The league, which is in its fourth season will run from September 5-13, will have six teams competing in a double round robin format

Published on: Sep 4, 2026, 22:52:25 IST

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Bengaluru: It made for a striking time-lapse of chess across generations, with Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen and Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş sharing the stage for the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, which starts here on Saturday. Fourteen-year-old prodigy Erdoğmuş is on the same team – PBG Alaskan Knights – as five-time world champion Anand. The Turkish phenom who became the youngest 2700-rated player wasn’t born when Anand won four of his five world titles.

A few feet away, modern-day colossus and world No 1 Magnus Carlsen spoke of his career winding down and the “limited time” that remains for showing up for events like these.

Responding to a question on whether he’s more motivated to play tournaments and formats like the GCL, Carlsen said: “It’s more important for the future of chess, it’s not necessarily about trying things that motivate me or what I want to do…It’s a pretty limited time frame in terms of how long I’m going to be around. I certainly look forward to playing here.”

The league, which is in its fourth season will run from September 5-13, will have six teams competing in a double round robin format. Players will have 20 minutes each with a two-second increment added from move 41. Four matches will be played each day with six boards in each – one icon, two superstar men, two superstar women and one prodigy. The top two teams will face off in the best-of-two final on September 13.

Defending champions Alpine SG Pipers, renamed Alpine APL Pipers, are seen as favourites with Carlsen, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi, Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh and Volodar Murzin, making up the side.

Last year, Fabiano Caruana and R Praggnanandhaa were on the team. Both aren’t playing the league this time around. Reigning world champion Gukesh, who played for the PBG Alaskan Knights last year, is also absent. He has a World Championship match and a title to defend in two months. His challenger, fellow 20-year-old Javokhir Sindarov who is the icon player for the American Gambits, has sort of gone the other way, staying in the thick of tournament action, leading up to the match.

Much like last year, headphones and live commentary will be available to those following the action inside the playing hall. “Chess doesn’t need drama to be manufactured. Our job is to bring the drama that’s happening on the board to audiences and screens and make this extraordinarily beautiful game accessible and enjoyable to a larger audience,” GCL commissioner, Gourav Rakshit, said.

This season, the league will introduce player-focused live streams and heart-rate monitors for captains and managers, as it looks to make chess more accessible to audiences inside the venue and those following remotely. One of the league’s new features on its app will allow fans to play against the moves of the grandmasters in real time during the games, effectively testing how they would fare against the world’s best.

Chess is rethinking what it means to be a complete player while exploring new ways to win over younger audiences. Apart from classical, rapid and blitz, there’s Chess960, which Carlsen has championed since stepping away from the World Championship cycle. The Total Chess World Championship, developed by Norway Chess, approved by Fide and featuring Carlsen, will have its pilot run in November, bringing together fast classical, rapid and blitz, with the winner being crowned the combined world champion.

Former world No 4 Levon Aronian believes that while attracting large audiences to chess can be a challenge, the game will eventually make a breakthrough through tinkering and experimenting with formats. “Eventually, chess is going to become bigger than it is. It’s just that we have to find the moment. My wife is a singer, and they always say ‘you have to work continuously, come up with new material at some point the moment will come’. I think it’s the same for us.”

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