Chennai Grand Masters: M Aravindh Chithambaram inflicts first defeat on Arjun Erigaisi
Grandmaster M Aravindh Chithambaram ended the unbeaten run of table topper Arjun Erigaisi to throw open the Chennai Grand Masters title race as Vidit Gujrathi eked out a draw against Levon Aronian in the sixth round. Arjun and Aronian are now in joint lead with four points each. Aravindh, with his first win of the competition, and GM Amin Tabatabaei are half a point behind.
Playing with white, Aravindh opted for a queen pawn opening and Arjun, currently second in the world in live rankings, was guilty of conceding the advantage to his compatriot on the 16th and 17th moves. Aravindh, who had drawn all his earlier matches, slowly but surely built on that advantage to tighten the noose around his opponent’s king and grabbed full points in 48 moves.
On the last board, Aronian had a chance to overtake Arjun as he had the time advantage against Vidit on the fourth board. However, the Indian managed a draw with just two kings left on the board after 70 moves.
The other two matches ended in a draw with GM Alexy Sarana holding GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with black pieces while Amin failing to breach the defense of GM Parham Maghsoodloo on the first board.
