Arjun Wins Again To Reach 2809.3; Pranav Makes It 4/4
The fourth round brought the two joint leaders to face each other: GM Amin Tabatabaei vs. GM Arjun Erigaisi, and it proved to be another big fight where Arjun prevailed to continue to lead the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 Masters section with 3.5/4. Arjun later praised his opponent's spirit for not playing it safe but instead entering a full-fledged fight. The other three games ended in draws, so GMs Levon Aronian and Tabatabaei follow the leader on 2.5 points.
GM Pranav Venkatesh won a long endgame against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu to lead the Challengers with a clean score at the end of the fourth round. Just as with Arjun, Pranav has a full-point lead over the field. GM Murali Karthikeyan was the only other winner of the day in the Challengers, beating GM Harika Dronavalli in a sharp skirmish in the French Defense. Pranav is followed by GM Leon Mendonca on three points and GM Raunak Sadhwani on 2.5 points.
Round five will start on November 9th at 4.30 a.m. ET/10.30 CET/3 p.m. IST.
Round 4 Standings: Challengers
Masters
Arjun made no effort to tone down his aggression from the get-go, thrashing out a risky line with Black, advancing his pawns on the kingside even though his king was still in the center. It was obvious that he had come well-armed for the game whereas Tabatabaei did appear to be in a spot of bother, as he had consumed over half an hour more on the clock than his opponent by the 13th move.
Speaking after the game, Arjun was candid about employing such a risky opening line for an important game: "I obviously knew it was very risky. There was a fair chance I might get worse, and end up in a difficult situation, but I believed in my skill, and thought I would take the risk!"
There was a fair chance I might get worse, and end up in a difficult situation, but I believed in my skill, and thought I would take the risk!
—Arjun Erigaisi
Imbalance is the most powerful weapon of the most ambitious players on the chessboard. After such risky opening play, Arjun enterprisingly created his chances with the piece sacrifice 23...Bxh3!? It ultimately simplified into an ending where he had a rook and two pawns against the opponent's two minor pieces—a famed practical piece equation of the eighth World Champion Mikhail Tal in endgames.
This full-fledged fight is our Game Of The Day—or, as our annotator GM Rafael Leitao quipped, Arjun's Game Of The Day!
In the only other noteworthy game of the day, GM Vidit Gujrathi seemed to have a slight edge against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with Black and entered an interesting rook endgame, where fortune went his way just for one moment.
The analyzed positions give so much joy to unravel and thus qualify to be an endgame lover's delight; perhaps it was only poetic justice that the game ended in a draw after revealing so many interesting nuances.
Challengers
Pranav once again continued to press an equal endgame as in the previous round and was rewarded when his opponent Vaishali blundered when dealing with her perpetual nemesis: the clock. This endgame too contained an instructive moment.
"The endgame was very interesting... With a knight, I thought at least I have chances—move it around and maybe some fork or something!" And when I asked him if he prefers knights over bishops, he gave a grin and said, "Yes!"
With a knight, I thought at least I have chances—move it around and maybe some fork or something!
—Pranav Venkatesh
Pranav is trained by GM Shyam Sundar Mohanraj, who runs a chess academy in Chennai named "Chess Thulir" (translates from Tamil into Chess Sprout).
Just on the morning of the day, an article in the Times Of India, the most circulated newspaper in the country, carried an interview with Harika, where she had described her life as a chess professional after motherhood.
Supermom D Harika 🗣️ “I actually never thought women’s chess was different from men’s. I was just like everyone thinking that there was no gender bias. But after becoming pregnant, I realised it’s much tougher for mothers than other women players as well.” pic.twitter.com/3D24Js8uUZ
— Neha Surana (@jrnehasurana) November 8, 2024
Being aware of such changes in priorities and responsibilities, Harika gave no such hint of any reduction in her preparation levels, as she employed a sharp variation of the French Defense with the black pieces against GM Murali Karthikeyan.
Incredibly, Karthikeyan revealed after the game he actually expected the opening line and had come prepared for it. "I didn't know all the details after 18.Ne2, but I prepared this, just in case someone plays this."
The Chennai Grand Masters 2024, taking place in Chennai, is India's strongest classical super-tournament of the year. It is an eight-player round-robin that takes place from November 5 to 11 with a time control of 90+30. The prize fund is 50 lakhs, which is approximately $60,000.
