Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Mahindra Blunders
Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (GCL) is the world’s first and largest chess league.
Tech Mahindra, an Indian multinational information technology services company is the main sponsor behind the league. Together with FIDE, they started the GCL as an initiative to promote chess further, with innovative formats and technologies.
The first season of the GCL started in 2023 with six teams. In 2024, the second season took place in London from 3 to 11 October. It repeated the same format.
Unlike leagues in other sports, GCL bridges generational and gender gaps. Every team has six players with at least two women and at least one junior. The six teams play a first double round-robin phase where in every match all players in the same team play with the same color. It means that each team will play all other teams twice, once with each color. The time control is 20 minutes for the whole game without increment. The two teams with the most match points after the round-robin phase qualify for a final, to be played over two matches. In case of a tie, there are blitz playoffs.
The system for assignment points is special. A win with black pieces is worth 4 game points, but a win with white pieces is worth 3 game points. A draw is worth 1 game point, and 0 points for a loss. A team victory is worth 3 match points, 1 match point for a tie and 0 match points for a loss.
The unusual time control of 20 minutes without increment makes that players run frequently in time trouble, which is a source of many blunders and mistakes. That was the case in round 6 where both Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja made incredible blunders.
In Carlsen’s case, for example, in his game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Magnus had a horrible oversight on move 31, dropped material and was completely lost.
In Alireza’s case, in his game against Hikaru Nakamura, Firouzja had an unexpected lapse. He tried in vain to win a pawn-up rook endgame without any success, when carelessly offered a rook trade. Unfortunately for him, the trade led to a lost pawn endgame.
The 2024 GCL features a $1,000,000 prize fund with $500,000 for the winning team. Prizes are divided among the six players and the coach of the team.
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