Quantbox Chennai GM R5: Abhimanyu Puranik wins four in-a-row

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/08/2025

GM Jorden van Foreest (NED) scored his first win at Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025. He defeated GM Ray Robson (USA). It was also the only decisive game of the round in Masters section. Thus, the standings did not change by much. GM Vincent Keymer (GER) is still in sole lead 4/5, followed by GM Arjun Erigaisi at 3/5. Four players - GM Anish Giri (NED), GM Vidit Gujrathi, GM Karthikeyan Murali and GM Awonder Liang (USA) are at 2.5/4 each. In the Challengers, former Asian Junior champion, IM Harshavardhan G B scored his first win of the event against GM R Vaishali. GM Abhimanyu Puranik registered his fourth win in-a-row, this time against GM R Vaishali to extend his sole lead by a full point. He is now at 4.5/5. Round 6 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: Dr. Vidhi Karelia

Abhimanyu increases his sole lead

GM Pranesh M, GM Diptayan Ghosh and GM Leon Luke Mendonca are trailing the sole leader, GM Abhimanyu Puranik, by a full point at 3.5/5 each. The battle between former and current National Rapid champions, Diptayan and GM Iniyan Pa ended in a relatively calm draw. Iniyan moved to 3/5.

Masters: Jorden scores his first win

GM Anish Giri (NED) and GM Karthikeyan Murali had a well contested draw

GM Vidit Gujrathi - GM Vincent Keymer (GER): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Himank Ghosh

GM Arjun Erigaisi - GM Pranav Venkatesh: 0.5-0.5

GM Awonder Liang (USA) - GM Nihal Sarin\: 0.5-0.5

GM Jorden van Foreest (NED) scored his first win of the event against GM Ray Robson (USA)

Challengers: Harshavardhan beats Vaishali

Vaishali - Harshavardhan

Position after 42...Kg6

Black is threatening Rf8+ followed by Rf4 to capture the g4-pawn. GM R Vaishali (2476) decided to go for the c7-pawn 43.Bc3? Rf8+ 44.Kg3 Rf4 45.Ba5 Rxg4+ 46.Kh3 Re4 47.Bxc7 Nf5 the g4-pawn obviously is more precious than the c7-pawn, as it played a crucial role in IM Harshavardhan G B (2454) scoring his first win of the event.

The former Asian Junior champion, IM Harshavardhan G B scored his first win of the event against the 45th Olympiad Gold medalist, GM R Vaishali | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Harika - Abhimanyu: 0-1

GM Harika Dronavalli (2487) faced GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2635) thrice in Classical rated games. All of them ended in draws. The last one was the very same event few months ago in November 2024. Abhimanyu was coming into this game after scoring a hat-trick of wins.

Position after 27...Nc2

28.Bf6? Rxd1 29.Qxd1 Nd4 30.Qa4 Qa8 31.f3 Qb7 idea Qd7 32.Qc4 h6 33.h5 Qd7 34.Qa4 Qxb5 35.Qxa7 Qe2+ White's king is more vulnerable than Black's back rank. 36.Kh3 Qf1+ 37.Kg4 Qxf3+ 38.Kh3 Qh1 39.Kg4 gxh5+ and it's over as there is a checkmate in the next move.

Final moments and interview with GM Abhimanyu Puranik | Video: ChessBase India

GM Abhimanyu Puranik defeated GM Harika Dronavalli to extend his sole lead by a full point

GM Aryan Chopra - GM Adhiban Baskaran: 0.5-0.5

The battle between former and current National Rapid champions GM Diptayan Ghosh and GM Iniyan Pa ended in a peaceful draw

For more Round 5 photos, please click here.

Round 5 recap by GM Harshit Raja | Video: ChessBase India

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Replay Round 5 live commentary by CM Sahil Tickoo, Kincso Toth (HUN), IM Sagar Shah and GM Sahaj Grover | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 5 Masters games

Replay Round 5 Challengers games

Masters Round 5 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Club/City		White	Result		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	3	2748	Netherlands	GM	Giri, Anish	½ - ½	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	2658	India	10	PGN
2	4	2720	India	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	½ - ½	GM	Keymer, Vincent	2730	Germany	2	PGN
3	5	2776	India	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	½ - ½	GM	Pranav, V	2597	India	1	PGN
4	6	2696	USA	GM	Liang, Awonder	½ - ½	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2692	India	9	PGN
5	7	2697	Netherlands	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	1 - 0	GM	Robson, Ray	2687	USA	8	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 5

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	2	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2730	Germany	4	9,00	3	1
2	5	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2776	India	3	6,50	2	0
3	3	GM	Giri, Anish	NED	2748	Netherlands	2,5	6,25	0	0
4	4	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2720	India	2,5	6,00	1	0
5	10	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2658	India	2,5	5,50	1	0
6	6	GM	Liang, Awonder	USA	2696	USA	2,5	5,25	1	0
7	9	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2692	India	2	5,50	1	0
8	1	GM	Pranav, V	IND	2597	India	2	5,25	0	0
9	8	GM	Robson, Ray	USA	2687	USA	2	5,00	1	0
10	7	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2697	Netherlands	2	4,75	1	0

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Club/City		White	Result		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	10	2658	India	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali		GM	Robson, Ray	2687	USA	8
2	9	2692	India	GM	Nihal, Sarin		GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2697	Netherlands	7
3	1	2597	India	GM	Pranav, V		GM	Liang, Awonder	2696	USA	6
4	2	2730	Germany	GM	Keymer, Vincent		GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2776	India	5
5	3	2748	Netherlands	GM	Giri, Anish		GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2720	India	4

Details

Challengers Round 5 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Club/City		White	Result		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	3	2476	India	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	0 - 1	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	2454	India	10	PGN
2	4	2487	India	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	0 - 1	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	2635	India	2	PGN
3	5	2589	India	GM	Pranesh, M	½ - ½	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2606	India	1	PGN
4	6	2634	India	GM	Aryan, Chopra	½ - ½	GM	Adhiban, B.	2534	India	9	PGN
5	7	2576	India	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	½ - ½	GM	Iniyan, Pa	2586	India	8	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 5

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	2	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	IND	2635	India	4,5	0	7,75	4	2
2	5	GM	Pranesh, M	IND	2589	India	3,5	0	9,25	2	0
3	7	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	IND	2576	India	3,5	0	6,00	2	2
4	1	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2606	India	3,5	0	4,75	3	1
5	8	GM	Iniyan, Pa	IND	2586	India	3	0	4,25	2	0
6	9	GM	Adhiban, B.	IND	2534	India	2,5	0	5,50	0	0
7	6	GM	Aryan, Chopra	IND	2634	India	1,5	0,5	3,75	0	0
8	10	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	IND	2454	India	1,5	0,5	1,75	1	1
9	3	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2476	India	1	0	2,75	0	0
10	4	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	IND	2487	India	0,5	0	1,25	0	0

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Club/City		White	Result		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	10	2454	India	IM	Harshavardhan, G B		GM	Iniyan, Pa	2586	India	8
2	9	2534	India	GM	Adhiban, B.		GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2576	India	7
3	1	2606	India	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke		GM	Aryan, Chopra	2634	India	6
4	2	2635	India	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu		GM	Pranesh, M	2589	India	5
5	3	2476	India	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu		GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2487	India	4

Details

Prize

The total prize fund is ₹1 Crore, for Masters it is ₹7500000, an increase of 50% from previous edition. The top three prizes are ₹2500000, ₹1500000 and ₹1000000. The prize fund in Challengers section is ₹2500000. The top three prizes are ₹700000, ₹400000 and ₹325000.

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