Keymer beats Pranav, Robson wins rollercoaster game against Vidit

The second round of the Masters section in Chennai saw Vincent Keymer continue his strong start by scoring a second win in as many games, thus becoming the early sole leader in the single round-robin. The day's other decisive result saw Ray Robson defeat fourth seed Vidit Gujrathi, while the remaining three games – Jorden van Foreest v. Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin v. Anish Giri and Karthikeyan Murali v. Awonder Liang – ended drawn. After these results, Keymer leads the standings with 2/2, followed by Arjun and Robson on 1½ points each.

Keymer, playing black against Pranav Venkatesh, the lowest-rated player in the field, opted for the Sicilian Defence. Pranav responded bravely, looking to take the game into sharp territory from the outset, but inaccuracies in the opening soon left him on the back foot. Keymer showed excellent judgement by giving up an exchange in the early middlegame, obtaining in return connected passed pawns on the c- and d-files.

In the complex battle that followed, Pranav tried to stir up counterplay by creating attacking chances on the kingside, but Keymer calmly neutralised the threats. With the defensive tasks completed, the German gradually pushed his advanced c-pawn, which became the decisive factor. Unable to halt its progress, Pranav was forced to resign on move 46.

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Kids following the games, as Sagar Shah and co. commentate on the action live

The round's other decisive result in the Masters came from Ray Robson's win over fourth seed Vidit Gujrathi. Robson, who had drawn with Anish Giri in the first round while playing black, faced Vidit with the white pieces and steered the game away from heavy theoretical lines by employing the Colle System. Vidit chose a sharp response, striking early with ...f7-f5 to generate dynamic chances.

The game quickly turned into a messy struggle, and by move 27 both players were navigating a wild position with less than ten minutes on their clocks. At that critical juncture, Vidit found the strong and visually appealing 27...Ne3

The knight sortie prompted Robson to sacrifice his queen for a rook and a minor piece with 28.Rxc8 Nxc4 29.Rxc4.

A few moves later, Robson faltered with 31.Bxf8, missing the engine-approved 31.Rdd4 – a resource difficult to find under such intense time pressure.

Vidit emerged clearly better, but Robson maintained composure and continued to set practical problems. As the game passed move 40, the absence of any additional time in the Chennai time control became significant. Vidit committed mistakes on moves 39 and 40, which swung the advantage decisively in Robson's favour.

The US grandmaster then pressed home his edge with accuracy, improving his position step by step until trapping Vidit's king in a mating net.

Only by sacrificing material would White prevent checkmate. Vidit resigned.

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The remaining three encounters in the Masters ended in draws. For the second day running, Jorden van Foreest played a sharp game, this time against top seed Arjun Erigaisi, and once again emerged with a half point. The one player who might have joined the winners' circle was Nihal Sarin.

Having lost his opening game to Keymer after blundering in an endgame, Nihal now faced Anish Giri with the white pieces. He obtained promising winning chances but failed to convert against the Dutch grandmaster, who is among the top-rated players in the field.

Standings after round 2

All games

Challengers: Iniyan and Abhimanyu score

In the Challengers section, two games finished decisively, though neither of the three players who had won in the first round managed to collect a second full point in a row.

Abhimanyu Puranik scored a win with black over Leon Luke Mendonca, while P Iniyan defeated Harika Dronavalli with white. The remaining games were drawn. These results mean that Abhimanyu and Iniyan have joined M Pranesh and Diptayan Ghosh – both winners on day one – in the lead on 1½/2 points.

Iniyan's game against Dronavalli featured a critical moment when Black, in an inferior position, could have sought counterplay with 31...e4 instead of the game move 31...Bd7.

In the line after 31...e4 32.Nd4, the key resource is 32...Qe5, and if White tries 33.Nxb5, then 33...Qa1+ 34.Kh2 Qe5+ 35.g3 Qb2 (diagram) sets up a defence where 36.Kg2 fails to 36...e3, likely allowing Black to escape with a draw by repetition.

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Free video sample: Overview
Free video sample: Chigorin: 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7/cxd4

In the game, after 31...Bd7, Iniyan maintained the pressure with his more active pieces and converted the advantage into a 39-move win.

Panneerselvam Iniyan

Standings after round 2

All games

Links

• Official website
• ChessBase India
• Aravindh beats Aronian in tiebreaks, wins Chennai Grand Masters (2024)
• Gukesh wins the Chennai Masters, Arjun second and Harikrishna third (2023)