The third edition of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters concluded on August 15th. The tournament, initially scheduled to begin on August 6th, commenced on August 7th after a fire incident at the Hyatt Regency Chennai. With the rest day being scrapped to accommodate this delay, the games were played on 9 consecutive days from August 7-15th.
Vincent Keymer Wins Masters
Grandmaster Vincent Keymer dominated the Masters section, scoring 7 points in 9 rounds. The 20 year old had won the tournament with a round to spare, and still fought for the win in the final round against GM Ray Robson. He gained 20.9 rating points, and is now the World no. 10 in classical rankings. GM Anish Giri, after scoring 8 draws, won his final round game against compatriot Jorden Van Foreest in the final round. With a final score of 5, he finished in the second place. Both Vincent and Anish remained undefeated throughout the tournament. GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Karthikeyan Murali, also with 5 points, were placed 3rd and 4th respectively.
Pranesh M Wins Challengers
Grandmaster Pranesh had entered the Challengers section through the online qualifiers. He scored 6.5 points to secure the top spot in the Challengers. With this, he has also secured his spot in the Masters tournament next year. GMs Adhiban Baskaran, Abhimanyu Puranik and Leon Mendonca scored 6 points each and were placed 2-4th based on tie-breaks. Remarkably, Adhiban defeated Leon in the final round to clinch that second place! He was also the only undefeated player in the Challengers section.
