GMs Pentala Harikrishna and Pavel Eljanov began with wins over GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Parham Maghsoodloo respectively in two high-pressure, error-prone video games to share the lead with some extent apiece after the primary spherical of the Chennai Grand Masters 2023. Each gamers saved their nerves below examine in a faster time management which gave the impression to be the deciding issue of the day.

The opposite two encounters of the day between GMs Levon Aronian and Gukesh Dommaraju, and GMs Alexandr Predke and Sanan Sjugirov resulted in nearly uneventful attracts.

The Chennai Grand Masters continues with spherical two on Saturday, December 16, at 4:45 a.m. ET/10:45 CET/3:15 p.m. IST.

Chennai Grand Masters Spherical 1 Outcomes

The Venue

Such a location provides breathtaking views of the ocean, the estuary, and the seashore, even below the downcast sky of unseasonal rain, all making it an uncommon venue for the event.

Inauguration And Drawing Of Heaps

As is widespread in India, the event began with the lighting of the standard lamp, within the presence of the organizers and officers of the provincial state authorities of Tamil Nadu, which has contributed your complete value of the event.

When approached with the proposal to conduct the event, the minister of sports activities of the federal government of Tamilnadu accredited the occasion in about half an hour, and sanctioned an quantity of Rs.1,77,00,000 (US $213,146 roughly). GM Srinath Narayanan one of many essential organizers, gave us particulars in regards to the beginning of the occasion.

The group introduced in an uncommon contact for the drawing of tons too, because the gamers obtained to decide on between eight work carried out by the budding younger artist Akhil Anand, son of former world champion Vishy Anand. The work had been based mostly on the theme of “Poikkal Kuthirai,” (translated as “false-legged horse”), a people dance of the state of Tamil Nadu.

Essentially the most entertaining a part of the night was when Aronian got here as much as decide his quantity, and Akhil ventured to assist him.

“You already know, you’ll be able to at all times get tricked by Anand” – 😉 @LevAronian pic.twitter.com/7qBlugWf3e

— Chess.com – India (@chesscom_in) December 15, 2023

Spherical 1

One of many inevitable narratives of the event is the qualification targets for the FIDE Candidates Chess Event 2024 for Gukesh and Arjun (by way of the FIDE Circuit) and Maghsoodloo (by way of ranking). It’s anybody’s guess whether or not this is applicable appreciable strain to them, and permits the others within the event to play with a extra relaxed mindset.

One other main issue is the time management being adopted, which isn’t very normal for a event of this stature: your complete sport is performed with 90 minutes for every participant on the clock, with an increment of 30 seconds per transfer from the start. Showing on the stay commentary, GM Anish Giri known as it “uncommon” and proclaimed, “I’ve by no means performed with this time management in my life!”

The arguments might be simply understood after we take a look at a few crucial moments from each video games.

After defending a troublesome ending for a very long time, Maghsoodloo needed to discover 51.Rb1! to salvage a draw right here, which was most likely made troublesome by much less time on the clock. He blundered with 51.Re3?? and Eljanov went on to win the sport. 

When requested in regards to the lack of strain on him to play for a selected goal, Eljanov answered fairly straight-forwardly: “Sure, I used to be very relaxed. I did not put together a lot earlier than the sport. I slept very effectively—helped me recover from jet lag.” It confirmed on the board too, as Eljanov appeared to be regular all through the sport with no outward present of feelings.

Harikrishna confessed to not having ready the precise simplistic opening variation of the day towards Arjun, however was rewarded with a crucial error from his opponent early within the sport.

Right here, a easy scheme like 15…Kf7 with additional growth of his items would have preserved equality, however Arjun erred with 15…Bxc3? overlooking the prosaic 16.Rc1!, which gave Harikrishna an eternal initiative in certainly one of his favourite elements of the sport, the endgame. 

From his younger days, Harikrishna’s forte was his endgame capacity. Therefore, when an endgame with rooks and opposite-colored bishops got here up on the board, it was anticipated that Hari would be capable to convert his benefit. However with each gamers having below a minute on the clock, and each wanting outwardly tense on the board, it was Hari’s flip to miss a easy tactic.

Harikrishna needed to discover 49.f5!, sacrificing the pawn, to facilitate the push of his h-pawn right here, however he blundered with 49.Ra7??. After the additional 50.f5, Arjun appeared to have a easy tactic to safe the draw:

Arjun needed to discover 50…Rh1+ 51.Kd2 Rxh5 to stage the sport right here, because the lack of White’s h-pawn can’t be prevented. Nevertheless, he blundered in flip with 50…Rxf5?? permitting 51.a6 and Harikrishna went on to win the sport. 

This fascinating encounter is our Sport of the Day, analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao beneath.

The opposite two video games resulted in attracts after quick fights. The Aronian-Gukesh encounter was billed as the sport of the day, but it surely by no means rose to excessive ranges of pleasure. Aronian confessed after the sport that he was nonetheless not over jetlag and nonetheless lacking his sleep.

Standings After Spherical 1

Methods to watch the Chennai Grand Masters 2023