French gm maxime vachier

French GM Maxime Vachier: Arjun Erigaisi defeated Alexey Sarana and jumped to second in the Live World Rankings following this win at the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 on Thursday. The 21-year-old also reinforced his lead at the top of the Masters category, which he jointly leads with Amin Tabatabaei after three rounds.

Starting with black pieces, Erigaisi replied to Sarana’s Queen’s Pawn Opening by engaging him in the Indian Game before quickly transposing it to East Indian Defense. Both players castled their kings early and remained locked in an intense battle before Erigaisi seized the upper hand and converted it into his second win of the tournament.

Courtesy of this triumph, the youngster reclaimed his 2800 ELO rating and surged above Fabiano Caruana into the number two spot in Live Rankings.