Top Grandmasters for Chennai Open chess

Following Pavel is the second seed Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo (Peru) and defending champion Levan Pantsulaia (Georgia). Chennai Open 2020 has attracted 267 entries, consisting of 37 foreign players from 20 countries. The titled players include 29 Grandmasters, 25 International Masters and 3 Women Grandmasters. 

The Indian challenge will be led by Grandmasters NR Visakh, MR Venkatesh, Karthik Venkataraman, V Vishnu Prasanna, Saptarshi Roy, Neelotpal Das, P Karthikeyan and Sundararajan Kidambi.

The tournament will be held at Hotel Novotel & IBIS, Sholinganallur, from January 18 to 25.

R Srivatsan will be the chief arbiter of the event. The competition carries a total prize money of Rs.15,00,000. The winner will take home Rs 3 lakh, while the runner-up will be richer by Rs 2 lakh.

The 10-round Swiss tournament offers players Grandmaster and International Master norm chances along with an opportunity to improve their international ratings.

For the past 11 years, the Chennai Open has provided ample opportunities, especially to Tamil Nadu youngsters, to attain GM, IM, WGM and WIM norms.