Chess, the ultimate individual pursuit, has found its theatre. In Bengaluru, the Global Chess League (GCL), in its fourth season this year, is giving the audience its fill of drama and star sightings.
Susan Ninan’s report captures it: Leon Mendonca was dead lost. Abhimanyu Mishra, world’s youngest GM, was comfortably winning — enough to fetch his team, PBG Alaskan Knights, the match. In the dugout, Mishra’s teammates, led by five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, watched the giant screen. With one second left, Mishra captured White’s rook but dropped it on the board and placed the promoted queen on the wrong square, e1 instead of f1, earning two seconds of added time. Mendonca stopped the clock, called the arbiter. The clock was reset, added time taken away, and Mishra was left with one second to redo the move correctly. He couldn’t, and lost.
The packed live audience, following commentary on headphones, gasped. Mendonca had snatched a win for himself and his team, Ganges Grandmasters.
That is GCL’s bet: franchise-based format, six boards, 20 minutes per player with two-second increment from move 41, a win with Black worth four points vs three with White. “It’s a really good format,” Magnus Carlsen said, who is turning out for Alpine APL Pipers. “The lack of increments is very good.”
What’s different is atmosphere. World No.1 Carlsen and Anand striding in and out of playing hall at a five-star hotel to fans screaming, seeking selfies, asking “What was f6?” — a weird move Carlsen employed in opening against World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov. “I like to come to India every second year or so because I need a year off to remind myself how crowded the tournaments are,” Carlsen joked.
Players trade business casual for colourful team jerseys and huddle in dugouts. “You’re going through these moments together with top guys — joys, disappointments — and you get to see how they handle tough days,” said Mishra, on Anand’s team.
GCL makes chess unpredictable. As Carlsen admitted: “I’ve realised it’s a terrible idea to look at Arjun’s (Erigaisi) board during my games for cues how safe team should be playing. No matter what, he’s always cooking up chaos.” Chaos, now with a live audience.