Pranav V prolonged his perfect start to the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 by registering his fourth win in as many games against Vaishali R on Friday in Chennai. Meanwhile, World no. 2 Arjun Erigaisi beat Amin Tabatabaei in a clash of the leaders to go top of the Masters’ standings.

by MGD1 and sponsored by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 features two categories–Masters & Challengers. With a rating average of 2729, the Masters presents a more competitive field this time around. The debuting Challengers, meanwhile, is designed to provide emerging Indian talent the chance to compete in a top-class tournament.

Coming into the match on the back of a perfect start, Pranav sacrificed his Queen early, taking away Vaishali’s corresponding piece in a bold play. With the field levelled, the pair exchanged heavy blows across the board before Pranav, playing with black pieces, forced his opponent into a corner and claimed the win.

In the Masters category, Arjun continued his unbeaten run in the tournament by defeating Tabatabaei in a battle of the table-toppers; the recently-crowned World no. 2 has accumulated 3.5 points after four rounds and now stands alone on top of the charts. Furthermore, Vidit Gujrathi and Aravindh Chithambaram held Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian, respectively, to stalemates, while Parham Maghsoodloo and Alexey Sarana, too, played out a draw.

Elsewhere in the Challengers category, Leon Mendonca and Abhimanyu Puranik fought to a balanced draw, while Karthikeyan Murali secured a strong win over Harika Dronavalli, showcasing his skill in a competitive game. Raunak Sadhwani and Pranesh M also concluded their match with a well-contested draw but lost ground on runaway leader Pranav as a consequence.

The Chennai Grand Masters 2024 is taking place at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai from November 5 to 11, 2024, with tickets available for the general audience on BookMyShow for INR 100. Additionally, the tournament can be streamed online on ChessBase India’s YouTube channel.