All set for the battle in Chennai Grand Masters Chess Championship to commence

Chennai Grand Masters Chess Championship offers 3 players chance to qualify for 2024 Candidates tournament. Average rating of 2711 makes it India's strongest chess tournament.

The Chennai Grand Masters Chess Championship that gets underway on Friday provides three participants — Indians D. Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi, and Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran) — the chance to improve their likelihood of qualifying for the 2024 Candidates tournament.

With six participants for the Candidates finalised and two slots left, both Gukesh and Arjun have the chance to qualify by topping the FIDE Circuit leaderboard.

Presently, Anish Giri is the leader with 84.3 points. Gukesh is third with 79.5, and Arjun fourth with 71.6.

“If Gukesh manages to finish first or joint-first, he surpasses him (Anish). And if Arjun finishes sole first, not joint-first, then he tops the leaderboard.

“So, from this event, if they finish at the top, they have a chance to finish at the top of the (FIDE Circuit) leaderboard, and that makes it highly likely that they could get a spot in the Candidates,” said ChessBase’s Sagar Shah, one of the tournament organisers, at the opening ceremony on Thursday.

This is India’s strongest classical super chess tournament with the average rating of 2711.

“I didn’t see this coming. After Grand Swiss, I thought my hopes of Candidates ended. But this like an unexpected opportunity for me. I’ll try not to take any Candidates pressure and just play freely,” said Arjun.