Magnus Carlsen Headlines Global Chess League Season 4 in Bengaluru
· Sports · Sportstar, Times of India
Bengaluru hosts Season 4 of the Global Chess League starting Saturday at the Lalit Ashok, a joint venture of Tech Mahindra and FIDE and the second time the tournament is being held in India after Mumbai last year. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen returns after skipping Season 3, with his defending champion team Alpine Pipers retaining only Anish Giri and adding Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh, the reigning World Cup champion making her GCL debut. Other top draws include Viswanathan Anand (PBG Alaskan Knights), Alireza Firouzja (Triveni Continental Kings), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (CheQ Mumba Masters) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (Ganges Grandmasters). Fabiano Caruana, Hou Yifan and R. Praggnanandhaa are absent this season. The league is distinguished by innovations such as no increment for the first 40 moves, four points for a win with black, and mixed men-and-women teams.
Why it matters
The Bengaluru edition puts Indian chess fans in direct contact with the world's top-ranked players and gives Indian stars like Humpy, Deshmukh and Anand a high-profile stage ahead of the Olympiad, while reinforcing India's position as a hub for elite chess events.
Read the original report — Sportstar
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