New Delhi: The world of sports is fast becoming the world of franchise leagues. They are cooler, they bring in the big money, and most importantly, make enough noise to attract the casual fans. The hardcore fans find a way to follow the sports they like but very often the survival and popularity of a league depends on the casual fans.

It is precisely these fans that the Global Chess League (GCL), an over-the-board rapid chess league comprising six franchises that will compete over two weeks, will be trying to attract in its second season.

The inaugural season took place in Dubai from June 21 to July 2, 2023. This time, the event will be held in London between October 3 and 12.

So, what does a unique league like this mean to the chess ecosystem which is often dominated by the super tournaments, the big players and the successful streamers?

“It’s definitely a new kind of event,” former world champion Viswanathan Anand told HT. “We have team events in chess. We have the European Club Cup. We have the Olympiad. We have the Asian Team Championship, things like that. But this kind of franchise-based league, and again with a focus maybe on the spectator and the audience, the format is meant to be fast paced.

“It has this vibe of some of the new leagues that are opening up in India. And the thing that comes to mind is sort of innovation, technology. They’re going to try and apply that to attract the casual fans. You know, a fan who could be engaged, they want to reach out, put an attractive piece of content out there.”

And these days, the value of a sport — to the advertiser and the fans alike — is decided by virality. Recently, Magnus Carlsen won his fourth title at the Speed Chess Championship 2024, defeating GM Alireza Firouzja in Paris. It was a dominant performance with a final score of 23.5-7.5; he lost just five games in four hours, drawing five and winning 21.

But the most talked about match of the tournament was when Carlsen took on Hans Niemann — it was their first face-off since the cheating scandal and the drama caught everyone’s attention.

GCL will hope to find its own moment. One of the highlights of the first season (and you can catch plenty of this on YouTube) was having players like D Gukesh, Pragganandhaa and Arjun on the same team as Carlsen and learning from him. Every little chance to learn from the best is an opportunity and this fell into the lap of the young Indian GMs.

“Definitely, it’s a more casual environment and everyone’s having fun,” said Anand. “But even I benefit from, you know, when I talk to youngsters. When I talk to Arjun this time, I’m sure he will mention a few ideas that are of interest to me and vice versa. Part of being in a team is that a lot of the casual conversations have nuggets of wisdom that you can go back and try to make sense of yourself. So yes, the learning is a big benefit and that happens in a friendly, uncomplicated way, not in a formal way.”

But what is happening at the top level needs to happen for the second and third tier players in India. There is a huge gap between the top players (who have sponsors, invites to tournaments and teams backing them) and the others. A successful GCL could see others wanting to jump on the bandwagon, just as the Indian Premier League’s success has meant that almost every state now has a franchise league of its own.

“The conditions are quite attractive for the players, but imagine that the game slowly grows, then inevitably that will benefit. So, I think the players are all rooting for this league to be successful because then it will mean enhanced opportunities in the future.”

India’s chances at the Olympiad

Big events definitely work because they get good coverage and that in turn generates interest. India’s great show at the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the Chess World Cup and then the Candidates had the nation buzzing.

And now once again the youngsters and P Harikrishna have a chance to show the world what Indian chess is all about.

“In a sense, it’s the same team we had in Chennai, except we have fused the men B and A teams,” said Anand. “And look, you can’t not be impressed with such a team. There are three guys from the top 20 and one more at the top 40.

“Having said that, work still remains to be done. Olympiad is a very unpredictable event, sort of like crocodile-infested rivers, you know, anything can go wrong any minute. It only takes one board somewhere to spoil the result for the whole team. It can be a cruel event and we saw this last time. So, you know, fingers crossed, but this is a very good team and they are competing for every possible result, including gold, of course.”

The big change from the previous Olympiad is that India’s players have got used to playing the best in the world.

“I believe that all our top players have met the top players in the world at least 20, 30 times in various formats. So, they have gotten completely used to it now. They don’t think, oh, I’m going to a big event. They just think I’m going to another one. I think they’ve completely left the stage where they were doing things for the first time. Now these guys are completely in that circle. In fact, they belong to it.”

The Magnus standard

The SCC 2024 again showed that when Carlsen is on his game and motivated there is no stopping him. Given that he can seem disinterested (with the classical format for sure) at times, that explains his genius.

“Mostly it’s his passion for the game. He plays a lot. He may not study as much or like to study, which is, I think, one of the reasons he didn’t want to play the World Championship. But he spends a lot of time at night playing Blitz and Bullet and what have you. He still loves the game and he loves playing around and he genuinely seems in love with the faster formats. And that’s why he’s so dominant in them.”

It’s almost a bit like John McEnroe who used to keep playing the doubles so that he could practice for the singles. The geniuses find their own way and as long as they do, the younger generation will find its goal too. After all, who doesn’t want to take down the GOAT.

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