Chennai Grand Masters: Top seed Arjun Erigaisi to battle Vidit Gujarathi in first round (Photo Credit: Twitter @ChessbaseIndia)

Indian Chess Grandmaster No. 4 world and top seed Arjun Erigaisi will open his Chennai Grand Masters campaign against the compatriot Saw Gujrathistarting Tuesday in Chennai.

Erigaisi will be playing for India for the first time after breaking the historic 2800 ELO mark when he takes over the board.

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

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

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

The event will also feature two Indian women, Harika Dronavalli and Vaishali Rameshbabu. Challenger participants will battle it out for a prize fund of Rs 20 lakh, with the winner taking home Rs six lakh and a direct 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 face Karthikeyan Murali while Pranesh M will play against Abhimanyu Puranik.

The Challengers event, which is being introduced this year, will give Indian prodigies a chance to compete 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 championship title against China’s Ding Liren.