English Chess Forum

The Global Chess League comes to London!

The Global Chess League, a joint venture between FIDE and Tech Mahindra, is all set for the second season as 30 of the world's best chess players were handpicked by six franchises to assemble strong squads for the second season of the league.

Following the huge success of the inaugural edition in Dubai last year, the second season is scheduled to take place from October 3rd to 12th at Friends House in London where people will be able to watch the games and potentially meet the players.

The stellar line-up of Icon players include:
Magnus Carlsen (Alpine SG Pipers), Viswanathan Anand (Ganges Grandmasters), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Mumba Masters) and debutants Hikaru Nakamura (American Gambits) and Anish Giri (PBG Alaskan Knights).

There will be an open team tournament for UK-based teams taking place on the 5th October

Entry is free and there are significant cash prizes, email me at [email protected] to sign-up or to make enquiries: https://tinyurl.com/4vyvu3pe

You can view more details about the whole event at: https://globalchessleague.com/

Good luck!

Peter Hornsby wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 13, 2024 10:58 pm

the second season is scheduled to take place from October 3rd to 12th at Friends House in London where people will be able to watch the games and potentially meet the players.

...

You can view more details about the whole event at: https://globalchessleague.com/

As fas as I can see, there's no mention on that website of whether it's possible to, and, if so, how to spectate at the venue.

Ian Thompson wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 14, 2024 1:32 pm

As fas as I can see, there's no mention on that website of whether it's possible to, and, if so, how to spectate at the venue.

The Chess & Bridge shop will sell tickets.
https://chess.co.uk/products/tech-mahin ... e-season-2

I have booked a ticket for one day, you get 3 or 4 matches, so that’s 18 or 24 games, each afternoon. I have just checked the time control and it is 20 minutes with no increment, so that’s against the current trends, but should be a fun event.

https://globalchessleague.com/tournament-details/

Information published about the open team tournament is on the link above ^^

Peter Hornsby wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 17, 2024 2:14 pm

Information published about the open team tournament is on the link above ^^

Could you go into a bit more detail about the format?

Is the idea that you get at least 6 people to the Euston Road to play Blitz (how many games?) on their own (portable) devices against others who have done similarly? The final is on real sets, clocks and boards?

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 17, 2024 3:23 pm

Peter Hornsby wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 17, 2024 2:14 pm

Information published about the open team tournament is on the link above ^^

Could you go into a bit more detail about the format?

Is the idea that you get at least 6 people to the Euston Road to play Blitz (how many games?) on their own (portable) devices against others who have done similarly? The final is on real sets, clocks and boards?

Hi Roger, so for a team to be eligible to play in the final they will need to bring at least 6 players. To join in the arena, you just need a minimum of two players. Matches in the arena are played on personal portable devices which the competitors bring with them and connect to the Wifi there to play against players from other clubs. The final is OTB.

Here is an example of what a Chess.com arena looks like:

https://www.chess.com/tournament/live/a ... ne-3460315

Do let me know if you have any further questions

Feel free to share!

Peter Hornsby wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 18, 2024 11:55 am

Do let me know if you have any further questions

I can't see anything saying whether or not you are limiting the number of players in a team, or the number of players whose scores will count towards the team's final score.

If you're not restricting the number of players in a team, or even if you are, how many players can the venue accommodate for both playing space and simultaneous Wi-Fi connectivity and what will you do if that limit is reached?

Ian Thompson wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 18, 2024 1:39 pm

Peter Hornsby wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 18, 2024 11:55 am

Do let me know if you have any further questions

I can't see anything saying whether or not you are limiting the number of players in a team, or the number of players whose scores will count towards the team's final score.

If you're not restricting the number of players in a team, or even if you are, how many players can the venue accommodate for both playing space and simultaneous Wi-Fi connectivity and what will you do if that limit is reached?

Hi there are no limits for numbers of players per team as things stand- the venue hall has space for circa 300 people and we have 10 teams registered so far ranging from 6-16 players each.

I will, of course, update people if we are reaching close to capacity, for the time being the more the merrier!

So far we appear to have the following teams signed up:

Petts Wood & Orpington
Eton College
Hammersmith/Sharks Club
Alpha Chess
Warwick University & Alumni
Kings College London
She Plays to Win (SPTW)
Durham University Alumni
UK Armed Forces Chess Association

If you are interested in joining them drop me an email at [email protected]!

**Entries are closed**

We are at full capacity, thanks everyone

Here's to a great event!

Is this going to be shown live with commentary?

The scoring system for the event, with rationale, is stated to be:

"A unique scoring system has been introduced for the innovative Global Chess League. Teams will earn 3 match points for a win, 1 match point for a draw, and 0 for a loss. However, the game points system within each match is even more distinctive. Players winning with black will earn 4 game points, while those winning with white will receive 3 game points. Draws are worth 1 game point each. This system not only rewards winning but also encourages players to take risks, particularly with the black pieces, making the matches more dynamic and unpredictable."

Is the "encourages players to take risks" claim true, or will it actually have the opposite effect and result in cautious play - "make sure you don't lose with White because, if you do, we'll have to win two other games to recover from that and avoid losing the match"? (Two other games because this event is double-round and all players in a team get the same colour in a round, so two White wins are needed to offset one White loss.)

If the white players are being cautious on both teams then it would be quite a pleasure to play black .

I imagine that the reality of it will be like most "team" events- once the game starts the majority of players just go into business for themselves regardless of any pre agreed strategy or match position and the chips will fall where they fall.