A very thoughtfully designed venue | Global Chess League 2026 ft. @charmie.kapoor

I am in Bangalore for the finals of the Global Chess League. We are in ITC Windsor where all the players and organizers are staying, and I'll be taking you to the venue and showing you all the things which are happening behind the scenes. It looks like a beautiful day, so from ITC Windsor I decided to walk till Lalit Ashok. This is the entrance and also the reception where everyone can collect their tickets and IDs from. I get the media pass and now we are entering the venue. Let's start from the VIP lounge. This is where the players, their families, and the teams rest in between matches. You can see it's a lovely green area and now we'll enter this lounge and see what's all inside. It's a very spacious area, and here is the coffee and the cookies booth and the people we've been meeting for the last few days. One highlight of this gallery are these framed t-shirts of all the 6 teams, and the players have also signed on them. So the GCL in Bangalore has been one of my favorites so far, Season 4 especially. I've attended Season 3, and I can see the stark difference in the organization.

Very well organized, the The venue is amazing.

There's a new menu every single day, so the players get to eat all different kinds of food, and you'll see chess hidden here and there, even on the food and cakes itself. Now let's walk into the different booths and see what's happening here. So this is the Tech Mahindra room where all the organization planning is happening, and this is specific food and beverages for the players while they are waiting for their games. And the chef was telling us how he's Spoken with the players and taken in different dietary requirements to design this entire menu. The managing committee has also planned small things of how to allocate different rooms to teams.

For us to identify which team is playing, we turn the light on.

Oh wow! There is no dearth of chessboards. You'll find chessboards everywhere. A lovely painting of all the players. And now let me take you to this hidden washroom area, which I thought was done so well. So all the washrooms for the VIP area are in these 2 vans. One is for the players and one is for friends and family. This one is for friends and family, and you can see how nicely it's maintained, and it was spick and span all the time. And the managing bhaiya also showed us within the players' washroom and mentioned that there's an air conditioner inside so that they're comfortable at all times. And even the soap dispensers have a chess design on them. That's the VIP lounge area. Let's grab a coffee and I'll take you through the stalls area next. On the right, you can see different companies have set up their booths and fans can come in, chat with them, and buy stuff from here. Let's walk over to the ChessBase India stall and see what's happening over here. How's the stall been for the last few days? Hello, Charmi! It's been amazing. Bangalore people read a lot of books, so they are intellectuals over here. And a lot of people, um, you know, are going to be stronger next year. GCL over here. And, uh, how's your thing going on, Charmi? How's the coffee? Amazing. It's my second coffee of the day and my second chess event which I am attending live, so a lot of fun for me too.

We have had a lot of people coming in to buy like different things. People were really wanting to, you know, support players like Vishy sir. So we saw his t-shirts being sold a lot in numbers, and one cool t-shirt that sold a lot was Peace of Mind. That has a very interesting design.

Once you keep walking from the stall area, you'll see some food booths, and now there's this long journey which takes us into the match arena. Right now I'm a bit early, so you'll see less number of people. But wait till I show you when I'm going to watch the match and how this space fully changes up. On the right is the match arena, and the left is the fan zone, which we'll be checking out right now. Just as you enter it, you can feel the change in lighting, the mood, and the energy here. This is the commentary box, and here's Sagar Shah and his fellow commentators Sehaj and Harshit. Here you'll find people watching the commentary, finding new people to chat with, or just playing chess matches all day long. Sagar, what do you think is the most thoughtfully designed thing in this arena right here?

The commentary box.

What is the commentary box?

This entire thing, how they've built it, how people are here, they are near us, they can hear everyone. At the same time, they cannot come in, but it's very thoughtfully done. I think the commentary glass box where people could just stand behind and wave out to the camera, that's fascinating. I see so many people in the audience actually coming there, so that, that's fascinating.

Hi, Tanya! Out of the fan zone now, and this is the area where players will be entering from in the evening, so you can see guards and different barricades set up here.

I think one cool thing about the venue is the whole fan engagement zone. I think it's very close to the whole commentator box, so I can see people, you know, trying to come in the camera and waving hands and stuff like that. So I think the fans really feel part of the whole, you know, stream. So that's cool.

I think another very thought-out thing in this venue is these buggies, and all the players and the teams enter together in these buggies. And in different championships and tournaments, I've seen that the players enter backstage, and then you directly see them during the tournament, but here you can see them entering. Uh, the fans are all around, there are supporters, and people also have made these anthems. When the buggies come in, they cheer for them. So naturally the energy is very high and you can actually feel the vibe even before the players get in. And here's a short food break before we go and watch the finals of the Global Chess League. You'll be able to see so many more people here, and this is how they crowd around the entrance when they know that players are going to be coming in or going out before their The venue is located in one of the best parts of Bangalore, which is full of greenery and next to the golf course, which makes it extra special. Now it's time to head to the match arena, and this is how it's looking like in the evening. They've turned on these colorful lights. It's feeling like a gaming zone already. And once we do the security check, we walk in towards the line. Many people also wait here for hours just to catch a glimpse of their favorite players. You'll see them with chessboards, with t-shirts they want to get signed, or just shake a hand with someone they've been waiting for. And this is how the teams arrive in, in their buggies. Despite having a full house today for the finals, everything was very well managed and coordinated. There's no food or beverages allowed inside the arena, so people were keeping everything outside, and phones were told to be kept on silent. This is how the arena entrance looks like and how it is once you are inside the playing field. The commentators are visible on these 2 big screens, and during the games, we get to see all the analysis and all the boards over here. And while the players come in, let me show you how the listening setup looks like. And look who we have here, Nidhi, who's Vidit's biggest supporter, and we are all geared up to watch the match. Defending champions, Alpine ATR Bikers! Five times classical world champion, six times world rapid champion, nine times world blitz champion. Two times. This device allows you to set the channel on which you want to hear your commentary and also play around with the right volume. The playing hall was surprisingly very quiet. Match one is over, and the players head over to their booth for the finale match. And it ends in a win for the Ganges Grandmasters. And we have Nepo here signing all of us off. And this is how we ended the day for the Global Chess League.