CHENNAI: Some of India’s best players, including local star D Gukesh will be in action in the Chennai Grand Masters Chess Championship 2023 to be held in Chennai from December 15 to 21.

The tournament to be conducted by Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu will see a mix of eight GMs -- five international Grandmasters and three Indian GMs -- playing in a round-robin format with seven rounds of chess in the classical format. They will be competing for a total prize amount of Rs 50 lakh sponsored by the Government of Tamil Nadu, an official press note said on Monday.

The tournament provides an opportunity for Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi to qualify for the Candidates tournament, scheduled for 2024. Chennai prodigy R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi have already booked their spots in the Candidates event which would throw up the challenger to the current world champion Ding Liren.

Apart from the two young Indian GMs, the field also includes Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo, P Harikrishna, Levon Aronian (USA), Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine), Alexander Predke (Serbia) and Sjugirov Sanan (Hungary).

Maghsoodloo (Elo 2742) will be the top-seed followed by Erigaisi (2727), Aronian (2723) and Gukesh (2720).