The video records a press‑panel held in Bengaluru for the fourth season of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (GCL). The event opens with a brief informal banter before the chairperson Piyush Dubey, commissioner Gaurav Rakshit, and team representatives (including Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh, Javokhir Sindarov, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Levon Aronian, Maxime, and others) take the stage. Key points include: - League philosophy – Rakshit stresses that chess itself provides drama; the league’s role is to showcase it to larger audiences. - Player motivations – Arigaisi talks about playing with legends; Carlsen emphasizes his focus on the tournament, his mixed feelings about team events, and his desire to improve on past GCL performances. - Team dynamics – Newcomer Divya Deshmukh looks forward to time‑scrambles; Sindarov is excited to play first board; Kosteniuk hopes for a third championship win; Maxime highlights team spirit. - Future of chess – Carlsen comments on recent growth in global fanbase, experimentation with formats, and the need to find the right presentation for chess. - Preparation for World Championship – Sindarov explains he will shift focus to his classical World Championship match after the GCL, while Carlsen reflects on his limited time to influence the sport. - Audience questions – Various audience members ask about innovation, motivation, and mentorship, eliciting further insights from Carlsen, Anand, and others. Overall, the panel provides a snapshot of the GCL’s objectives, the personal goals of its star participants, and broader thoughts on how league formats may help mainstream chess.
Chapters
How are you, brother? I'm good. We need to change back into French clothes.
Oh yeah, yeah, I know.
Yeah.
I will put you to shame.
But it's the one we play is not blood, it's punch.
Punch, blood.
Yes.
Without any further ado, let's get started. May I now request Piyush Dubey, Chairperson, Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, and Gaurav Rakshit, Commissioner, Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, to please join us on the stage. Yagis Khan, Dogmas, and Arjun Enigaisi from PBG Alaskan Knights. Levon Aronian from Grand Chess Grandmasters, Vishwanathan Anand from the PBJ Alaskan Knights, Magnus Carlsen and Divya Deshmukh from the Alpine APL Pipers, Javokir Sindarov from the Fires American Gambits, Maxime from Czech Mumba Masters, and Alexandra from Trumeni Continental Kings.
A huge round of applause, please. Thank you.
It is truly a pleasure for me to, to be able to welcome everyone in Bengaluru today. This is the 4th season of Global Chess League. We were in Dubai, London, Mumbai before this. And as someone who has lived in Bangalore for more than 10 years, as someone who remembers going to a darshini and eating an idli for ₹2 at some point in time, I am glad to be back in this city once again.
I just want to leave you with our philosophy, which is chess doesn't need drama to be manufactured. Chess— it's our responsibility to bring that drama out in front of the audiences and screens because they love that. And so that's kind of the responsibility we take as, as the Global Chess League, which is to make this extraordinarily beautiful game accessible to much larger audiences. And as you said, make it keep growing. So that's essentially all I wanted to cover today, but I encourage you to come and watch the tournament. It'll be fun for all.
Thanks so much.
Um, Arjun, uh, with legends and young talents coming together in your team, what excites you the most this season?
Yeah, this is for sure going to be very exciting. I have played with Anand sir in my team in the second season as well, and this year with both Yagis and Mishra being two of the youngest like talents, it's it's going to be quite exciting.
That's great.
We wish you all the best. Moving on to Alpine APL Pipers, Magnus. Welcome to Bengaluru. We heard that you play love playing golf. Are you excited and planning to indulge in golfing activities here?
To be honest, I'm mostly focused on the tournament here. I'm very excited to to be back. Of course, I'm a little bit surprised to be back, seeing as we had a couple of really frustrating years for the team. The two first years when I was when I was playing, and then of course when I was away. You all know the the story. The team. Uh, won it all. So, um, this time I'm just trying to, uh, do my best to, um, yeah, not do any, uh, any worse than, than last year. And, uh, it's, uh, it's very exciting to, um, to be back. I think it's a, it's a great, uh, team format. The way that things happen in the seasons that I, uh, that I played, it was always exciting towards the, um, the very end in every single match and in the tournaments as well. So I'm just very happy to be part of it.
