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In the sixth and penultimate round of the Chennai Grand Masters 2024, Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi suffered first defeat of the tournament against fellow countryman Aravindh Chithambaram. In the other featured match of the tournament, Armenian American GM Levon Aronian drew against Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi, to take the lead with four points in the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 with just one round of games remaining.
Aravindh Chithambaram played a safe Torre Attack opening, keeping his position quite solid in the game against Arjun Erigaisi in the round six. It led to Erigaisi playing in a dynamic manner, at the cost of making his position a bit imbalance, which ultimately led to his downfall, but not before Chithambaram admittedly being nervous about converting the advantage into a victory.
Levon Aronian is sole leader of Chennai Grand Masters 2024 with final round remaining
On the other board, Levon Aronian was in a tough battle against Vidit Gujrathi, who had a lot of chances to get the better of the Armenian-American. But the clock wasn’t quite in favour of Gujrathi, which meant that Aronian managed to walk away from the game with a draw, to take the sole lead of the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 and setting up a mouthwatering final day of action in the tournament.
Meanwhile, in the Challenger series, Indian GM Pranav Ventakesh’s lead was reduced to just half a point after he drew with fellow countryman Pranesh Munerathnam, to get up to five points. The other Indian GM Leon Mendonca defeated his fellow countryman and GM Murali Karthikeyan, to find himself in second place with 4.5 points to his name.
