Third season of Global Chess League set to kick off with star-studded field

Icons in Mumbai: Anand, Gukesh, Nakamura, Caruana, Firouzja and MVL

The third season of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (TechM GCL) will take place from 14 to 23 December, continuing the franchise-based competition that brings together elite players in mixed-gender teams. The league features a joint team format, with men and women competing alongside each other, and carries a total prize fund of $1,000,000. The first two editions of the event were both won by Triveni Continental Kings, who return as the defending champions.

The prize fund is divided across several performance criteria. $500,000 is allocated based on teams’ final standings, while $450,000 is distributed according to game points scored during matches. An additional $50,000 is awarded to the overall winning team. This structure places consistent emphasis on results across all boards throughout the tournament, not only on match wins.

Each team fields six players in a fixed order for the duration of the event. The highest-rated player, designated as the Icon, plays on board one. Boards two and three must be occupied by men, boards four and five by women, and board six by a junior player born in 2003 or later. This composition rule is a defining feature of the league and is designed to integrate established stars with younger talent in a single competitive framework.

Triveni Continental Kings celebrating their 2024 victory | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

The competitive structure of the league is divided into a Preliminary Stage and a Final, with progression and the title decided through a combination of game results and match outcomes:

Preliminary Stage

• Played as a double round-robin, with each team facing every other team twice.
• Teams are ranked by match points, which determine the final standings.
• The top two teams at the end of this stage qualify for the Final.

Final

• Contested between the top two teams from the Preliminary Stage.
• Played as a best-of-two set of matches.
• The team that scores the most match points across the two matches is crowned champion.

Time control

• All games are played with 20 minutes for the entire game, with a 2-second increment starting from move 41.

Besides in-depth theory and exciting tactical exercises in the Scotch Game, this video course also includes a bonus section on the Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Bc4), a lively variation often leading to very dynamic positions.

Game points (used to decide individual matches)

• 4 game points for a win with the black pieces.
• 3 game points for a win with the white pieces.
• 1 game point for a draw.
• 0 game points for a loss.

The team with the higher total of GPs wins the match.

Match points (used for standings)

• 3 match points for winning a match.
• 1 match point for drawing a match.
• 0 match points for losing a match.

Additional regulations

• Before each match, a coin toss determines which team has the choice of colours.

Teams

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors how to successfully organise your games strategically, and how to keep your opponent permanently under pressure.

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