Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2024 teams and squads unveiled
Tech Mahindra Global Chess League starts tomorrow in London, England. It will be a six-team double round-robin event. Six members will play in each team comprising an icon, two male, two female and one prodigy (Under-21) in each round. Vishy Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Anish Giri are the 'Icons' who will take part in this event. There will be various 'Superstars' and six 'Prodigies' who will also be part of the second edition. Triveni Continental Kings are the defending champions. The remaining five teams are - Alpine SG Pipers, PBG Alaskan Knights, American Gambits, Upgrad Mumba Masters and Ganges Grandmasters. The Indians apart from Anand taking part in this event are - Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and R Vaishali. First match will take place on Thursday 3rd October 2024. Which team do you think will win? Photo: Official site
Tech Mahindra Global Chess League starts tomorrow
The 10-day Tech Mahindra Global Chess League starts on 3rd October 2024, and will conclude on 12th.
Teams
The six teams who will duke it out in the inaugural edition of Tech Mahindra Global Chess League are - Triveni Continental Kings, Alpine SG Pipers, Ganges Grandmasters, PBG Alaskan Knights, American Knights and Upgrad Mumba Masters.
Icons
There will be six icons in six different teams. They are - Vishy Anand (Ganges Grandmasters), Magnus Carlsen (SG Alpine Pipers), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Upgrad Mumba Masters), Alireza Firouzja (Triveni Continental Kings), Hikaru Nakamura (American Gambits) and Anish Giri (PBG Alaskan Knights).
Superstars
There are 'Superstars' who will be playing in six franchise teams.
Prodigies
Six players, one for each team are the 'Prodigies'. They are - R Praggnanandhaa, Andrey Esipenko, Nihal Sarin, Javokhir Sindarov, Raunak Sadhwani and Jonas Buhl Bjerre.
Squads
Check out the squads of all six teams
1. Alpine SG Pipers 2625
SG Alpine Warriors had a name change to Alpine SG Pipers. Magnus Carlsen and R Praggnanandhaa are the only two players who are retained. They are joined by Richard Rapport, Yifan Hou, Kateryna Lagno and Daniel Dardha.
| Bo. | Name | IRtg | FED | Fide-No. | |
| 1 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2834 | NOR | 1503014 |
| 2 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2668 | IND | 25059530 |
| 3 | GM | Rapport Richard | 2695 | HUN | 738590 |
| 4 | GM | Hou Yifan | 2535 | CHN | 8602980 |
| 5 | GM | Lagno Kateryna | 2463 | RUS | 14109336 |
| 6 | GM | Dardha Daniel | 2555 | BEL | 240990 |
2. Triveni Continental Kings 2623
GM Wei Yi will be the sole player who will be playing for the same team Triveni Continental Kings. The remaining five will make their debut for the defending champions, TCK.
| Bo. | Name | IRtg | FED | Fide-No. | |
| 1 | GM | Firouzja Alireza | 2742 | FRA | 12573981 |
| 2 | GM | Wei Yi | 2782 | CHN | 8603405 |
| 3 | GM | Radjabov Teimour | 2677 | AZE | 13400924 |
| 4 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2491 | SUI | 4128125 |
| 5 | GM | Gunina Valentina | 2389 | FID | 4167570 |
| 6 | GM | Sindarov Javokhir | 2654 | UZB | 14205483 |
3. PBG Alaskan Knights 2604
World Rapid 2019 champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov and World Rapid Women 2022 champion, Zhongyi Tan were retained by PBG Alaskan Knights. They will be joined by Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, IM Alina Kashlinskaya and Nihal Sarin. More than 66% of the players are very good in faster time controls. They could very well be the dark horse.
| Bo. | Name | IRtg | FED | Fide-No. | |
| 1 | GM | Giri Anish | 2662 | NED | 24116068 |
| 2 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2722 | UZB | 14204118 |
| 3 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2691 | AZE | 13401319 |
| 4 | GM | Tan Zhongyi | 2515 | CHN | 8603642 |
| 5 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2362 | POL | 4198026 |
| 6 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2671 | IND | 25092340 |
4. American Gambits 2599
American Gambits is a new team in the league which is replacing last year's Chingari Gulf Titans. The 'Speed King', GM Hikaru Nakamura will be the 'Icon' of the team. FIDE World Cup 2021 winner - Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Yangyi Yu, two-time consecutive World Blitz Women's champion, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, GM Elisabeth Paehtz and last year's MVP of the final - GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre will be seen in action.
| Bo. | Name | IRtg | FED | Fide-No. | |
| 1 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2744 | USA | 2016192 |
| 2 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | 2745 | POL | 1170546 |
| 3 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2711 | CHN | 8603820 |
| 4 | IM | Assaubayeva Bibisara | 2439 | KAZ | 13708694 |
| 5 | GM | Paehtz Elisabeth | 2409 | GER | 4641833 |
| 6 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | 2545 | DEN | 1444948 |
5. Upgrad Mumba Masters 2598
Four players - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vidit Gujrathi, Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli were retained by Upgrad Mumba masters. Peter Svidler and Raunak Sadhwani will be joining them.
| Bo. | Name | IRtg | FED | Fide-No. | |
| 1 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2755 | FRA | 623539 |
| 2 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2674 | IND | 5029465 |
| 3 | GM | Svidler Peter | 2709 | FID | 4102142 |
| 4 | GM | Koneru Humpy | 2453 | IND | 5008123 |
| 5 | GM | Dronavalli Harika | 2414 | IND | 5015197 |
| 6 | GM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2583 | IND | 35093487 |
6. Ganges Grandmasters 2565
Ganges Grandmasters retained only Vishy Anand. Players who are joining the team this year are - GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM Parham Maghsoodloo, GM R Vaishali, IM Nurgyul Salimova and GM Volodar Murzin.
| Bo. | Name | IRtg | FED | Fide-No. | |
| 1 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2749 | IND | 5000017 |
| 2 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2698 | IND | 35009192 |
| 3 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2665 | IRI | 12539929 |
| 4 | GM | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 2380 | IND | 5091756 |
| 5 | IM | Salimova Nurgyul | 2320 | BUL | 2915138 |
| 6 | GM | Murzin Volodar | 2580 | FID | 44155573 |
Format
It will be a double round-robin tournament between six teams. An icon will play on board no.1, two male players on board no.2 and 3, two female players on board no.4 and 5, and one player born in 2003 or later will play on board no.6. Unlike a regular team event, all players of a particular team will play with the same color which the team gets. Teams will also play in a fixed board order which cannot be changed after the draw of lots. The time control will be 20 minutes with no increment. Instead of simultaneous start of all six games, it will be staggered start - two games will start after the interval of every two minutes. League reserves the right to alter the interval upon giving 24 hour notice. For more details, check out the regulations link at the end of this article.
Schedule
The matches will take place from 3rd to 12th October. Only from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th October, there are four matches. The remaining days from 3rd to 11th October will have three matches per day. On last day, Saturday 12th October, the Final will witness two matches. Check out the match schedule on the image below:
Prize
Each player of the winning team - US$ 7500
Manager of the winning team - US$ 5000
Video Gallery
Buy Tickets
Links
Tech Mahindra Global Chess League: Official site, facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube and linkedin
Tech Mahindra: Official site, facebook, twitter, youtube and linkedin
