Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi joins American GM Hans Niemann in a high-quality field that also includes the World champion D. Gukesh in the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters chess tournament to be held here from July 16 to 22.

According to the organisers, Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov will also be in the fray along with M. Pranesh, the winner of the Challengers event last year.

Arjun, the top-ranked Indian as of FIDE’s June rankings, will hope to put his best foot forward in a strong field after a below-par performance in the previous edition.

The tournament will only feature the Masters section this year as against the two categories in the 2025 edition.

Gukesh, who is gearing up for the defence of his World title, will be keen to use the event to fine-tune his preparations for the big match against Uzbek Javokhir Sindarov.

The rest of the line-up will be announced by next week, Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan, who is part of the organising team, told The Hindu.