Chennai : The Masters section of Chennai GM chess tournament has a special place in D Gukesh’s (in pic) heart. He won the title here in 2023 in dramatic circumstances and clinched the Candidates spot via FIDE Circuit events ahead of Anish Giri. Gukesh went on to tick all the important boxes thereafter: a Candidates win, the Olympiad individual and team gold and the World title by dethroning Ding Liren. Currently, however, the Chennai GM is on a rather modest run of form.He has slipped from his Elo peak of 2794 in Oct 2024 to Elo 2717 over the past 21 months. His world ranking of 26 and fifth rank amongst Indians doesn’t match with his world champion status. Gukesh’s three preceding Classical events (Wijk aan Zee, Prague and Oslo) had ended in disappointment as he finished eighth, ninth (second last) and sixth and last respectively. However, the 20-year-old still has it in him to boost the profile of the Indian chess calendar as he plays the Chennai GM tournament that starts on Thursday.That Gukesh has prioritized this event over a permanent spot in the Classical lineup of Grand Chess Tour speaks about the importance of this Rs 75 lakh-prize money event, which will not feature the Challenger section this time. The presence of Alireza Firouzja of France, Hans Niemann of the US, Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan and India’s Arjun Erigaisi will add spice to the eight-player event that has an average Elo strength of 2725.
