Magnus Carlsen to Face Javokhir Sindarov in Tech Mahindra Global Chess League

Magnus Carlsen, the world No 1, will be paired at least twice in the next few days with the world championship challenger, Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov, in the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, the six-team franchise competition based on cricket’s Indian Premier League.

In 2024 the Global League was staged in London, but this year it is back in India at Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), India’s technology capital, from 5-13 September, finishing two days before the 400-team chess Olympiad opens in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Carlsen will play on the top or icon board for the defending champions, Alpine APL Pipers, as will Sindarov for Fyers American Gambits. Other icons are Alireza Firouzja (Triveni Continental Kings), Ian Nepomniachtchi (Ganges Grandmasters), former world champion Viswanathan Anand (PBG Alaskan Knights) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (CheQ Mumba Masters). The supporting male players include Turkey’s fast rising record breaker Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 15, while the women stars are led by the Candidates runner-up, Bibisara Assaubayeva.

Carlsen and Sindarov will play two games, one with each colour, in the preliminary all-play-all, with a third and perhaps a fourth to follow if both their teams reach the semi-finals, third-place match, or final stages. The time limit will be 20 minutes for the entire game, plus a two seconds per move increment from move 41.

The pair have played many times previously, but mostly in the format of Freestyle Chess, where the back rank pieces are randomised. This occasion will be their most important clash yet, because it will include a symbolic match context where one of them can score more points. Hence it may come to be regarded as a pale substitute for a world championship match that will probably never happen.

The GCL is trying to turn chess into a major team sport where elite men and women compete alongside the best junior talents rather than in separate categories. The league has gained increased media and public recognition in its successive seasons, and is building a larger audience. In Bengaluru, it is testing app-based probability forecasts and other innovations.

Although India is central to its story, the GCL wants to become a serious player in global team chess, providing a platform for up-and-coming talents to mix with and compete with the legends of the world game. Carlsen v Sindarov is a powerful symbol of that ambition.

The European Senior Team Championships for over-50s and over-65s have their final rounds in Hersonissos, Crete, on Friday, with England poised for at least silver medals in both categories and already assured of gold in the women’s competition.

After eight of the nine rounds in the 65+, England and Slovenia both have 14 match points, with England fractionally ahead on tie-breaks. Italy are third on 13. England 50+ lead with 15 match points, followed by Italy 14 and Netherlands 11.

England have dominated these events for several years now, as the generation which produced the English Chess Explosion of the 1970s and 1980s has reached a mature age.

The team organiser, IM Nigel Povah, has performed excellent and dedicated work. However, this year’s results also provide a sobering caveat. The USSR team of the 1980s, which then consistently won gold to England’s silver, has rarely been represented in the European Seniors, but made a cameo appearance this year with the two top boards for Slovenia, GM Alexander Beliavsky and GM Adrian Mikhalchishin, both ex-Soviets, with the aid of their lesser known third and fourth boards, defeated England 65+, led by GMs John Nunn and Tony Kosten, by 3-1.

The final round of the European 65+ and 50+ championships (1.15pm BST start) can be watched on lichess.