2 days ago
Chennai GM here to stay, organisers may expand event to other centres
CHENNAI: The Chennai Grand Masters event is here to stay. Those were the words of Srinath Narayanan, the GM-turned tournament director, who willed the inaugural edition out of thin air in 2023. After two more editions, in 2024 and 2025, Narayanan is a relieved man as he has put the building blocks in place for India's biggest super tournament to become a permanent place in the calendar. On Friday, Narayanan and Sreekar Channapragada, the co-founder of MGD1, the competition's organisers, fielded a few questions from select media on a number of issues pertaining to the tournament's future and player feedback from this year. Excerpts:
On how the tournament went
Srinath: We are pretty happy and pleased, and felt everything went smoothly despite last-minute challenges (one of the players withdrew with days remaining and the tournament opener was pushed back by a day after a fire broke out). From the perspective of the fans, there was an overwhelming positive feedback. I heard so many people say how much they enjoyed it and how much they would like to be back. The fans get access to players for selfies and getting autographs... I know it happens in other tournaments as well. These things worked out well.
On the prospect of exhibition matches during the tournament
Sreekar: There's always an interest from brands, about wanting to see Vishy (Viswanathan Anand) playing a game. Actually, there were more ticket sales when he was here than for today (final day). The prospect of an exhibition is always on the cards but it depends on other factors as well. Maybe it can be staged at the very start of an event.
On staging a Rapid and Blitz section before Classical like what happens at St. Louis
Sreekar: Definitely. I think all the CEOs and companies coming in over the last week, they have kind of figured out what we are trying to pitch. That is what drives what viewership (Blitz and Rapid). We may also have an event in, say, an Hyderabad or a Bengaluru or Mumbai.
On the event in Chennai staying
Srinath: No, the Chennai event is here to stay. If it had to be moved, it would have already shifted. The fact that we are here shows that it's here to stay.
Sreekar: I think this window is a better window for us. In November and December, other things may happen. It's usually when the World Championship happens, there may be some rain in Chennai. I think this slot works best for us.
On approaching this event without government funding
Sreekar: So irrespective of an event being held with government funding or not, the main focus is on promotion of the sport. Under a private sponsor, they are also interested in promoting the brand. But they leave the dynamic of promoting the sport to us. They expect certain deliverables and those deliverables are crystal clear. With the government, it's about the sport but sometimes the lines can be blurry and deliverables may not be clear. But we are grateful that the government continues to support this event.
On money streams available to organisers
Sreekar: For organisers in chess, maybe someday the broadcasting rights like what happens in cricket (smiles). In chess, the title sponsorship is the main thing. The reason we had ticketing is for the purposes of filtering, we wanted to have serious chess fans. With respect to the price points — Rs 250, Rs 750 and Rs 3500 — we were experimenting a touch to know what they (fans) value the most. Would it be just access to the commentary hall, access to the playing hall once or access to the playing hall multiple times. In terms of revenue, ticketing and merchandising combined I don't think contributes more than 2%. So, yeah, we were experimenting a bit. Most of the revenue is from title sponsorship.
On keeping the Challengers section an all Indian competition
Srinath: It's definitely by design. And even then, there are lots of others, deserving players, who don't get the chance. Like, for example, (M) Pranesh won the tournament and he qualified from winning the online competition. There are so many such deserving talents. I would like to continue this aspect of the tournament this way.
