Pranesh bags Challengers title in Chennai

Indian Grandmaster M Pranesh bagged the Challengers crown despite a setback in the final round, while Vincent Keymer laced his already assured title in the Masters section with a breezy win over Ray Robinson at the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters in Chennai on Friday. 

Keymer's triumph earned him Rs 25 lakh (US$ 28,500 approx), a leap into the world's top 10 ranking, and 24 FIDE Circuit points towards the 2026 Candidates. 

But the German GM (seven points) had already sealed the title on Thursday, hence the focus was on the Challengers segment. 

The section saw dramatic swings as Pa Iniyan stunned Abhimanyu Puranik, while

Adhiban Baskaran overcame Leon Luke Mendonca in a clash that propelled the former level on points with Leon and Abhimanyu in second spot.

Diptayan Ghosh and Aryan Chopra also ended on a high, defeating Vaishali Rameshbabu and Dronavalli Harika, respectively.

But Pranesh (6.5 points) had built a crucial 0.5 lead from the previous day which came handy for him despite the contenders making a strong dash. 

However, in the final round he went down to IM G B Harshavardhan. 

But Pranesh became richer by Rs 7 lakh and also earned a promotion to the Masters category next year.

In the Masters' segment, Arjun Erigaisi shared the second place with GMs Karthikeyan Murali and Anish Giri.

Erigaisi and Karthikeyan split the point, while Awonder Liang was held by Vidit Gujrathi. Nihal Sarin outplayed Pranav V to leapfrog into the mid-table. 

The defining win of the day came on board three, where Giri defeated Jordan van Foreest with black pieces to join Erigaisi and Karthikeyan in second place.