Chennai, Nov 10: Grandmaster M Aravindh Chithambaram ended the unbeaten run of table topper Arjun Erigaisi to throw open the Chennai Grand Masters title race as Vidit Gujrathi eked out a draw against Levon Aronian in the sixth round here on Sunday.
Arjun and Aronian are now in joint lead with four points each with Aravindh, with his first win of the competition, and GM Amin Tabatabaei half a point behind.
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.
Playing white, Aravindh opted for a queen pawn opening and Arjun, currently second in the world in live rankings, was guilty of conceding the advantage to his compatriot in the 16th and 17th move.
Aravindh, who had drawn all his earlier matches, then slowly but surely built on that advantage to tighten the noose around his opponent’s king and grabbed full points in 48 moves.
On the last board, Aronian had a chance to overtake Arjun as he has the time advantage against Vidit on the fourth board. However, the Indian managed a draw with just two kings left on the board after 70 moves.
The other two matches ended in a draw with GM Alexy Sarana holding GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
In the Challengers category, GM Pranav V continued to top the standing despite being held to a second successive draw after winning the first four rounds.
On Sunday, he accepted an offer to share points against GM M Pranesh after just 39 moves and now has five points.
The match between GM Raunak Sadhwani and GM D Harika also ended in a stalemate while GM Abhimanyu Puranik returned to winning ways with a victory over GM R Vaishali.
GM Leon Mendonca was the only one to register a win in Round 6. (PTI)
