results

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

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	5	GM	Pranesh, M	IND	2589	India	6,5	0	23,25	5	2
2	2	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	IND	2635	India	6	1	19,00	5	2
3	1	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2606	India	6	0	17,50	5	2
4	9	GM	Adhiban, B.	IND	2534	India	5	0	17,75	2	1
5	8	GM	Iniyan, Pa	IND	2586	India	4,5	0	13,75	2	0
6	7	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	IND	2576	India	3,5	0	11,50	2	2
7	6	GM	Aryan, Chopra	IND	2634	India	3	0,5	9,75	1	1
8	10	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	IND	2454	India	3	0,5	6,25	2	2
9	4	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	IND	2487	India	1,5	0	3,50	1	1
10	3	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2476	India	1	0	4,75	0	0

Details

Round 9 pairings

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

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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