Thank you, Magnus. We wish you all the best. Divya, this is your first GCL season. What are you most looking forward to?
Honestly, as much as I'm afraid about it, I want to see the time scrambles in my game because there's no increment and Honestly, I would love to flag some people, so I'm looking forward to that.
Thank you, Divya. We wish you all the best. Next, we have Fire's American Gambits. Javokir, congratulations on your candidates' win. How does it feel to take on this new challenge? And it's a team challenge. What are you most expecting and looking forward to?
Uh, yes, thank you so much. Uh, happy to come back to Global Chess. I'm playing every season and enjoying I like this format. It's 6 people in a team, and of course this year I'm very excited to play in first board, and I will try my best with my team to win this tournament.
Thank you, Zhaoqi. We wish you the best. Alexandra, Triveni has won 2 seasons. Does that championship victory add pressure or confidence this time for you?
Well, first of all, I'm very happy to be back, and I'm very excited to be playing with Triveni once again this season. And it's always nice to to have two victories in the books, but it would be even nicer to have the third one. So that's what we're heading to.
We wish you the best. Next, check Mumbai Masters. Maxime, you know the unpredictability of GCL very well. What makes you believe Mumbai Masters can go all? How do you feel about this season?
Yeah, in general, I am very happy with our team and the team spirit we build in every season, in and out. So I think that's one of our big strengths. It hasn't materialized on the board, but I'm very happy with, you know, Mumbai Masters, the trust they have in me. They keep going for me as their Aikon board, and I hope I can help them and give give back some of the trust on the chessboard as well, not only in the team spirit, and help help us win the world thing.
Thank you.
We wish you the best. And finally, Ganges Grandmasters Levon. You have a long association with India. We got to know that. And how does it feel to return to India for GCL?
Oh, it always feels. Wonderful to discover new cities, and yesterday a friend of mine took me to Mysore, and I really enjoyed my day trip there. So yeah, you know, this is a great tournament. I have a hundred percent win rate, so we'll see how it goes this year.
Vishy sir, welcome to Bengaluru. So we wanted your, uh, opinion also on how do you feel to be back with another team this time.
Well, as you mentioned when you asked Maxime, uh, I'm also very familiar with the unpredictability, uh, but you know, every year you have to come with a positive attitude. We have a great team and I'll try to do my best.
So Magnus, you've been part of the Global Chess League And now next year there's going to be the Total World Chess Championship Tour. Do you think this is the way forward for chess to make it more mainstream, to attract newer fans?
Look, I, I think there are, um, there are a lot of positives in the, in the chess world these days. I think the last 5, 6 years or so, there have been a lot of new chess fans all around, all around the world. And, uh, we, we're still kind of trying to, to find, um, uh, find the right ways to, uh, you know, how we present formats and, and everything. And, uh, for me, it's, yeah, it's interesting to be, um, uh, to be part of, um, Part of some of those, uh, those, uh, yeah, innovations and so on. So, uh, I just think it's, uh, it's interesting that it's, um, that, that it's happening that way. And, uh, there's so much enthusiasm and work that's being done for, um, uh, for presenting chess in the, in the best way possible because, you know, we all love chess and we, we just wanted to to succeed.
Hi, this question is for Yagiz. Yagiz, you're on the same team as Vishy. Oh, Yagiz is here. Yeah, you're on the same team as Vishy. I was just wondering if there's anything you're particularly curious, you know, to pick his brain about.
It's, it's going to be amazing experience for me to play with Vishy and Arjun, and we have a very strong team, and it's my first time here. I'm really excited to play here. Uh, yeah, I hope we can win the tournament. Uh, yeah.
