One more loss for Gukesh

Arjun Erigaisi defeated world champion Gukesh Dommaraju with the black pieces in round five of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters, drawing level with Alireza Firouzja at the top of the standings. Nodirbek Abdusattorov also won with black, overcoming Nihal Sarin to move within half a point of the joint leaders.

After all four games in round four had ended drawn, Monday's action produced two decisive results. Firouzja drew with Dmitry Andreikin, while the game between Pranesh M and Hans Niemann also finished level. With two rounds remaining, Gukesh occupies last place.

Gukesh introduced a novelty on move nine against Erigaisi and obtained a promising position. He was still ahead on the clock when he spent 23 minutes on one decision, however, and time pressure later became a major factor. Erigaisi went wrong and was objectively lost, but the winning lines available to Gukesh were difficult to find without sufficient thinking time.

The position remained highly tactical as Erigaisi brought his king into the centre and Gukesh continued to find accurate moves. The world champion could have steered the game towards a draw, but instead entered an endgame that should still have been defensible.

Erigaisi's passed pawn then became increasingly dangerous. One inaccurate defensive move allowed it to advance decisively, and promotion could no longer be prevented. The victory gave Erigaisi his second win of the tournament and enabled him to catch Firouzja on 3½/5.

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Abdusattorov had endured a difficult first half of the event, repeatedly emerging from the opening in inferior positions. Against Nihal, by contrast, he took control out of a Sicilian Defence and steadily restricted his opponent’s position.

Nihal was gradually pushed back and could not generate sufficient counterplay. Abdusattorov completed the attack with good-looking tactical ideas, collecting his first victory of the tournament. It was also Nihal's first defeat.

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Free video sample: Bodycheck

Nihal Sarin v. Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Photo: Tushar Damor

Firouzja appeared close to obtaining a substantial advantage against Andreikin's Berlin Defence. An inaccuracy in a complicated position, however, allowed a tactical sequence that simplified the game towards equality. Firouzja was never in serious danger, although he was in deep time trouble for a while.

Pranesh again showed strong opening preparation against Niemann. However, a forcing continuation in the middlegame led to an unbalanced position in which only Niemann could realistically press for a win. Niemann was unable to create a decisive breakthrough, but Pranesh had to defend for a prolonged period before the draw was secured on move 104.

Firouzja and Erigaisi now share first place, with Abdusattorov half a point behind. The main pairings in round six are Abdusattorov v. Firouzja and Erigaisi v. Nihal.

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Co-leader Alireza Firouzja facing Dmitry Andreikin | Photo: Tushar Damor

Standings after round 5

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