THESE are exciting times for chess in the country. Players are being feted, FIDE are planning multiple tournaments and some of the best in the world genuinely want to play here, if nothing else to experience 'India's chess culture'.
The Chennai Grand Masters event — returning for a third edition in 2025 — is another nod to India's ascendancy in the board game. Having the players is just one part of the equation. Organising and hosting elite-level tournaments is all part of the ecosystem for the game to grow in a holistic manner.
The event, set to begin from Wednesday, definitely wants to be louder than last year. Twenty players, 10 each across Masters and Challengers and with a prize pool of Rs 1cr, make it the biggest yet. They have also managed to bag a Singapore-based fintech company as title sponsor.
Therein lies an opportunity for the meet to become a permanent fixture in the calendar. Srinath Narayanan, the GM who willed the inaugural edition into existence in just three weeks, wants this to become a 'Wijk aan Zee of sorts (for context, Wijk is generally the gold standard for most standalone Classical tournaments).
"Wijk has a very robust history," he tells this daily. "I think it has existed for almost 100 years, survived World Wars, pandemics... we have seen many tournaments come and go. Linares, Dortmund, traditional tournaments which couldn't sustain over the years. But yeah, we certainly hope that this becomes a Tata Steel-like tournament, a Wijk Aan Zee of sorts."
It's related to why they have taken the huge decision of going private (the Tamil Nadu government is still very much supporting the event but they are not sponsoring it). "The Tamil Nadu government has been very supportive and we are very grateful for it," the GM says. But it can definitely not be taken for granted that the government will support something like this long-term or forever. In a way, yeah, private sponsors will help us towards making this more of a long-term fixture. It's not the government is completely out of it, they are already supporting it in various ways. So, it's not like the tournament is dissociated from the government. But we are grateful and we are also happy that the tournament is getting more support than what it received in the last two years."
Narayanan stressed that they aren't looking to move away from government funding (most top-tier non-cricket events in India happen with some sort of government funding). "I wouldn't say we are trying to move away from government funding, it's more like we are trying to find new sources of funding. In terms of challenges, it's quite simple. A sponsor has certain deliverables. And that changes from sponsor to sponsor. Let's say if a government sponsors the event, the deliverable would be in the nature of more attention within the state. Of course, global attention is welcome. And it enhances the prestige of the city and the state in the eyes of the world. But with a global sponsor, I think that part becomes more magnified. You know, more global attention."