CHENNAI: VINCENT Keymer crushed his opponent again to make it a tournament to remember. The German, who cracked the live top-10 a few days ago, gained more points on Friday after his clinical win over Ray Robson. The 20-year-old, who has gained 20.9 rating points in this competition alone, finished with seven out of nine, a full two points ahead of Anish Giri, Murali Karthikeyan and Arjun Erigaisi.
But there was action in the Challengers section. On a drama-filled final day, three people had the chance to claim the title and qualify for the Masters section in 2026. In the end, all three of them lost as the pressure got to them. M Pranesh, who went into the final day with a half point lead, won even though he lost against Harshavardhan GB.
The RB Ramesh product only qualified for this event in a one-off online play-in. "I knew I would qualify for the Challengers section because I thought I was pretty strong," he said after winning. "But I didn't expect this (winning the Challengers)."
It is another pitstop for the Karaikudi native, who has had to fight past financial obstacles before becoming a GM (chessbase India gave him a grant to travel to Europe a few years ago). Up next for the 18-year-old is an Open invitation in the Middle east. "My short-term goal is getting upto the 2650 mark (current rating is 2589) and then take it from there. The ultimate goal is becoming a world champion."
But there was a genuine feeling of last day of term vibes at the venue. The players were all smiles, Keymer and Anish Giri were on commentary at the same time and a lot of the players were happy to pose for photographs and sign autographs. "We are extremely happy with how the event went," was Srinath Narayanan's summation of the tournament.