The second edition of the Chennai Grandmasters will begin on November 5, Tuesday. It will feature some of the biggest names from the chess world.
From India, World No.3 Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi and GM Vidit Gujrathi will compete along with the likes of GM R Vaishali and Harika Dronavalli.
This tournament is crucial in more ways than one, with important rating points at stake. It was at this tournament last year that D Gukesh managed to get valuable rating points that pushed him into the 2024 Candidates.
Thanks to his victory at the Chennai Grandmasters 2023, Gukesh was able to compete in the 2024 Candidates and go one step further by winning it and setting up a World Championship clash with Chinese GM Ding Liren.
Chennai Grandmasters returns as bigger and better
The Chennai Grandmasters 2023 was India’s biggest classical super tournament ever, with an average rating of 2711, and this year, the average rating has gone up to 2729.
This year, along with the main Masters event, where the big names will feature, there is also the Challengers event, which will take place between eight talented youngsters set to participate for a place in next year’s Masters edition of the Chennai Grandmasters.
The main aim of the Challengers’s event, set with an average rating of 2589, is to give the budding young talents of Indian chess a chance to play in a top-level tournament.
The big names in the challengers event are undoubtedly local girl R Vaishali and Guntur’s Harika Dronavalli.
All eyes on Arjun Erigaisi
The highest-ranked Indian chess player and World No.3 Arjun Erigaisi will be the man to watch out for in the event.
He finished as joint-winner in the inaugural edition alongside Gukesh and this time, with Gukesh focusing on the bigger prize, Arjun enters the tournament as the favourite.
Along with him, Vidit will also compete at the event. Both Arjun and Vidit were part of the Chess Olympiad team that won gold back in September 2024.
Other competitors in the Masters section include Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier Lagrave, Aravindh Chithambaram, Parham Maghsoodloo, Alexey Sarana, and Amin Tabatabae.
Format of Chennai Grandmasters 2024
The tournament will feature seven rounds of classical format, where each player plays the others once.
The first round of matches is set to begin on November 5, and the final round will happen on November 11.
The event is scheduled to take place at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai.
Full list of players competing at the Chennai Grandmasters 2024
Masters section:
- Arjun Erigaisi (2797)
- Levon Aronian (2738)
- Maxime Vachier Lagrave (2735)
- Vidit Gujrathi (2726)
- Parham Maghsoodloo (2719)
- Alexey Sarana (2717)
- Amin Tabatabaei (2702)
- Aravindh Chithambaram (2698)
Challengers section
- Raunak Sadhwani (2659)
- Abhimanyu Puranik (2639)
- Karthikeyan Murali (2624)
- Leon Mendonca (2622)
- Pranav V. (2609)
- Pranesh M. (2580)
- Harika Dronavalli (2493)
- R. Vaishali (2486)
The sole winner in the Masters event will get 24.5 FIDE circuit points, whereas, in the case of a joint winner, each player will be awarded 22.3 circuit points.