The Chennai Grand Masters 2024 is here - bigger and better
In 2023 India got its highest ever classical super tournament in the form of Chennai Grand Masters. The tournament with an everage rating of 2711 proved to be a perfect event for fighting and high quality chess as well as an important one in the FIDE circuit. This year the event 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 that 1 masters spot. Read on to know all the players, prize money, schedule, venue and more of the Chennai Grand Masters 2024.
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 and it became a crucial result for Gukesh to gain FIDE circuit points. This eventually helped him to reach the Candidates and 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. 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 as well we have them backing the tournament. This year it will be held in the city of Chennai from the 5th to the 11th of 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 2nd edition of the Chennai Grandmasters are - 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). The rating average of this tournament is 2729 with the October rating list. The ratings will be updated as per the November rating list before the start of the event.
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.
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. It's intention is to give the budding young talents of Indian chess a chance to play in a top level tournament and the winner gets to qualify to next year's masters. Raunak Sadhwani (2659), Abhimanyu Puranik, (2639), Karthikeyan Murali (2624), Leon Mendonca (2622), Pranav V. (2609), Pranesh M. (2580), Harika Dronavalli (2493), R. Vaishali (2486) are the players and all of them have the potential to go on to becoming world class players
Prizes:
The total prize fund in the Masters section is Rs.50 lakh, while the prize fund in the challengers is Rs.20 lakh
Schedule:
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 2nd time. The first time is always special. But to do it for the 2nd edition means we did something right in the 1st edition. Thanks to the support of government of Tamilnadu 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 candidates. Gukesh now plays against Ding for the world championship match. Arjun now faces a similar prospect, being one of the top contenders in 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 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."
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