The Global Chess League (GCL) on Monday unveiled the six franchises that will participate in the inaugural edition of the tournament to be held in Dubai from June 21-July 2. (More Chess News)
A joint venture between Tech Mahindra and the international chess federation (FIDE), the competing teams will play a minimum of 10 matches each in a double round-robin, rapid form𒆙at.
The GCL will see men, women,ꦐ and U21 💎players compete as a team.
The league will commence with a players' draft where franchise🍸 owners will select 𓃲players for their respective teams.
The six franchise owners and🍰 their teams are U SPORTS (upGrad Mumba Masters), Insurekot Sports (Ganges Grandmasters), Punit Balan Group (Balan Alaskan Knights), Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd (Triveni Continental Kings), Chingari App 𒅌(Chingari Gulf Titans), and APL Apollo-led SG Sports (SG Alpine Warriors).
Leading players in the world, including Viswanathan Anand, Ding Liren, Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, H⛎ou Yifan and Kateryna Lagno among others, will come together in the league.
FIDE president, Arkady Dvorkovich, said he was l🌼ooking forward to a successful🙈 inaugural edition.
"We are heading towar🌊ds its actualisation, we have found the right partners who believe in the vision. (We) look forward to making the league a big success," sai♉d Dvorkovich in a statement on Monday.
Jagdish Mitra, chairperson, GCL Board said, "the tournament will blends traditional chess with the new era" and will aim to "enhance fan experience through digitization, innovation,🃏 and tec🌳hnology."
The tournament will introduce a mixed-team format, wherein each of the six franchises will engage in a total of 10 matches played in a double round-robin style. The winner of each match will be determine🉐d through a best-of-six board scoring system, played simultaneously.
The top two teams emerging from these encounters w♋ill then proceed to the final, scheduled to take place on July 2, where the World Champion Franchise Team will be crowned.
