Chennai Grand Masters 2025, Round 9: Vincent Keymer wins final fixture to secure top 10 spot in world rankings

Germany’s Vincent Keymer closed off his title-clinching run at the Chennai Grand Masters 2025 with a convincing win in the final round against American GM Ray Robson here on Friday.

The result meant Keymer ended his unbeaten campaign with a remarkable tally of seven points; a sparkling performance which helped the 20-year-old enter the top 10 in world ranking (live ratings) for the first time in his career.

“I think this is my highest performance in a classical tournament. It’s just a very nice feeling to play good chess, and the event has gone fantastically. I do have the habit of ruining very nice tournaments. I was dangerously close to repeating that same mistake yesterday. Very glad I didn’t go that far,” said Keymer.

On Friday, Keymer pounced on a mid-game error from Robson (31. Rxc8) to flip an equal game into his favour. The German GM closed off the game quickly from thereon to claim his fifth win of the tournament.

Elsewhere, Anish Giri ended his eight-game draw streak by beating Jorden van Foreest in an all-Dutch clash.

The win allowed Giri to finish joint second, along with India’s Arjun Erigaisi and Karthikeyan Murali, who played out a 49-move draw against each other in the final round.

Meanwhile, India’s Nihal Sarin beat compatriot Pranav V. with white pieces. USA’s Awonder Liang shared points with Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi.

The majority of the final-day thrills, though, came from the Challengers section, where Indian GM M. Pranesh emerged the winner, following chaotic action.

In the first result to emerge from the final round, Pranesh, the overnight leader with a 0.5-point lead, suffered a crushing defeat to Harshavardhan G. B..

Playing with white pieces, Pranesh, who could have claimed the title with a win, saw his fortunes plummet following a couple of costly mid-game errors, which had him lose his queen by the 27th move.

Then, it didn’t take long for Harshavardhan to drive home the advantage for his second win of the tournament, as Pranesh shook his head in disbelief.

But, to his relief, both Abhimanyu Puranik and Leon Luke Mendonca, who were joint second going into the final round, lost their games, effectively handing the Challengers title to Pranesh.