Who's the strongest team at the Global Chess League 2024 | Draft in Delhi
The Global Chess League features some of the best players in the world (Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Nepo and many more). These top players are divided into 6 teams and in order to distribute the remaining players the draft was held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi on 11th of August 2024. In this article we take you through the teams and tell you all that you need to know about the strengths and weaknesses of each of the teams at the Global Chess League!
The Global Chess League 2024 draft
It all began with a tweet. In 2020, during the Online Chess Olympiad we had Samay Raina who was streaming the finals between India and Russia on his Channel. It was a highly exciting match-up with close to 65,000 people concurrently watching it LIVE. One of them was Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of the Mahindra Group. He enjoyed the entire atmosphere of the event and made a tweet. When someone asked him if he would invest in creating a chess league, he responded with, "Happy to talk".
This was the beginning of an amazing initiative in the world of chess that culminated into the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 3 years later. The first edition of this Franchise based team format took place in the year 2023 in Dubai. And it was a mind blowing event. Right from the amazing playing hall, to the finals going right down to the wire between Mumba Masters and Triveni Continental Kings, the final moment where the entire team in the pink erupted with joy, the epic clash between Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen that had everyone on the edge of their seats - this event had absolutely everything.
And now in 2024, the second edition of the Global Chess League is back! Bigger and better. This time it is taking place in London in the month of October. Just like last year there will be 6 teams and each team would have 6 players. The top board has the icon player and the second and third board are for the male superstars, while the fourth and fifth board are for the women superstars. The final and the sixth board goes to a junior player. How are the teams determined? Well, there is an auction, which GCL likes to call the draft, that takes place before the event to determine who the players will be in each team. This year it took place on the 11th of August 2024 at the Hotel Taj Mahal in Delhi and ChessBase India travelled there to cover the event. The rules were - Each team would get 1000 points to get 5 players in their team. The top icon board was one that was already decided before the draft. If a team decided to retain any players from last year, they were allowed to do so, but would have spend 200 points from their kitty for each player retained. The bidding for each player started from 50 points and could go all the way up to 1000. All the team owners gathered together and 3 hours later, the 6 teams were drafted.
Let's see how each of the teams look like:
Alpine SG Pipers
This team was one of the most popular ones in the first edition because they not only had Magnus Carlsen, but also Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh. This year they decided to retain Magnus Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa. This already makes the team extremely strong on the first two boards and on the third board they managed to get Richard Rapport. Recently Rapport beat Carlsen in just 23 moves at the World Rapid Team Championships 2023 and is in excellent form. The team went all out on the women's board and spent most of their points to ensure that they had the world no.1 in the women's section Hou Yifan! On the fifth board multiple times world rapid and blitz champion Kateryna Lagno was selected and on the 6th board we have the talented junior from Belgium Daniel Dardha. One of the strategies of the coach of the team in the draft GM Pravin Thipsay was to make the team that the highest in terms of Elo and this is what they did manage to achieve.
Mumba Masters
The Mumba Masters came with an absolutely different approach from all other teams. They decided to retain 5 of their 6 players - MVL, Grischuk, Vidit Gujrathi. Koneru Humpy and D. Harika. The only change in their squad was Raunak Sadhwani coming in, in place of Javokhir Sindarov. The Mumba Masters was known for their team spirit last year. It was a team that would be regularly seen taking their dinners together and the owner of the team (Suhail Chandok) was very keen to build the team camaraderie. Retaining 5 out of 6 players fits in perfectly with this strategy.
American Gambits
One of the most exciting teams this year is the American Gambits. That's because they have Hikaru Nakamura on the icon board and R. Ashwin as one of their team owners. This is the new team of the year replacing Chingari Gulf Titans. Apart from Hikaru Nakamura, they managed to get Vladislav Artemiev and Jan Krzysztof Duda. Both of them being excellent rapid and blitz players. They also have the two time World Blitz Champion Bibisara Assaubayeva and the German grandmaster Elisabeth Paehtz. On the junior board is the youngster who made the winning move last year for Triveni Continental Kings - Jonas Buhl Bjerre. All the teams wanted Hikaru Nakamura in their fold. However, it was the American Gambits who paid the highest amount and managed to get Hikaru in their team.
Triveni Continental Kings
The defending champions of the Global Chess League are the Triveni Continental Kings. While last year they built their team around Chinese players, this year's strategy led by coach GM Loek van Wely was around the Russian players. They are sure to miss their icon player Levon Aronian this year, as he couldn't participate due to the US Championships. Instead, Ian Nepomniachtchi is part of their team this year. Retained from last year's squad is Wei Yi. The super strong Chinese GM is surely going to be an amazing addition to the team. Teimour Radjabov is their third player. The Azeri GM hasn't been playing much recently but has also shown his class in the past. We will wait and see how Raja, as he called by his fans, fares. The women players Alexandra Kosteniuk and Valentina Gunina are extremely strong, while Sindarov is one of the strongest junior players in the world.
PBG Alaskan Knights
The PBG Alaskan Knights started the auction by retaining two players - one in the open and one in the women - Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Tan Zhongyi. Both of them have been performing extremely well and their presence gave the owners a great starting point. Tan Zhongyi was also the best female player in the first edition. They managed to get the strongest junior in the draft - Nihal Sarin as they had the maximum number of points left when the junior section came about. Nihal is a beast in shorter formats and the team can count on him providing excellent play on the junior board. Their icon player is the debutant in the league Anish Giri. Anish and Abdusattorov will be joined by Mamedyarov in the men's section. And in the women Tan Zhongyi and Alina Kashlinskaya will take fort. The team looks quite balanced and that was the sentiment echoed by the team coach Abhijit Kunte.
Ganges Grandmasters
This was the only team who had come to the auction without a coach. The Ganges Grandmaster was one of the frontrunners in the previous edition's leaderboard for the longest duration. Led by Vishy Anand on the icon board, this year, they seem to have got an extremely young and ambitious team with them. There's Arjun Erigaisi who is one of the finest speed players in the world. Parham Maghsoodloo will fight it out on board no.3. R. Vaishali and Nurgyul Salimova play on the women's board and they were the youngest participants in the FIDE Candidates 2024. The junior board will be played by one of the finest talents from Russia GM Volodar Murzin. With Anand's experience and the energy of the youngsters, this seems to be one of the most balanced teams out there.
The beauty of the league lies in the pool of the players and the rules of the draft. The CEO of the Global Chess League Sameer Pathak mentioned that it took him close to a year to determine the rules of the draft. And it seems to be working very well. Going into the second edition of the Global Chess League, all the teams are quite evenly matched. If I had to choose a team that looks extremely strong, at least on paper, I would go for Alpine SG Pipers. But then when was the team that had Magnus Carlsen and Hou Yifan not a favourite. Everyone team has their pros and cons and its the form during the event that will determine who will take home this year's trophy. I am very excited and I hope you too are! See you all in London from the 3rd to the 12th of October 2024.
