Chennai Grand Masters

Chennai Grand Masters is an annual closed chess tournament held in Chennai, India.

2023

The 2023 Chennai Grand Masters was organized from December 15 to December 21 at the The Leela Palace Chennai.^[1] It was organized by MGD1, NODWIN Gaming, and ChessBase India, with support from the Tamil Nadu Government and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu.^[2]

The tournament was announced only 4 days prior to its start, which led to criticism that the tournament was held at the last minute to help Gukesh Dommaraju and Arjun Erigaisi qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2024. However, FIDE deputy president Vishiwanathan Anand explained that the organization of the tournament is within the rules.^[3][4]

After the seventh round, Gukesh and Arjun were tied for the first place with 4.5 points each. The Sonneborn-Berger score was used as the tie-breaker, and Gukesh emerged victorious.^[5]

1st Chennai Grand Masters, 15–21 December 2023, Chennai, India, Category XIX (2711)^[6]

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Points	SB
1	Gukesh Dommaraju (India)	2720	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	4½	13.75
2	Arjun Erigaisi (India)	2727	½	Does not appear	0	½	½	1	1	1	4½	13.00
3	Pentala Harikrishna (India)	2696	½	1	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	4	14.25
4	Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine)	2691	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	1	0	1	4	13.25
5	Levon Aronian (USA)	2723	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	3½	12.25
6	Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran)	2742	½	0	½	0	½	Does not appear	1	1	3½	10.00
7	Sanan Sjugirov (Hungary)	2703	0	0	½	1	½	0	Does not appear	½	2½	8.50
8	Alexandr Predke (Serbia)	2689	0	0	½	0	½	0	½	Does not appear	1½	5.00

2024

The 2024 edition was India's strongest classical super-tournament of the year. It was held between November 5th and November 11th at the Anna Centenary Library.^[7]

After the seventh round, there was a three-way tie between Levon Aronian, Arjun Erigaisi, and Aravindh Chithambaram. Aravindh was declared the winner after tiebreaks. The challengers section was won by V. Pranav.^[8]

Masters

2nd Chennai Grand Masters, 5–11 November 2024, Chennai, India, Category XIX (2725)^[9]

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Points
1	Aravindh Chithambaram (India)	2706	Does not appear	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	4½
2	Levon Aronian (USA)	2739	½	Does not appear	½	½	1	1	½	½	4½
3	Arjun Erigaisi (India)	2799	0	½	Does not appear	1	½	½	1	1	4½
4	Amin Tabatabaei (Iran)	2686	½	½	0	Does not appear	1	½	1	½	4
5	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2737	½	0	½	0	Does not appear	1	½	½	3
6	Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran)	2712	0	0	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	1	2½
7	Alexey Sarana (Serbia)	2679	½	½	0	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	2½
8	Vidit Gujrathi (India)	2739	½	½	0	½	½	0	½	Does not appear	2½

Tiebreaks

The tiebreak was a two-game blitz match, followed by an armageddon if necessary. The time control was 3 minutes with a 2-second increment per move.^[10] Aravindh was given a bye because he had a better score in terms of direct encounters, beating Arjun in their game.^[8] He then won the final match against Levon Aronian, who proceeded after holding a draw as black in the armageddon game.

	Semifinals					Finals
						1	Aravindh Chithambaram	2
	2	Levon Aronian	1½			2	Levon Aronian	0
	3	Arjun Erigaisi	1½

Challengers

1st Chennai Grand Masters Challengers, 5–11 November 2024, Chennai, India, Category XIV (2594)^[11]

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Points
1	Pranav V	2602	Does not appear	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	5½
2	Leon Luke Mendonca	2631	½	Does not appear	½	1	½	½	1	1	5
3	Raunak Sadhwani	2677	½	½	Does not appear	1	½	½	½	½	4
4	Karthikeyan Murali	2625	0	0	0	Does not appear	1	½	1	1	3½
5	Abhimanyu Puranik	2652	0	½	½	0	Does not appear	1	½	1	3½
6	Pranesh M	2580	½	½	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	1	3½
7	Harika Dronavalli	2493	0	0	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	2
8	Vaishali Rameshbabu	2490	0	0	½	0	0	0	½	Does not appear	1