Billed as the IPL of chess, this will be the second season of the Global Chess League, a ridiculously strong six-team competition run on a franchise system. Each team comprises six players and will take part in a double-round all-play-all, before the top two sides play off for the title. All games are a brisk 20 minutes per player – without any increment – so expect plenty of dramatic time scrambles.

Last year’s inaugural Tech Mahindra Global Chess League in Dubai saw a quite gripping final: Triveni Continental Kings and upGrad Mumba Masters finished level at 6-6. Two rounds of extra time or rather blitz failed to alter the equilibrium, meaning a penalty shoot-out type scenario: a series of sudden death blitz games began, ending when the young Danish Grandmaster Jonas Bjerre defeated teenage Uzbek Olympiad star Javokhir Sindarov.

Following his dominant performance in the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship – crushing Hans Niemann 17½-12½ then Alireza Firouzja by a whopping 23½-7½ in the final in Paris – all eyes will be on the dominant world number one, Magnus Carlsen, who heads up the Alpine SG Pipers. Their two ‘superstar men’ are 19-year-old Indian sensation Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Richard Rapport, with their two ‘superstar women’ also mightily impressive: Hou Yifan and Kateryna Lagno. Throw in 18-year-old Belgian number one Daniel Dardha as the ‘prodigy’ and it’s not hard to see why the Pipers are favourites.

The legendary Vishy Anand is a worthy icon if ever there was one and heads up the Ganges Grandmasters. The former world champion will have to do battle with not just Carlsen, but his fellow icons: Hikaru Nakamura (American Gambits), Ian Nepomniachtchi (Triveni Continental Kings), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Mumba Masters) and Anish Giri (PBG Alaskan Knights).

Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2024 participants

Alpine SG Pipers Magnus Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa R, Richard Rapport, Hou Yifan, Kateryna Lagno, Daniel Dardha

Ganges Grandmasters Viswanathan Anand, Arjun Erigaisi, Parham Maghsoodloo, Vaishali R, Nurgyul Salimova, Volodar Murzin

Mumba Masters Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vidit Gujrathi, Alexander Grischuk, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Raunak Sadhwani

PBG Alaskan Knights Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Tan Zhongyi, Alina Kashlinskaya, Nihal Sarin

Triveni Continental Kings Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wei Yi, Teimour Radjabov, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina, Javokhir Sindarov

American Gambits Hikaru Nakamura, Vladislav Artemiev, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Elisabeth Paehtz, Jonas Buhl Bjerre

The team line-ups were determined by an auction, which took place in August in Delhi. Each franchise was allocated 1000 points for five players in their team (the icon top boards were already decided), with any players they wished to retain from last year costing 200 points. Bidding for each new player began at 50 points and could go all the way up to 800!

To buy tickets for the Global Chess League (Friends House, London) please visit chess.co.uk. Tickets are available for each of the 10 days: Thursday October 3rd to Saturday October 12th. For the very keen, there’s also the option of a season pass, and packages are available for group and chess club bookings – contact info@chess.co.uk for more details.

Play begins at 1pm on each of the first nine days, with further rounds at 3pm and 4.45pm, as well as 2.15pm on some days (the final kicks off at 2.15pm on October 12th). There will be a lot of chess, high quality chess at that, as well as commentary at the venue and analysis for the audience supplied between rounds.

Live games will be daily on Chessdom.com , with video and games coverage

Alpine SG Pipers Magnus Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa R, Richard Rapport, Hou Yifan, Kateryna Lagno, Daniel Dardha

Ganges Grandmasters Viswanathan Anand, Arjun Erigaisi, Parham Maghsoodloo, Vaishali R, Nurgyul Salimova, Volodar Murzin

Mumba Masters Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vidit Gujrathi, Alexander Grischuk, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Raunak Sadhwani

PBG Alaskan Knights Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Tan Zhongyi, Alina Kashlinskaya, Nihal Sarin

Triveni Continental Kings Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wei Yi, Teimour Radjabov, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina, Javokhir Sindarov

American Gambits Hikaru Nakamura, Vladislav Artemiev, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Elisabeth Paehtz, Jonas Buhl Bjerre

Anish Giri’s ability of commenting social issues in chess with a sense of humor is way above 2800 ELO. “There aren’t enough hotel rooms at the FIDE Olympiad and still no practical information for the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz. But at least FIDE makes sure the top players are roasted and humbled after unfortunate performances!” comments Giri.

If you are not following Giri on Twitter/X you should do it. Now!

More Tweet of the Day by Anish Giri

Anish Giri: A player who understands all qualification paths to Candidates should get 1 spot too
Anish Giri: Fabi disrespecting the entire chess world by making Hans look like a noob
What would Anish Giri do if he weren’t a professional chess player?

Anish Giri – Hans Niemann, game 2

Sinquefield Cup 2024 is going to take place 19-27 August and will be daily live on Chessdom, with coverage of all games, social media reactions, commentary, live video and more.

This year’s edition of the Sinquefield Cup 2024 has a specific curiosity – it will see a preview of the World Chess Championship 2024 with a game between Gukesh and Ding Liren. The game will happen right from the start of the tournament and Ding Liren will have the white pieces. Scroll down for the full pairings.

Sinquefield Cup 2024 participants

Alireza Firouzja
Fabiano Caruana
Wesley So
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa
Dommaraju Gukesh
Ian Nepomniachtchi
Ding Liren
Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Anish Giri

Pairings round 1

Fabiano Caruana – Alireza Firouzja
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa – Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Ian Nepomniachtchi – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Ding Liren – Dommaraju Gukesh
Anish Giri – Wesley So

The next match of the series is Hans Niemann – Nikita Vitiugov

Anish Giri – Hans Niemann, game 6

Hans Niemann – Anish Giri, game 5

Anish Giri – Hans Niemann, game 4

Hans Niemann – Anish Giri, game 3