Chennai Grand Masters pushed to Thursday after a fire incident at venue

The much-awaited Chennai Grand Masters Super GM classical tournament has faced an unfortunate delay by one day due to a fire breaking out at the venue, Hotel Hyatt Regency, on Tuesday in Chennai.

The event, which was about to start on 6th August, has now been pushed to Thursday, 7th August, as organizers will need some time to re-check their preparations.

This also meant that there will be no rest day at the tournament now, and everyone will be playing all their nine matches on 9 consecutive days.

An electrical short circuit on the 9th floor sparked a fire, filling the Hyatt Regency Hotel with smoke, causing discomfort for the guests.

Therefore, everyone has been evacuated from the hotel, and due to this late disturbance, the organizers have decided to postpone the event as they needed additional time to clear the air and make the premises tournament-friendly again.

On Wednesday morning, the organisers clarified that all the chess players are safe.

"We are relieved to confirm that all players are safe and were promptly relocated to alternative accommodation nearby," read the statement. 

This is the third edition of the Super GM tournament and contains two sections - Masters, Challengers - of 10 players each, playing 9 classical matches each in a single round-robin format.

The 2025 edition has multiple top players in the masters section, including India's Arjun Erigaisi, Dutch no.1 Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer of Germany, and other Indian youngsters like Nihal Sarin, V Pranav.