France’s Alireza Firouzja was crowned champion of the fourth edition of the 2026 Chennai Grand Masters, playing out a draw against India’s Arjun Erigaisi in the final round on Wednesday.
The reigning world champion and home favourtie Gukesh Dommaraju, meanwhile, finished last in the tournament.
Firouzja, who had started the competition with two consecutive wins, had gone into the final round with half a point advantage over his nearest rivals, Erigaisi and GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.
In an attempt to push for a win with black pieces to try and claim the title, Abdusattorov lost to GM Dmitry Andreikin in 37-moves.
This meant that Firouzja then needed just a draw against Erigaisi to grab the crown and he did just that in 41 moves with his Indian opponent having little chance of turning the tables in the rook-pawn endgame.
The Frenchman will take home a prize purse of INR 25,00,000 for his effort that saw him win two matches and draw the next five.
Andreikin, who was the only unbeaten player in the competition apart from Firouzja, finished with 4 points along with Erigaisi.
Abdusattorov along with GM Nihal Sarin and GM M Pranesh finished fourth with 3.5 points.
Gukesh’s struggles continued as he lost three of his seven matches and finished last with 2 points.
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