The Global Chess League (GCL) is underway in Mumbai and two rounds have been completed. The IPL-style event featuring six teams and 36 players is played in the rapid format. This is a good warm-up opportunity for those from this bunch taking part in the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Doha from December 25.
It’s been an underwhelming start by the Indians. There are nine of them in action at Royal Opera House. They have completed two games each. Dronavalli Harika posted a win in the first round. Raunak Sadhwani defeated compatriot Leon Luke Mendonca in the second. The rest of the Indians either suffered defeats or settled for draws.
Big names among casualties
The list includes the biggest names of Indian chess, some of whom are showstoppers at the world level. Representing Ganges Grandmasters, Viswanathan Anand has lost both his games. D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Koneru Humpy have drawn and lost one apiece. Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi have managed two draws each.
When it comes to the men, this is not a massive surprise. Newsmakers in the classical format, their world rankings dip when it comes to the faster time controls of rapid and blitz. India has three in the top 10 in classical, but the figure is zero in the two formats of speed chess.
Anand is the best-ranked Indian in rapid at 12th. But playing as a ‘marquee player’ in GCL, the former world champion in this format lost to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana. The reigning world champion in classical didn’t do much better. Representing PBG Alaskan Knights, Gukesh began with a draw against Hikaru Nakamura and then lost to Alireza Firouzja.
Pragg, playing for Alpine SG Pipers, drew with Vidit in the first round before losing to recently crowned World Cup champion Javokhir Sindarov. Erigaisi of PBG Alaskan Knights drew with Wei Yi in the second round. He had lost to the Chinese in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. It was in the tie-breaker played in the rapid format. Pragg has a rating advantage over Vidit. In all the other games, the Indians were pitted against opponents rated higher than them in rapid.
Weakness in speed chess persists
After Anand and Humpy – the reigning and two-time women’s world rapid champion – Indians have seldom made a mark in speed chess. Anand is 56 and Humpy 38. R Vaishali’s bronze in last year’s World Blitz Championship is the only notable performance in the shorter formats from the new generation. The wave that the youngsters have made in world chess in the last few years is restricted to classical only.
This had been reflected in the GCL standings in the two previous editions. Last year, there were no Indians in the Triveni Kings team which won the title. Nihal Sarin was the only one on the roster of the second-placed PBG Alaskan Knights. In 2023, there were three from the country in the team of champions upGrad Mumba Masters, but none in Triveni, which finished runners-up.
It’s also true that the Player of the Tournament in the men’s section in both previous editions were Indians. In 2023, it was Pragg, and last year it was Sarin, who was playing on the board reserved for junior players. These were significant feats. But by and large, Indians underachieved as a group in those two years. The start in 2025 doesn’t indicate a major shift. They have eight more rounds to change the narrative.
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