Impressive Keymer extends his benefit to 1.5 factors

Vincent Keymer simply retains getting higher. The German GM was in his factor, beating American Awonder Liang to notch up his fourth victory on Wednesday and prolong his lead within the Masters part of the Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters chess event to 1.5 factors with simply two rounds to play.

With high seed Arjun Erigaisi, affected by the consequences of a chilly, settling for a fast draw in opposition to the Netherlands’ Anish Giri, the spectacular Keymer took an enormous step in the direction of the highest prize, choosing up a full level with black items.

“I imply, I don’t assume it’s a secret as a result of he coughs a little bit bit. So, he has some throat situation. Hopefully, it’s not a giant deal. But I can think about that you may’t carry out at your finest when you will have such a problem,” mentioned the Dutchman after the match.

The star of the day was Chennai’s personal Karthikeyan Murali, who wore down the higher-rated Vidit Gujrathi in a 72-move match.

V. Pranav, the present World junior champion, defended beautifully from a seemingly misplaced place to carry Dutch GM Jorden van Foreest in 98 strikes.

Laudable show

The 18-year-old Chennai lad, at 2597 ELO, the lowest-rated participant within the Masters occasion, continued his spectacular run after having beforehand held Anish and Arjun to attracts.

Nihal Sarin bounced again after Tuesday’s loss to get the higher of American Ray Robson to take his tally to 3 factors.

In the Challengers part, M. Pranesh outclassed a struggling R. Vaishali to share the lead with Leon Luke Mendonca, a winner over Diptayan Ghosh, on 5.5 factors.

Abhimanyu Puranik, who break up the purpose with Aryan Chopra, trails the leaders by half-a-point.

The outcomes (seventh spherical): Masters: Vidit Gujrathi (3) misplaced to Karthikeyan Murali (4), Arjun Erigaisi (4) drew with Anish Giri (3.5), Awonder Liang (USA, 3.5) misplaced to Vincent Keymer (Ger, 5.5), Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 3.5) drew with V. Pranav (2.5), Nihal Sarin (2) bt Ray Robson (USA, 2.5).

Challengers: D. Harika (1.5) misplaced to G. B. Harshavardhan (3), M Pranesh (5.5) bt R. Vaishali (1), Aryan Chopra (2) drew with Abhimanyu Puranik (5), Diptayan Ghosh (3.5) misplaced to Leon Luke Mendonca (5.5), Pa. Iniyan (4) drew with B. Adhiban (4).

Eighth spherical pairings: Masters: Karthikeyan vs. Nihal, Pranav vs. Robson, Keymer vs. van Foreest, Anish vs. Awonder, Vidit vs. Arjun.

Challengers: Harshavardhan vs. Adhiban, Mendonca vs. Iniyan, Abhimanyu vs. Diptayan, Vaishali vs. Aryan, Harika vs. Pranesh.