After the glorious success of the inaugural edition in Dubai, the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (October 3-11) is all set for the second edition in London.
The Global Chess League, which revolutionized the sport with its franchise-based format attracting global icons like Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, may have moved to London for the new season, but Peeyush Dubey, chairperson of the league, didn’t rule out returning to Dubai.
“Dubai is always an option for us. We are a Global Chess League, and so the idea is to expand this chess tournament to every continent, every country,” Dubey told the Khaleej Times.
“We will have players playing from more countries in season two now, and Dubai has been such a wonderful platform. We definitely hope and we want to come back to Dubai. The experience in Dubai was truly phenomenal. And we cannot wait to be back there.”
The league follows a unique joint team format with male and female players playing in the same team.
The second season will see six teams vying for the honours after the inaugural season was won by Triveni Continental Kings in Dubai last year.
Dubey said the organisers could not have found a better venue than Dubai for the first edition of the league.
“The first edition of any big event is always very important. Dubai was just the perfect platform for us to do the first season,” he said.
“Dubai had also hosted the World Chess Championship just the year before. There is a chess boom all over the world, especially after the pandemic. Chess has become such a popular sport, Dubai has a proximity to India, and the fact that it’s such a global city really gave us a wonderful platform for the Global Chess League.
“The success of the chess league and the fact that we have a bigger season two now coming up in London, it’s all because of the excellent start that we got in the inaugural season in Dubai last year.”
Dubey said the response from legends like Carlsen and Anand inspired them to prepare for an even bigger second season in London.
“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. All these Grand Masters are very closely associated with the growth of chess. They want chess to be much more popular,” he said.
“One of the challenges of chess has always been that it’s a very one-on-one kind of sport. It’s two people sitting across a table, and they are immersed in their own world.
“So, this new team-based league made chess more easily available to a broader audience. The uniqueness of the Global Chess League comes from the fact that this format makes it a team sport which is what the audience normally wants.
“The audience roots for a team in a sport. The broadening of the audience is what the big grand masters loved about this tournament.”