The packed venue at Friends House in London erupted in applause as players entered the playing hall, dressed in team jerseys in an atmosphere more akin to a football match than a chess tournament.

The opening match of the season was played between the American Gambits and the season one runner-up – upGrad Mumba Masters.
According to league regulations, each match starts with a coin toss to decide colours. For this round, the American Gambits played with the white pieces. As this is a round-robin tournament, they will switch to black when they meet the Mumba Masters again.

American Gambits secured a commanding 11:6 victory over the upGrad Mumba Masters, earning three match points.

On the Icon board, reserved for the league’s strongest players, world number two Hikaru Nakamura, playing as White, fought to a hard-earned draw against France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Nakamura described his performance as “shaky” but remained optimistic about his team’s chances: “I think as the event goes on, we’ll build more chemistry. Everyone’s in a pretty good mood, and today we played really well… My game was maybe a little shaky at times, but everybody seemed to play well, so I’m actually pretty optimistic. As the event goes on, we’ll continue to get better.”

While Nakamura settled for a draw, his teammate, 26-year-old Polish grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda, delivered a decisive win. Duda defeated Vidit Santhosh Gujrathi with a brilliant checkmate combination, earning him the title of Player of the Match.

Elsewhere, Yu Yangyi played to a draw against Peter Svidler in a balanced encounter between seasoned grandmasters. However, it was on the lower boards that the American Gambits secured their victory. Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva upset one of India’s top female players, Humpy Koneru, while Harika Dronavalli provided a win for the Mumba Masters by defeating German GM Elisabeth Paehtz. Jonas Buhl Bjerre capped off the Gambits’ commanding win by defeating Mumba’s Raunak Sadhwani.

The second match of the day saw the Ganges Grandmasters, playing with White, face the Alpine SG Pipers. Despite the color disadvantage, the SG Pipers triumphed with an 11:6 victory, thanks to wins by Richard Rapport and Hou Yifan.

The top duel of the day featured a showdown between two titans of chess – both five-time World Champions – Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. The game ended in a draw, with Carlsen managing to steady the ship after a tough middle game.

Richard Rapport’s victory came after a tense battle with Iranian grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo, where he turned the tables despite White’s early initiative. For his performance, Rapport was named Player of the Match. Meanwhile, Ganges’ Vaishali Rameshbabu put up a fierce fight against former women’s World Champion Hou Yifan, but still lost.

International Master Nurgyul Salimova saved face for the Ganges Grandmasters by defeating the experienced blitz and rapid player Kateryna Lagno. On the junior board, the match between Volodar Murzin and Daniel Dardha ended in a draw.

With such a strong start, the American Gambits and Alpine SG Pipers have established themselves as one of the top teams to watch in this year’s Global Chess League.

UAE citizens with a US visa will soon get expedited entry into the United States.

This came as the UAE and US signed an agreement to include the country in the ‘Global Entry Programme’, easing cross border travel for Emiratis. The programme will be implemented from October 2024.

Global Entry is an initiative that expedites entry procedures into US ports of entry. The programme will expedite the arrival process for travellers into the US while enhancing security.

As a pre-screened Global Entry participant, travellers can immediately check in at a Global Entry kiosk at a US Customs and Border Protection Preclearance facility or when they arrive at another US port of entry, avoiding long lines and additional paperwork.

Global Entry participants must still have a valid US visa to enter the country.

As part of launching this cooperative process, the UAE and US government authorities will begin to develop and finalise criteria that will lead to the UAE’s full participation in the Global Entry programme.

Both governments signed an agreement between the UAE Ministry of Interior and the US Department of Homeland Security. The signing took place on the sidelines of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed’s official visit to the US.

“This arrangement represents another step forward in our shared efforts to strengthen bilateral security and facilitate commerce and travel,” said UAE Ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba.

“Once the UAE and US finalise consultations, Emirati citizens who apply and are approved for the Global Entry program will be able to enter the US using the Global Entry system at 75 airports in the US and other countries,” he added.

The UAE passport has moved into the top 10 of the Henley Passport Index for the first time. The country is ranked ninth with visa-free access to 185 countries, marking an increase of 152 countries since the index began in 2006.

“[This] is the result of deliberate and concerted efforts by the Emirati government to position the UAE as a global hub for business, tourism, and investment,” says Juerg Steffen, chief executive of Henley & Partners, the London global citizenship and residence advisory firm, which compiles the index. “Our research has consistently shown a strong correlation between a country’s visa-free score and its economic prosperity. Nations with higher visa-free scores tend to enjoy greater GDP per capita, increased foreign direct investment and more robust international trade relationships.”

Meanwhile, Singapore reclaimed the top spot with access to 195 destinations, the only country to do so. It is followed by France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain, which all tie for second with 192 countries. Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea and Sweden are in third with 191 destinations.

The UK hangs onto fourth place, along with Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland with access to 190 countries. Australia and Portugal round out the fifth spot with 189 destinations.

Meanwhile, the US continues its descent, dropping to eighth with 186 destinations. The UK and US jointly held the top spot on the index a decade ago in 2014. Afghanistan remains at the bottom with access to only 26 countries – the lowest score recorded in the history of the Index.

“The general trend over the past two decades has been towards greater travel freedom, with the global average number of destinations travellers are able to access visa-free nearly doubling from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024,” says Christian H Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners. “However, the global mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is now wider than it has ever been, with top-ranked Singapore able to access a record-breaking 169 more destinations visa-free than Afghanistan.”

The Most Powerful Passports For 2024

1-Singapore (195 destinations)

2-France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain (192)

3-Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden (191)

4-Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom (190)

5-Australia, Portugal (189)

6-Greece, Poland (188)

7-Canada, Czechia, Hungary, Malta (187)

8-United States (186)

9-Estonia, Lithuania, United Arab Emirates (185)

10-Iceland, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia (184)

For the past 19 years, the Henley Passport Index has been tracking global freedoms in 227 countries and territories around the world, using data from the International Air Transport Association (known as Iata).

Alongside the passport data, the company released the results of several other studies, such as the world’s ‘most open’ countries and rise of global millionaires.

The World’s ‘Most Open’ Countries

Additionally, the Henley Openness Index ranks 199 countries according to the number of nationalities they allow entry to without a prior visa. The top 20 “most open” countries are all small island nations or African states, except for Cambodia. There are 13 completely open countries in the world that offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to all 198 passports in the world (not counting their own): Burundi, Cape Verde Islands, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Maldives, Micronesia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Tuvalu.

At the bottom of the index, three countries score zero, permitting no visa-free access for any passport: Afghanistan, North Korea and Turkmenistan.

Sharjah and Dubai’s Rise of The Millionaire

The company also released several other studies, including the 20 fastest-growing cities in the world for millionaires. Sharjah recorded a growth rate of 95 per cent, coming ninth on the list, while Dubai is 18th. They are the only cities in the Middle East to make it. The study says Sharjah has 4,100 millionaires and 11 people with a net worth of more than $100 million. While Dubai has 72,500 millionaires, 212 people with more than $100 million and 15 billionaires.

The research by global data intelligence firm New World Wealth ranks Shenzhen and Hangzhou in China first and second, with growth rates of 140 per cent and 125 per cent, respectively.

Bengaluru, which recorded a 110 per cent growth in millionaires between 2013 and 2023, is third; Austin and Guangzhou are joint fourth with a 110 per cent increase.

According to the data, the region with the most billionaires is, unsurprisingly, the Bay Area with 68, which is home to the US’s tech epicentre Silicon Valley.