Chennai Grand Masters: Top-ranked Arjun Erigaisi fights Vidit Gujrathi in the first round

Chennai Grand Masters: Top-ranked Arjun Erigaisi battles Vidit Gujarathi in first round (Photo: Twitter @ChessbaseIndia)

World number 4 Indian chess grandmaster and top seed Arjun Erigaisi will open his Grandmasters from Chennai campaign against compatriot Vidit Gujrathiwhich starts in Chennai on Tuesday.

Erigaisi will be playing in India for the first time after crossing the historic 2800 ELO ranking when he stepped onto the board.

The eight-player strong classic event will see Aravindh Chithambaram face Iran’s Amin Tabatabaei, Vachier-Lagrave Maxime takes on Maghsoodloo Parham and American grandmaster Levon Aronian plays Alexey Sarana in the opening round.

The second edition of the seven-round competition will also feature a Challengers event with female players for the first time.

The tournament, organized by MGD1 with ChessBase India, and sponsored by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, will be held at the 1,100-seater Anna Centenary Library.

The event will also feature two Indian women, Harika Dronavalli and Vaishali Rameshbabu. The Challengers participants will compete for a prize pool of Rs 20 lakh, with the winner taking home Rs six lakh and an immediate berth in the Masters next year.

In the Challenger category, Vaishali will take on Mendonca Leon Luke, while Harika will play Pranav V.

In the other two matches, Raunak Sadhwani will take on Karthikeyan Murali, while Pranesh M will play Abhimanyu Puranik.

Introduced this year, the Challengers event will give Indian prodigies an opportunity to participate in top-level tournaments.

D Gukesh won the inaugural edition last year but will miss this year’s competition as he prepares for the world title against China’s Ding Liren.