The Global Chess League — a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and the world chess body Fide — is being staged in Mumbai in mid-December. It is the world’s first franchise-based, mixed-gender, mixed-age professional chess league, and emphasises providing the audience with an engaging experience. It includes top players from around the world, in all categories.
The League has a strong commercial angle. It is backed by billionaire Anand Mahindra and his group, and each team is owned by a big company, most of them Indian. The project is now in its third season and was staged in London last year. The goal is to create a commercially viable global league in chess.
After the IPL, this is arguably India’s most ambitious attempt to export a sports format, and not just for elite players. Men, women, and prodigies compete together as equals in the same franchise teams, something no other global sport currently offers. The event is staged like an NBA or boxing event, with lights, walk-outs, and multilingual broadcasts. Overall, it attempts to convert the digital fan numbers of the chess boom into a sustainable league model.
The GCL scoring system is designed to promote risk-taking: teams receive four points for a black win, three points for a white win, and only one point for a draw. In both previous GCL seasons, the champions were Triveni Continental Kings, led by the brilliant 22-year-old Iranian-born Frenchman Alireza Firouzja. His exploits were not without controversy. In London 2024, the world No 1 Magnus Carlsen lost his game when his clock flag fell, even though Carlsen was a queen ahead. As a result of that and other uncontrolled clock scrambles, the time limit in Mumbai was changed from 20 minutes for each player for the entire game to 20 minutes plus a two seconds per move increment after move 41.
