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Grand Success, More In Store
The New Indian Express Jeypore
|August 17, 2025
HE Chennai Grand Masters event is here to stay. Those were the words of Srinath Narayanan, the GM-turned tournament director, who willed the inaugural edition out of thin air in 2023.
After two more editions, in 2024 and 2025, Narayanan is a relieved man as he has put the building blocks in place for India's biggest super tournament to become a permanent place in the calendar. On Friday, Narayanan and Sreekar Channapragada, the co-founder of MGD1, the competition's organisers, fielded a few questions from select media on a number of issues pertaining to the tournament's future and player feedback from this year. Excerpts:
On how the tournament went
Srinath: We are pretty happy and pleased, and felt everything went smoothly despite last-minute challenges (one of the players withdrew with days remaining and the tournament opener was pushed back by a day after a fire broke out). From the perspective of the fans, there was an overwhelming positive feedback. I heard so many people say how much they enjoyed it and how much they would like to be back. The fans get access to players for selfies and getting autographs... I know it happens in other tournaments as well. These things worked out well.
On the prospect of exhibition matches during the tournament
This story is from the August 17, 2025 edition of The New Indian Express Jeypore.
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