Fans would have preferred contest for world crown, but 20-minute Rapid games are still competitive substitute
Magnus Carlsen, the world No 1, will be paired at least twice in the next few days with the world championship challenger, Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov, in the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, the six-team franchise competition based on cricket’s Indian Premier League.
In 2024 the Global League was staged in London, but this year it is back in India at Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), India’s technology capital, from 5-13 September, finishing two days before the 400-team chess Olympiad opens in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Carlsen will play on the top or icon board for the defending champions, Alpine APL Pipers, as will Sindarov for Fyers American Gambits. Other icons are Alireza Firouzja (Triveni Continental Kings), Ian Nepomniachtchi (Ganges Grandmasters), former world champion Viswanathan Anand (PBG Alaskan Knights) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (CheQ Mumba Masters). The supporting male players include Turkey’s fast rising record breaker Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 15, while the women stars are led by the Candidates runner-up, Bibisara Assaubayeva.
Carlsen and Sindarov will play two games, one with each colour, in the preliminary all-play-all, with a third and perhaps a fourth to follow if both their teams reach the semi-finals, third-place match, or final stages. The time limit will be 20 minutes for the entire game, plus a two seconds per move increment from move 41.