Um, hi, my question is for Magnus. Uh, I'm here right at the back. Uh, just a continuation on what you said, uh, about innovations and formats of chess. Is, is this what motivates you now in terms of— I mean, you've, you've spoken about How you don't like certain things in chess, but is this what motivates you at this stage of your career to do new things, play new formats, new tournaments?
I think for me it's, it's interesting there and then, but it's not necessarily an overarching goal, um, to, to do that. I, I'm motivated for, for tournaments. I mean, I'm sometimes more motivated than Um, than other times, which I think is sometimes pretty plain to see in the way that I, way that I approach tournaments. But it kind of is what it is, um, now. But, um, yeah, I think it's, it's more important for the, um, for the future for, for chess in a sense, because, um, you shouldn't necessarily, um, You know, try things because of what I want to do or what motivates me, because, you know, there's a pretty limited time frame in terms of when I'm gonna, gonna be around as well. Um, but I, you know, for now, I, uh, I, I like to play. I'm certainly looking forward to, um, um, to, to playing here, and, uh, it's a pretty similar time format to what I was successful in, uh, very recently. Of course, it's a little bit different over the board, but hopefully I can get some of the same, um, uh, rhythm.
Hi, uh, hi Magnus, I have a question for you. Uh, for a man who has won everything there is to win, you still have a lot of space in your cabinet for team events. Just a continuation of what you were speaking about team events, you have— you seem to have, you know, love-hate relationship with team events since Considering you are not going to be part of Norway team at the upcoming, uh, Chess Olympiad, this is the time for you to get something back. So, uh, again, you were not there last season and they ended up winning it. So how does it, how does it feel? And yeah, just a bit on the, your, your contribution to the team.
Um, yeah.
As you said, team events have been a little bit of an up and down for me for many years. I think it's been better in recent years. I think the last couple of Olympiads that I played, I've at least performed decently in terms of my own performance, even if the team performance has been a little bit up and down. And in the European Club Cup as well. Like, we, um, we won in '23, which honestly is one of the highlights of my career because it was, um, it was a chess club that I was co-founder of, and, um, we were nowhere near favored to, um, to win that, win that tournament. Um, but yeah, in terms of of this competition specifically. I mean, the history so far is, is, is not with me, and, um, yeah, definitely want to change that.
Oh, my question to you is, you are debuting for the champion side. How do you look at that? Uh, and also that you are having, uh, stalwarts in the game as, uh, Koneru Hampi and Magnus Carlsen in your team.
Okay, I think honestly everybody in my team is stalwart. Not just of course Magnus is a stalwart, but not just him. We have a very strong team this year, and it's my debut in Global Chess League as well as the team. So thankfully the pressure has not hit me because it's my first time. But I think it'll be fine. We have a very, very strong team and all of us have a huge willingness to retain our title. And yeah, we'll do our best and it'll be fine.
Uh, last question. My question is to Javakir. Later this year you have a classical World Chess Championship match and that is a completely Different time format in this Global Chess League. So how do you manage your preparation in the tournament, and do you feel any challenge while preparing this tournament for the and the classical World Chess Championship?
Like I don't know how to answer. Right now I'm focusing to play my next tournaments. I have important tournament Global Chess and Olympiad. So I'm focusing on my next 2 tournaments, and after that I will start to preparing for my World Championship match. Of course, this is completely different tournament, different format, but I'm trying to play every tournament my best chess. So, like, you know, how to say, uh, My team works. I'm focusing on this tournament.
Thank you.
There's a request for one last question. Can we please have that?
My question for Vishy sir: With the young stars such as Yagis and Abhimanyu around you, do you see your role as equally a player and a mentor?
No, I'm only a player here.
Thank you so much. Thank you, everyone.
Applause, please.
A huge round of applause, please.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Magnus.
What are you most looking forward to this GCN?
I want to do what I've been doing in the EWC last two years, which is flag the shit out of other.
