D. Gukesh.
| Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ
Arjun Erigaisi secured the one win of the sixth spherical — versus Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo — within the Chennai Grand Masters Chess Championship at The Leela Palace resort on Wednesday.
Arjun now has the prospect of ending solely joint-first even when he wins within the last spherical, which suggests his qualification by way of the FIDE Circuit route for the 2024 Candidates match has taken a beating.
Speaking of Arjun’s recreation, ChessBase India’s Sagar Shah stated on the commentary: “Arjun today has found the right opening for himself, and has played it well.”
Anish Giri on commentary stated that Maghsoodloo’s been attempting too laborious to win on this match.
“He’s trying very hard to win games here. It’s very obvious. He is very fighting and taking a lot of risks. But yes, he can’t force it. It’s only backfiring. Arjun just played a very good game.”
Gukesh, taking part in with white, solely managed to draw with Ukraine’s Pavel Eljanov. Despite the draw, Gukesh remains to be the only chief with 4 factors.
P. Harikrishna, who drew with Hungary’s Sanan Sjugirov, has 3.5 factors and can face Gukesh within the last spherical on Thursday.
If Gukesh manages to draw, and Arjun and Eljanov both draw or lose, then Gukesh will win the match. If Gukesh wins, he wins the match.
Even if Gukesh attracts and each or both of Arjun and Eljanov win, Gukesh will nonetheless end joint-first.
So, all Gukesh has to do is keep away from shedding versus Harikrishna within the last spherical, and he’ll most likely safe the FIDE Circuit Candidates berth.
The outcomes (sixth spherical): D. Gukesh (4) drew with Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 3.5); Levon Aronian (USA, 3) drew with Alexandr Predke (Srb, 1.5); Parham Maghsoodloo (Irn, 2.5) misplaced to Arjun Erigaisi (3.5); Sanan Sjugirov (Hun, 2.5) drew with P. Harikrishna (3.5).
