Alireza Firouzja emerged as the sole winner in the opening round of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2026, defeating India’s Pranesh M with the black pieces to take the early lead in the elite chess tournament on Thursday.

The French grandmaster outplayed the Challenger section winner from last year in a Sicilian Sveshnikov, gradually building an advantage before converting a complex endgame to secure the tournament’s only decisive result. The victory also pushed Firouzja back into the top 10 of the live world rankings.

Gukesh, Arjun and Abdusattorov held to draws

The remaining three games all ended in draws, though each featured tense battles.

Reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju was forced to defend accurately against fellow Indian Nihal Sarin. Nihal created the better chances for much of the encounter, but Gukesh held firm to split the point.

Top seed Nodirbek Abdusattorov also had to settle for a draw after coming under pressure against Hans Niemann. Playing with the white pieces, the Uzbek grandmaster adopted an experimental setup and spent much of the game defending a difficult pawn-down position before escaping with half a point.

Meanwhile, Arjun Erigaisi looked well placed against Dmitry Andreikin but was unable to convert his advantage. A critical decision in the middlegame allowed the Russian grandmaster to force perpetual check, resulting in another drawn game.

After the opening round, Firouzja sits alone at the top of the standings with one point, while Abdusattorov, Erigaisi, Gukesh, Nihal, Niemann and Andreikin share second place on half a point each. Pranesh is the only player yet to get on the scoreboard after Round 1.