CHENNAI: French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja eked out yet another gruelling victory to register his second straight win in the fourth edition of the Chennai Grand Masters 2026, India’s most prestigious classical chess tournament here on Friday.
Firouzja, who had defeated GM M Pranesh with black pieces on the opening day, got the better of world champion D Gukesh after 69 moves to take his tally to two points after two rounds.
After Deepraj Mukherjee, General Manager Westin Chennai Velachery made the ceremonial first move between Firouzja and Gukesh, the Frenchman opted for a Ruy Lopez opening with white. It looked like Gukesh could hold out against the French GM in a knight-pawn ending but a pawn sacrifice by Firouzja opened the door for a clinical win.
GM Arjun Erigaisi also played it safe against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov with black pieces and the Uzbek signed the peace treaty after 43 moves. M Pranesh, who had lost his opening round with white, did not take any chances with black pieces against GM Dmitry Andreikin and settled for a draw by repeating in just 18 moves.
GM Arjun Erigaisi also played it safe against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov with black pieces and the Uzbek signed the peace treaty after 43 moves.GM Nihal Sarin also held Hans Niemann to draw after a marathon 132 move game in which he thwarted all the moves of his US opponent to gain upper hand.