Impact of GCL’s first season: Bringing down the walls, more casual chess followers and more corporate funding

After two weeks of 36 of the world’s top chess players finding themselves in the uncharted territory of a team setting, eventually the fate of the first season of the Global Chess League was decided a one-on-one contest.Jonas Bjerre, a 19-year-old prodigy from Denmark, beat Javokhir Sindarov, a 17-year-old Uzbek wunderkid, to help the Triveni Continental Kings to the GCL title.For the Kings, this has been a remarkable comeback story for more reasons than one. Bjerre had been beaten Sindarov four times on Sunday itself, before he prevailed in the blitz tie-breaker. The Kings had been anchored to the bottom of the standings in the six-team league just four days ago, before they charted their entry into the final. The franchise had been in turmoil from the start after world champion Ding Liren backed out after the draft and had to be replaced Levon Aronian hours before the league started. Then, they had to call in Sara Khadem as a replacement for Nana Dzagnidze mid-way through the tournament.

The best moves are often the ones you don’t see ❤️#GlobalChessLeague #GCL #TheBigMove #GlobalChessLeagueChamp1on pic.twitter.com/7LBiJsVAxi
— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) July 2, 2023
The finale was initially supposed to be decided after two rounds of rapid chess where a team had to win both rounds. But with both teams claiming one victory, tournament rules dictated that two rounds of blitz be played to find a champion. When that also saw a 1-1 draw, the team tournament descended into a nerve wracking one-on-one sudden-death contest of blitz chess. Until now, all contests were played across six boards. But the sudden-death was supposed to be just one player from each side deciding the contest.
At first, Khadem was drawn to take on Harika Dronavalli. Draw! Next up were Alexander Grischuk and Yu Yangyi. Draw, again! Then came the turn of Kateryna Lagno and Koneru Humpy, who again could not find a breakthrough.
Throughout the tournament, players have let down their guards in the comfort of the team setting. A clip of Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen uncharacterically exchanging child-like grins in the middle of a game as they tried to exchange pieces on the board went viral recently. Players like Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Grischuk have allowed themselves to be fascinated kabaddi videos the upGrad Mumba Masters management, which also owns a successful kabaddi franchise. It has been that kind of a tournament. Until Sunday came along.

It’s a wRAP from season 1 🔥#GlobalChessLeague #GCL #TheBigMove #GCLonJioCinema #GrandFinaleGCLSeason1 pic.twitter.com/QjpxmbaEAd
— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) July 2, 2023
Blitz games can have all the tension and anarchy of a Mexican standoff. One wrong move, and your pieces are off the board. And it showed as the fate of the title rested on one single match-up. The usually impassive Grischuk’s fingers trembled as he made moves. Harika held her face in both hands, unable to look at the action as did captain Srinath Narayanan. Masters’ CEO Suhail Chandhok stood in front of a TV screen and muttered to himself.
Finally, when the end came, the league had reverted to being a team sport again. But it was just the kind of end a league that has been touted as a ‘new era’ for chess deserved.
“Never have we had a tournament in chess conceptualised in a way that it resembles team sports in established events such as the Champions League in football or the Indian Premier League in cricket. From team identity and branding to getting chess on sports channels across the world and doing commentary which is more adapted to the non-chess audience… it is a great concept introduced the GCL,” said Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

The Kings 👑@trivenickings #TriveniContinentalKings #GlobalChessLeague #GCL #TheBigMove #GlobalChessLeagueChamp1on pic.twitter.com/PJvVEU6YLS
— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) July 3, 2023
‘Next-level league’
Over the past couple of weeks, the league has gained massive eyeballs. Despite the league managing to sign broadcast on streaming partners in many countries, the GCL’s YouTube channel showed that over 113,000 had watched the finale. The numbers for many of the other days’ streams were over 90k.
From the Indian players’ perspective, the league has already helped youngsters like Praggnanandhaa R, Gukesh D and Arjun Erigaisi bring down the cultural and age barriers with a legend of the game like Carlsen, who they were previously in awe of and were hesitant to approach. At the GCL, the Indian trio spent hours during meals talking shop with the world no 1, who has also been playing training games with them.

Watch out, world! We have our champs 💥 @trivenickings pic.twitter.com/vB2IyAL4mb
— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) July 2, 2023
“So far, this has been an excellent season. I’d be very happy to play in the second season. This was a next-level event. Conditions have been extremely good. Such league brings new people into chess,” Praggnanandhaa told The Indian Express. The teenager likened the playing conditions in the league to being like an ‘esports kind of arena with lots of cameras and lighting’.
‘Personal obligation to help league grow’
Aronian, who was drafted in the last second to replace Liren, was one of the players who couldn’t stop gushing about the format.
“Hopefully, this is a new era in chess. The league will grow. I felt a personal obligation to help the league grow because this is a great thing for chess. It’s a very interesting format. This is the future. We were missing a global league. This was like the NBA in chess. This is the real deal,” he told The Indian Express.
On being asked what he found to be the most heartening thing he had seen in the league, the Armenia-born American chess player said: “Global companies investing in the event… we really didn’t have that before. Chess quite often was sponsored three or four guys. You didn’t really have big corporations. This is what’s needed for the game to grow.
“I don’t believe that chess can survive forever as a toy for rich people. It has to start earning money. All the best players are ready to give their best… we work really hard and want the game to get into a position where it deserves to be.”