In this interview, Sagar talks with Peeyush Dubey, Chief Marketing Officer of Tech Mahindra and Chair of the Global Chess League (GCL) Board, about the league’s evolution, corporate restructuring, board composition, sponsorship growth, commercial strategy, fan‑experience innovations, and financial performance as it enters its fourth season. Dubey explains that GCL is now a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra, with a board that includes Tech Mahindra executives and representation from FIDE, ensuring official status. He highlights the expansion of league‑level and team‑level sponsors—IBM, AMD, AWS, Google, Microsoft, BMC Helix, Cisco, Intel, Couchbase, and SBI—as evidence of chess’s rising commercial appeal. The league’s unique franchise format (six teams with star players and prodigies) and tech‑driven broadcast (30‑camera setup, play‑along app) are presented as ways to make chess more broadcast‑friendly and attract audiences. Financially, Dubey states that GCL is close to breaking even, with record ticket sales, disciplined expense management, and a focus on operational superiority, positioning the league for profitability in its fourth season.
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I'm here with Piyush Dubey. Hello, Piyush. You hold very important roles both at Tech Mahindra and at the Global Chess League. You are the Chief Marketing Officer of Tech Mahindra and you are the Chair of the Board of the Global Chess League. That's huge. How are you feeling being here at the event?
No, so, uh, thank you so much for the opportunity, Sagar. Always a pleasure to speak with you and to the audience of ChessBase. India. For me, this is like the culmination of almost one year of work, and I'm so glad that Tech Mahindra now supporting the 4th season of Global Chess League, and we are here. And there are 2 words that I am always hoping that I should be able to say whenever the season kicks off, and they are, this is bigger and better. And I'm so glad that once again I'm able to say those 2 words. Season 4 is definitely much bigger and much better than anything that we have done before this. So truly excited, and thank you so much for being here.
There's one thing that I think the chess world would love to know, that Global Chess League started off as an endeavor to, you know, do this tournament. But over the years, I think Tech Mahindra and the Mahindra Group has made it into a more consolidated form. There's a chair, there's a board now. You chair the board. Could you tell bit about this entire restructuring, why it happened, and who are the people involved in the board?
Sure. So I think as I answer this question, just a little bit of background on how Mahindra Group and Tech Mahindra functions. It's highly entrepreneurial in nature. So a typical corporation like Tech Mahindra would normally sponsor the sports tournaments, whether it is Formula 1, Formula E, soccer, or other opportunities. And would normally sponsor as a title sponsor or a platinum sponsor. Now, since the company is very entrepreneurial, the way that we do it here is that we have set up a company separately and we are building it as a business itself. And therefore, the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League is a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra, which is operating and running this tournament and the 4th season of it. The board constitutes of, of course, the members from Tech Mahindra. And in addition, also very pleased to mention that FIDE is part of the board as well, which enables us to make sure that everything that the Global Chess League does is as official as it gets. And of course, personally for me, it's a privilege and an honor to be the chair of this board. Wow.
And overall, How happy are you with how this global chess league is growing? Because I think the investment that Tech Mahindra makes into it has been quite substantial over the years. And, you know, the world of chess is looking at it. Everyone— it's not just now limited to India. Everyone is looking forward to it. How do you feel about the investment that the company has made?
So we started in 2023 with the, with the season 1 in Dubai. And since then, of course, the league is growing bigger. Interestingly, of course, the investment, both the investment and also the commitment that Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Group has made into Global Chess League is what is required to bring something like this off the ground and then take it off to the next level. So overall, we are very pleased with how it positions, number one, chess. Chess is a growing opportunity in India is one of the leading players. It is the nucleus of the chess world right now, and therefore it really gives the players from India and all over the world a great opportunity to be here in India and wherever in the world to showcase their talent. Equally importantly, from Tech Mahindra's perspective, it is a great opportunity for us to differentiate our brand because chess is all about— chess reflects all the qualities that a technology consulting company like Tech Mahindra should be portraying. Frame, whether it is strategy, whether it is first mover advantage, it is intellect playing from the center of the board. So as an entrepreneurial company, what it allows us is to build an opportunity around chess rather than just sponsoring a tournament that somebody else is running. So overall, this investment has played off very well for us. More finally, I think, Sagar, what I'm really excited about is The movement that Global Chess League has been able to build. Now this year we have more than 12 sponsors for the league.
Wow! And also the these are the league sponsors.
These are the league sponsors.
And then there are other sponsors for the teams.
And then there are the team sponsors. So more and more this year you will notice that the teams have title sponsors as well. Yes. And so not only is the league able to build the commercial potential. At the league level, the franchisees are also able to create relationships. So that is exactly what we all need. Chess has to find a place where technology, entertainment, sport, and business can all come together and thrive. Wow. And that is what Global Chess League is doing.
That's incredible. These sponsors that you were able to bring in, could you tell a bit about it? Because chess has traditionally struggled to get sponsors on board. So what happened? What was the role played? And maybe if you could speak a bit about that.
Sure. So I think, first of all, I think chess is a sport which is often seen as a lonely kind of sport. 2 players sitting across the table, often not even looking at each other, looking at the board and their pieces. And so it becomes a little bit more difficult for it to create a broadcast friendly stream that, that a larger audience can watch, especially if they are only a very casual enthusiast of the rather than a professional or something. And that is what the league changes. Global Chess League builds this new unique structure of 6 franchises, 6 teams, each team with an icon, with superstar men, with with superstar women and the prodigies. And that gives us a very unique format which is much more entertaining and much more appealing and makes chess more approachable. And as we do that, Sagar, it allows more and more sponsors to be interested as well. And so that is how we started last year. We had some of the largest technology companies. We had IBM, we had AMD, we had AWS, Google, Microsoft, And many others who supported the league last year, and I am very pleased to mention that this year we are expanding that. AMD is once again here as a co-powered sponsor. We have Microsoft, we have Google, we have BMC, BMC Helix, Cisco, Intel, Couchbase, and few others. I'm so glad that in addition to all the sponsors that we had last year, we even have a co-powered sponsor. sponsor with SBI this year. And for the first time, to have a bank like SBI support chess as a co-powered sponsor shows the potential of chess and also shows the commercial potential of what a league like the Global Chess League can do.
Wow, this is just amazing. And I have one final question, if you don't mind. The world wants to know that Is Global Chess League an initiative or an endeavor that would become profitable or is already profitable? Because, you know, if this works out, a lot of other people in the ecosystem would get the confidence to do something more in chess. So, you would be the right person to answer this.
That is always our attempt. Now, as you know, Sagar, most of the leagues take a very long time to come to a point where they are commercially successful. I am very pleased to mention that Global Chess League is possibly one of the only chess leagues or chess tournaments which is close to breaking even now. And so we have not only— because of the commercial interests of the sponsors, the ticket sales have been the highest ever this year compared to any previous year, and they are also adding to that that, that top line slowly. Now we have a very good management team which is running a very tight ship in terms of how the expenses and how the spends are managed while keeping in mind the experience of the fans, making sure that we remain ahead in terms of technology. Our app this time will have a play-along feature in addition to all other features that are already there. We have a broadcast with 30 different cameras this time. So we keep on making those innovations because we focus on the operational superiority in addition to making sure that the league also continues to attract the right kind of sponsors. Because of that, of course, our intention is to make the league profitable. And I'm very happy to mention that as we come to the 4th season, we are very close to coming to that milestone now.
Beautiful. side, everyone sees the league growing with Magnus coming here, Javokhir here, you know, Firouzja here. But it's also nice to see that the, uh, the numbers are working out. And I think this— you telling this infuses a lot of confidence. So thank you so much for sharing.
