CHENNAI, Aug 6: The Chennai Grand Masters chess tournament, featuring some well-established Indian and international names, has been postponed to Thursday after a fire broke out at the event’s venue, the Hyatt Regency hotel.The third edition of the competition was scheduled to start on Wednesday.
“Fire at Hotel Hyatt Regency last night, the venue of the Chennai GM. All the players are safe and shifted to another hotel nearby. Tournament postponed by a day,” wrote Indian GM and tournament director Srinath Narayanan on his X handle.
The players were eventually brought back to the hotel, but the tournament will begin a day later after a fresh round of safety checks.
“Close to midnight there was an emergency in the Hotel Hyatt Regency in Chennai.
Due to an electric fire on the ninth floor, the entire hotel became smoky and everyone had to evacuate the hotel before it became difficult to breathe,” ChessBase India reported.
World No. 5 Erigaisi will open his campaign against American prodigy Awonder Liang. (PTI)
