Sports
Top chess players to kick off global league in Dubai?
After couple of red herrings in announcements, the final touches to the proposed Global Chess League are being applied, and the latest buzzword is that Dubai will likely host the inaugural season.
Touted as the world’s largest and first-ever league-styled chess tournament, the dates, format and now the logo has been confirmed for the next biggest thing in the sport.
Set to be held from June 21 to July 2, the GCL had its logo unveiled symbolically 64 days before the event makes the first official move at a yet undisclosed location. Briefly the organisers, with Indian maestro Vishwanathan Anand as mentor, tinkered with the concept of a phygital format due to Covid.
But Headline understands the event will now begin at the world hub of the UAE. Dubai can facilitate a central location for the six teams with six players each, including a minimum of two female players and one icon player per team.
A representative picture of the Indian chess team which participated in the 2022 Olympiad
The GCL is a joint venture by FIDE and Tech Mahindra. The logo, depicting the 64 squares from the chess-board, was launched on Wednesday, to set off a 64-day countdown.
The logo for GCL
Anand, a five-time world chess champion, said, “As we inch closer to the start of the tournament, we are seeing all our plans come to fruition. The GCL logo is a reflection of the vision that we have for the tournament. We hope the fans will like the concept and theme we created here. The primary objective of GCL is to promote the sport of chess globally and make it visually attractive for the masses.”
Each team will compete in 10 matches in the rapid format across all six boards in the tournament.
Sutovsky Emil, CEO, FIDE, said, “GCL aims to change how chess is played, viewed and visualised globally. We are only a few weeks away from the inaugural season, and we are happy to launch the official logo of the league. FIDE looks forward to an exciting debut of the GCL in June 2023.”
A scene from the Queen’s Gambit film to depict the mixing of gender in chess.
The top two teams after the round-robin format will progress to the final. The winning team will bag the World Champion Franchise Team crown.
Jagdish Mitra, GCL board chairman, said, “We believe, GCL represents a new beginning in chess, and the carefully designed brand identity, representing chess in its majestic glory, is the first step in that direction.”
The league will also set the standards for technological innovations in chess as FIDE and Tech Mahindra are exploring innovative ways to promote the game through interactive technology-enabled platforms by leveraging next-generation technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, among others.
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