Latest news with #QuantboxChennaiGrandMasters
NDTV
a day ago
- Sport
- NDTV
Fire Disrupts Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters: Players Safe, Event Postponed by a Day
A fire at the Hyatt Regency Chennai on Tuesday night forced the emergency evacuation of all players and officials of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025, India's premier classical chess tournament. According to reports, an electrical fire on the ninth floor led to thick smoke spreading through the hotel, making it difficult to breathe. All players in both the Masters and Challengers sections, along with coaches and officials, were quickly evacuated. A fire and rescue station officer said "Yes, there was a fire late night and our night teams rushed and extinguished. Ther was no loss of life". "Close to midnight, the entire hotel became smoky and everyone had to evacuate. Initially there was confusion, but once it was clear that smoke clearing would take hours, the organisers took swift action," ChessBase India reported on X. A fire broke out in the Hyatt Regency Hotel where the Chennai Grand Masters was due to take place. All the players are safe and have been moved to another hotel, but the 1st round has been postponed until Thursday, August 7 — chess24 (@chess24com) August 5, 2025 The organisers postponed Round 1 from August 6 to August 7, utilizing the originally planned rest day of August 11. As a result, there will be no rest day in the revised schedule. All players and officials were shifted to Hotel Pullman for the night. The players are expected to return to Hyatt Regency today, once the hotel is fully cleared and deemed safe. "We are relieved that all players are safe. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and assure everyone that safety remains our top priority," stated the tournament communications team in a statement. Despite the disruption, anticipation remains high for the third edition of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters, which will see 10 Masters and 10 Challengers compete for Rs 1 crore in prize money and critical FIDE points between August 6 and 15.
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First Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- First Post
Chennai Grand Masters 2025: Full schedule, participants, prize money and everything else you need to know
The third edition of the Chennai Grand Masters, India's strongest Classical tournament, gets underway in Chennai on Wednesday, 6 August and features some of the biggest names in the sport including Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and Anish Giri. read more World No 5 Arjun Erigaisi and No 10 Anish Giri are the top contenders for the title at the 2025 Chennai Grand Masters. Image: Norway Chess/FIDE After his impressive performance at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh last month, where he represented Gen.G and had gone as far as the semi-finals, Arjun Erigaisi is set to compete on home turf in the third edition of the Chennai Grand Masters tournament, India's strongest Classical tournament. However, the 21-year-old Indian Grandmaster, who had also reached the semi-finals of the Freestyle Chess Las Vegas event before chess' debut at the Esports World Cup, is set for quite the challenge even if he can count on the support of the crowd to boost his morale. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The world No 5, after all, is part of a 10-man field that comprises names such as Anish Giri and Vincent Keymer besides fellow Indians Vidit Gujrathi and Nihal Sarin. Arjun thus faces quite the steep path to the summit even if he enters the tournament as a title favourite. Gukesh had won the inaugural edition in 2023, beating Arjun on the Sonneborn-Berger score after both players finished with 4.5 points each at the end of seven rounds. Arjun was also involved in a three-way tie with Aravindh Chithambaram and Levon Aronian on 4.5 points after seven rounds. Aravindh would go on to win the tie-breaks to be crowned champion. Having fallen narrowly short twice before, Arjun will be hoping to emerge triumphant on his third attempt. With the third edition of the tournament set to get underway on Wednesday, 6 August, we present to you the full schedule, format, list of players and everything else you need to know about the tournament: When will the third edition of Chennai Grand Masters be taking place? Chennai Grand Masters 2025 will be taking place from 6 to 15 August. Play will begin at 2 pm IST everday except on the final day, in which it will begin a couple of hours earlier. Where will the third edition of Chennai Grand Masters be taking place? The 2025 Chennai Grand Masters will be taking place at the Hyatt Regency in Chennai. ♟️ Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters LIVE in Chennai! The Board is Set. The Legends are Ready. Are you? 🎟️ Book now on Kynhood or just hit the link in bio! 📍 Hyatt Regency, Chennai | 🗓️ August 6–15, 2025@ChessbaseIndia @chess24com @chesscom_in@QBResearch @kyn_hood… — Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters (@Chennai_GM) July 30, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Who are the players competing in the Masters event at Chennai Grand Masters 2025? Following are the players who will be participating in the 'Masters' section: – GM Arjun Erigaisi (India) – GM Anish Giri (Netherlands) – GM Vincent Keymer (Germany) – GM Vidit Gujrathi (India) – GM Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands) – GM Awonder Liang (USA) – GM Nihal Sarin (India) – GM Ray Robson (USA) – GM Murali Karthikeyan (India) – GM Pranav Venkatesh (India) What format will the games be played in in Chennai Grand Masters 2025? The tournament will take place in a single round-robin format with Classical time controls – in which players start with 90 minutes on the clock with an increment of 30 seconds per move. Should two or more players finish tied for the first spot after nine rounds, the winner will be decided in the tie-breaks which will comprise two blitz games with 3+2 time controls followed by an Armageddon game, if necessary. How much prize money is on offer at Chennai Grand Masters 2025? Here's the total prize money (in Indian rupees) that's will be awarded to the players competing in the Masters section, as per final standings: 1st: Rs 25 lakh 2nd: Rs 15 lakh 3rd: Rs 10 lakh 4th: Rs 7.5 lakh 5th: Rs 5 lakh 6th: Rs 3.5 lakh 7th: Rs 3 lakh 8th: Rs 2.4 lakh 9th: Rs 1.8 lakh 10th: Rs 1.8 lakh Besides the trophy and prize money, the tournament also offers crucial FIDE Circuit points that count towards qualification for next year's Candidates Tournament. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Where can I watch Chennai Grand Masters 2025 LIVE? The 2025 Chennai Grand Masters will be streamed live on YouTube by the ChessBase India channel.
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Rising star Keymer expects plenty of hard-fought games at Chennai Grand Masters
Vincent Keymer is a rising star in the world of chess. The 20-year-old German has some impressive triumphs in his CV but his claim to fame among Indians would be working as a second in D. Gukesh's team during his victorious World championship campaign over Ding Liren late last year. The World No. 21 is in the city for the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters tournament, beginning on Wednesday. 'It is a very interesting field. There are many young and ambitious players, so I am expecting a lot of hard-fought games. I just want to play good chess,' he told The Hindu. About working with Gukesh, Keymer said 'It was certainly special for me. It was the first time that I did this kind of work and it was interesting.' Special ability 'I learnt quite a few things during that time. It is very tough to say what exactly translates into my play or level, but there are things that I learnt that are helpful for my own performances,' he said. Asked what was special about Gukesh, he said the Indian is quite flexible in his repertoire. 'Of course, his fighting spirit is very good… he can find a way and understand positions that are very tough to understand. He also calculates extremely well.' Emphasising that qualifying for the Candidates, the tournament to identify the challenger to Gukesh, would be tough, Keymer said, 'Qualifying for the Candidates is more or less the main focus for the next few months. ' Obviously, it is going to be very tough, but I am going to give it my all.'
Indian Express
29-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, Vidit Gujrathi and Anish Giri to headline Chennai Grand Masters event
India No. 1 and World No. 4 Arjun Erigaisi will headline the 2025 Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters event, one of the strongest tournaments (by average ratings) in India, set to take place in the chess capital from August 6 to 15 this year. 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.
