Norway's Magnus Carlsen, playing for Alpine SG Pipers, considers his next move as he plays against India's Vishwanathan Anand of Ganges Grandmasters on the first day of the Global Chess League competition in London on Oct. 3.BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP/Getty Images
The broadcast commentators could barely contain their excitement as the Alpine Pipers and the Ganges Grandmasters marched out in their bright team jerseys and took up seats across from each other at six tables, each bearing a wooden chess board.
“There are no friendships across the table,” one commentator said gleefully.
A bank of theatre lights surrounded the players and a couple of dozen cameras stood ready to capture the action. High above them, a giant four-sided screen displayed pictures of the six boards; every move would be tracked in real time for spectators.
The Pipers were led by Norwegian superstar Magnus Carlsen, who had “Magnus” written across the back of his green-and-yellow jersey along with the number 1. He was taking on the Grandmasters’ best player, Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand.
The players shook hands across the boards, the crowd hushed and another match in the world’s first professional chess league got under way.
The Global Chess League is the brainchild of Indian businessman Anand Mahindra, chairman of the multibillion-dollar Mahindra Group. He launched the GCL last year in the hope of winning new fans by encouraging the world’s best players to compete against each other on teams in rapid-fire play.
The league is a joint venture between Mahindra and the International Chess Federation, or FIDE, and it has already attracted top players, billionaire owners and millions of viewers.
Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, looks on during a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior officials and CEOs of American and Indian companies in the East Room of the White House in Washington on June 23, 2023.EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/Reuters
“The underlying philosophy behind this is that chess is an extremely popular game around the world,” said Sameer Pathak, the league’s commissioner. “People were following and playing, but not viewing.”
The GCL consists of six teams – each made up of one “icon player,” such as Mr. Carlsen and Mr. Anand; two top-30 players; at least two women and one player under 21.
The second season started this week in a conference centre in London and runs until Oct. 12. Players are vying for US$1-million in total prize money and a chance to improve their FIDE rating.
Mr. Pathak said the GCL took inspiration from the Indian Premier League, which popularized a truncated form of cricket called T20. “We don’t want to compare to IPL right now, but the opportunity exists because game is popular,” he said.
The GCL uses a unique quick-fire format: Each player has 20 minutes in total to make their moves, and unlike traditional rapid chess there are no “increments,” where players get a few extra seconds a turn. The rigid time limit leads to some frantic last-second play and if two teams are tied at the end of the season, there’s a superfast playoff round where games are decided in three minutes.
The scoring also differs from most tournaments. A win with black pieces is worth four points while wins with white, which goes first, are worth three; each team gets one point for a tie. Match scores are determined by the wins, losses or draws posted by each team’s player.
Last year’s competition drew 10 million viewers online. The audience is expected to be much larger this season after GCL struck a partnership with chess.com, one of game’s biggest websites. And while only a few dozen fans showed up to the first matches on Thursday, all 500 tickets for the weekend draws have been sold.
Much of the league’s fan base is in India, which has become a chess powerhouse. India’s men’s and women’s teams recently won the Chess Olympiad put on by FIDE and four Indian players are ranked in FIDE’s top 12, more than any other country.
Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Chingari Gulf Titans, second left, plays with Norwegian Magnus Carlsen of SG Alpine Warriors during Global Chess League in Dubai on July 1, 2023.Kamran Jebreili/The Associated Press
The GCL’s six teams are all owned by Indian business people, including billionaire Bollywood producer Ronnie Screwvala, who co-owns the Mumba Masters. Mr. Pathak said there are plans to add two more teams next year with potential owners from inside and outside India.
For players such as Koneru Humpy, a former world champion who plays for the Mumba Masters, the GCL is a nice change from the chess circuit. “It’s entirely different and it’s quite interesting,” she said after her opening loss on Thursday.
Ms. Humpy, 37, has been playing the game for more than 30 years in India and she marvelled at how far the sport has come in her home country. “Chess was always there in India, but it was never encouraged,” she said. “Once the corporates and the government came forward with support, automatically the play started succeeding.”
The women’s game is still lagging, she added, but “I hope it will improve in the future.”
Mr. Anand, 54, has been a pioneer for chess in India and his success – he’s a five-time world champion – has inspired a generation of players. The victories at the Olympiad have given the game an even larger profile, he said in an interview.
“Of course, it’s a huge country and we have other sports, but I think right now people are feeling a lot of excitement about chess,” he said.
He’s been involved in the GCL since the start and believes it can broaden the game’s global reach. “Basically, what the league is about is grabbing someone’s attention. It’s probably not aimed at a typical chess fan. It’s aimed at someone who doesn’t know yet they’re a chess fan.”
With that, Mr. Anand excused himself to rush off with his teammates to prepare for their next match. They needed to regroup after Thursday’s debacle.
He managed a tie against Mr. Carlsen, but the rest of the Grandmasters posted two losses, one win and two more ties. The result was an 11-6 victory for the Pipers who jumped to second in the standings behind the Alaskan Knights.
The Grandmasters lost again on Friday, falling 9-4 to the Mumba Masters. But there are still plenty of games left and, as Mr. Anand said, “the scoring system makes it very unpredictable.”