Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, Vidit Gujrathi and Anish Giri to headline Chennai Grand Masters event
Joining Arjun in the classical super tournament — a crucial event for FIDE Circuit Rating points in the 2025 cycle — will be top Indian stars like Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi in the Masters section. Meanwhile, the Challengers section will feature young talents like Leon Luke Mendonca and R. Vaishali.
Harika Dronavalli, India's second-highest-rated woman in live ratings, and B. Adhiban will also compete in the Challengers. Reigning world junior champion Pranav V, who won last year's Challengers event ahead of Mendonca and Raunak Sadhwani, has earned a spot in the Masters category this time.
Among the international players, former World No. 3 Anish Giri (Netherlands) and Freestyle Grand Slam Weissenhaus leg winner Vincent Keymer (Germany) are the two highest-rated confirmed players, with at least three more overseas names yet to be confirmed.
The participation of last edition's winner Aravindh Chithambaram, along with fellow Chennai lads Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa, remains unconfirmed due to a packed chess calendar.
This year, the expanded 20-player field across both categories will compete for a total prize fund of Rs 1 crore (Rs 75 lakh for Masters and Rs 25 lakh for Challengers).
Anish Giri confirmed his availability to The Indian Express, stating: 'I will play a small rapid and blitz event in Estonia to warm up for the World Rapid & Blitz Team Championship in London. Then comes the Zagreb Grand Chess Tour. After that, I'll take part in the Chennai GM, Grand Swiss, European Team Championship, and World Cup — all classical events.'
With five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand long been emphasising the need for a regular high-rated invitational tournament in India and his desire to see it as a yearly tradition, the Chennai event has grown into a key fixture.
Within the rules, when the tournament was organised for the first time in late 2023 by Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), it served as a platform — a final chance for Gukesh and Arjun who were running for the coveted spot in the 2024 Candidates tournament through FIDE Circuit Ratings of 2023 cycle.
Winning the Chennai Grand Masters would have almost guaranteed the Candidates spot to either of them, and as it turned out, it was Gukesh who pipped Arjun with a better tiebreak after they tied for the first position, which thrust him to become the leader of Circuit Ratings.
The then-17-year-old Gukesh narrowly secured the last Candidates spot after Arjun failed to win the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship outright, which almost became a requisite to reclaim the Circuit lead for Arjun. The rest was history: Gukesh defied expectations in a formidable Candidates field featuring Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Praggnanandhaa, and Alireza Firouzja, emerging as the youngest winner in Candidates history. He then dethroned China's Ding Liren to become the youngest World Champion at 18.
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