The Chennai Grand Masters returns in 2024 - bigger and better

by Sagar Shah
10/20/2024 – In 2023 India got its highest ever classical super tournament in the form of the Chennai Grand Masters. The tournament, with an average rating of 2711, proved to be a perfect event for fighting and high-quality chess as well as an important event in the FIDE circuit. This year the contest is back - bigger and better. Not only has the rating average of masters grown to 2729, but we also have a Challengers section with 8 talented Indian youngsters fighting for one spot in the Masters. Read on to know all the players, prize money, schedule, venue and more!

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"We did something right"

The first edition of the Chennai Grand Masters was held in 2023 and was India's strongest classical super tournament ever, with an average rating of 2711. It was a path-breaking event for Indian fans, as Gukesh and Arjun both tied for the first place, which became a crucial result for Gukesh to gain FIDE circuit points. This eventually helped him to reach the Candidates and now, in a few days, he will be fighting for the World Championship title.

The good news is that it was not just a one-off event. The Chennai Grand Masters is here again, and it is here to stay. This event was made possible because of the Tamil Nadu Government's support in 2023, and this year we have them backing the tournament as well. This year's edition will be held in the city of Chennai on 5-11 November 2024. There will be two sections - Masters and Challengers.

Masters - Average rating 2729

The Masters event will feature the current world no. 3 and India no.1 Arjun Erigaisi. We also have two more strong Indian players in the form of Vidit Gujrathi and Aravindh Chithamabram.

The players of the second edition of the Chennai Grandmasters are:

  1. Arjun Erigaisi (2797)
  2. Levon Aronian (2738)
  3. Maxime Vachier Lagrave (2735)
  4. Vidit Gujrathi (2726)
  5. Parham Maghsoodloo (2719)
  6. Alexey Sarana (2717)
  7. Amin Tabatabaei (2702)
  8. Aravindh Chithambaram (2698)

The rating average of this tournament is 2729 according to the October rating list. The ratings will be updated as per the November rating list before the start of the event.

Chennai Grand Masters 2024

FIDE Circuit points at stake

This event will play a key role in the FIDE circuit 2024 and the spot for the qualification of the Candidates 2026.

FIDE Circuit

Arjun Erigaisi is currently topping the leaderboard and has excellent chances of winning the FIDE circuit 2024 and book himself a spot in the Candidates 2026

The following FIDE circuit points will be at stake at the event:

  • Sole 1st - 24.5
  • Joint 1st - 22.3
  • 2nd - 17.8
  • 3rd - 15.6

Challengers - Average rating 2589

The Challengers section is the new addition to the Chennai Grandmasters. Its intention is to give the budding young talents of Indian chess a chance to play in a top-level tournament, as the winner gets to qualify for next year's Masters.

The participants:

  1. Raunak Sadhwani (2659)
  2. Abhimanyu Puranik (2639)
  3. Karthikeyan Murali (2624)
  4. Leon Mendonca (2622)
  5. Pranav V. (2609)
  6. Pranesh M. (2580)
  7. Harika Dronavalli (2493)
  8. R. Vaishali (2486)

Chennai Grand Masters 2024

Prizes

The total prize fund in the Masters section is Rs.50 lakh, while the prize fund in the challengers is Rs.20 lakh.

Chennai Grand Masters 2024

The prize money for the Masters section

Chennai Grand Masters 2024

The prize money for the Challengers section

Schedule

Chennai Grand Masters 2024

The schedule of the tournament - it will be 7 rounds of classical chess in round robin format

Chennai Grand Masters 2024

The venue of the tournament is the Anna Centenary Library

One of the main forces behind making this tournament happen is GM Srinath Narayanan. He shared his thoughts about the event with us:

We are really proud to be doing Chennai Grandmasters the second time. The first time is always special. But to do it for the second edition means we did something right in the first edition.

Thanks to the support of the government of Tamil Nadu and SDAT, Chennai has done some amazing things in chess in the last few years, which has served as a catalyst for the rise of some of our top Indian players.

Gukesh has been a great example of this, starting from his historic 8/8 in the Olympiad to winning Chennai Grandmasters last year, which was instrumental in helping him get into the Candidates Tournament. Gukesh now plays against Ding for the World Championship match.

Arjun now faces a similar prospect, being one of the top contenders in the FIDE circuit. Arjun's path looks challenging, but a good performance in this tournament will give his chances a boost.

This year we also have the addition of the Challengers tournament, which will give opportunity to the next line of talents. I hope Chennai continues this tradition and continues to be a catalyst for the rise of our top talents.

Srinath Narayanan

The coach of the gold-medal-winning Indian chess team at the 2024 Chess Olympiad - GM Srinath Narayanan, VP of Chess at MGD1

Supported by

Chennai Grand Masters 2024

The event is supported and sponsored by the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu

Organized by

Chennai Grand Masters 2024

The tournament is organized by MGD1 and ChessBase India

Links


Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.