Aronian Defeats Vachier-Lagrave, Trails Arjun By Half-Point
GM Arjun Erigaisi continues to lead the Masters section of the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 with four points after a draw with GM Parham Maghsoodloo in the fifth round. Trailing him by half a point is GM Levon Aronian who defeated GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to reach 3.5 points. Aronian was the only winner of the day in the Masters.
In the Challengers section, GM Pranav Venkatesh was held to his maiden draw by GM Raunak Sadhwani but continues to lead the field by a full point on 4.5 points. GM Leon Mendonca and Sadhwani follow the leader with 3.5 and three points respectively.
GM Murali Karthikeyan scored his second win in as many games to be the only winner of the day when his opponent GM Abhimanyu Puranik blundered in an equal-looking endgame when each player had just around a minute on their clocks.
Round six will start on Sunday, November 10, at 4:30 a.m. ET/10:30 CET/3 p.m. IST.
Round 5 Standings: Challengers
It was a relatively sedate day in Chennai with just one decisive result in each section, though all the games were extended battles.
Masters
The win against Vachier-Lagrave looked like a relatively smooth affair, as Aronian himself agreed, especially when one saw a typical "Aronian-esque" moment when he could afford to play the bold 39.Kf1.
Aronian's ability to nonchalantly play such an anti-intuitive move made it clear that he was in the best of flow during the game. Chatting afterward, he described his mindset during the game: "Today I could play easily without thinking! Sometimes it's more of a psychological thing—you put pressure on your opponent to make difficult decisions. You have an easy play, you get ahead on time, (and) you feel this is the way to play." And against such smooth play, Vachier-Lagrave—in Aronian's words—"got too nervous, played way too fast at some point."
Today I could play easily without thinking!
—Levon Aronian
This only decisive result is our Game Of The Day annotated by GM Rafael Leitao.
Arjun's game was obviously followed with a lot of interest, but it was Maghsoodloo who seemed to be dictating it in the late middlegame.
Challengers
The decisive game between Karthikeyan and Puranik is an annotator's nightmare, as it was thoroughly messy with many mutual mistakes. The following is a light analysis of many of the crucial moments of the game.
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.
