Global Chess League 2026

After 30 of the 30 round-robin matches, Ganges Grandmasters lead the points table with 18 match points and 95 game points from 10 matches. Alpine APL Pipers are second with 18 match points and 88 game points from 10 matches, and FYERS American Gambits third with 15 match points and 86 game points from 10 matches. The table is ordered on match points, then game points, and the top two play the final.

All 30 round-robin matches are finished. The 2026 final is in progress. Scores so far: Finals | Game 1: Alpine APL Pipers 8, Ganges Grandmasters 7; Finals | Game 2: Alpine APL Pipers 4, Ganges Grandmasters 12. Every match streams free on the Global Chess League YouTube channel; the streams, the commentators and the tickets are listed below.

Schedule: remaining match days, IST

• —Sunday 13 September: Third-place match at 3:30 PM IST, then the final at 6:30 PM IST. The top two of the round-robin table play the final; third and fourth play for third place.

Days one to six have four matches each and days seven and eight three, so every team plays ten. Start times and scores for all 30 matches are on the schedule page, and a written report of each day is on the reports page.

Venue

Every match is played at The Lalit Ashok in Bengaluru. It is the league's first season in the city, after Dubai in 2023, London in 2024 and Mumbai in 2025, and the Chesstival fan zone runs alongside the matches at the hotel. Tickets are sold per match day on BookMyShow, from Rs 349 for one match. Prices, match days and what each ticket includes are on the tickets page.

Prize money

The prize fund is $1,000,000. $500,000 is paid on the final standings, $450,000 is shared between the six teams in proportion to the game points each scores across the league, win or lose, and the champions take an extra $50,000. Every board result pays, so a team keeps playing for game points in a match it has already lost. The payout rules sit with the scoring on the format page.

Format and scoring

Six teams play a double round robin of 30 matches from 5 to 12 September, ten per team. A match is six rapid games played at once: one Icon, two Superstar men, two Superstar women and one Prodigy on each side, all with the same colour, which a coin toss decides. Each player has 20 minutes, with a 2-second increment from move 41. A win with Black scores 4 game points, a win with White 3 and a draw 1 to each player; the team with more game points takes 3 match points, and a tied match gives 1 each. The top two of the table play a two-match final on Sunday 13 September, and the third and fourth teams play for third place the same day. Scoring examples and the time control are on the format page.

Where to watch

Every match streams free on the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League YouTube channel, on the Chess24 YouTube and Twitch channels and on Chess.com India. Tania Sachdev, Sagar Shah, Sahaj Grover, Harshit Raja and Irina Krush are the commentators, and Hindi commentary is available for the first time this season. The first match of the day starts at 3:30 PM IST on days one to six and at 5:00 PM IST on days seven and eight. Results, pairings and squads are on the official site; the streams, the commentary team and the hall are on the watch page.

What is the Global Chess League?

The Global Chess League, widely shortened to GCL, is a franchise team league organised by Tech Mahindra with FIDE. Six teams of six players meet in a double round robin, every team playing every other team twice, and the top two of the table play the final. Season 4 runs from 5 to 13 September 2026 at The Lalit Ashok in Bengaluru: the 30 round-robin matches from 5 to 12 September, the final on 13 September. It is the league's first season in the city, after Dubai in 2023, London in 2024 and Mumbai in 2025.

Each match is six games played at once, one per board, in rapid chess. Men and women play on the same team and their results count the same, and a win with Black is worth more than a win with White. Viswanathan Anand is the league ambassador and plays board one for the PBG Alaskan Knights; Magnus Carlsen is back in the league after a season away. Two days after the final, the 46th Chess Olympiad opens in Samarkand. The tabs above hold the points table, the match-by-match schedule, the format and scoring, and where to watch.

The six teams

Every squad has the same shape: one Icon, two Superstar men, two Superstar women and one Prodigy. Select a team for its full squad, board by board.

Champions, 2025

Alpine APL Pipers

Board one: Magnus Carlsen

Coach: Pravin Thipsay

Champions, 2023 and 2024

Triveni Continental Kings

Board one: Alireza Firouzja

Coach: Loek van Wely

Fourth, 2024

FYERS American Gambits

Board one: Javokhir Sindarov

Coach: Srinath Narayanan

No final yet

Ganges Grandmasters

Board one: Ian Nepomniachtchi

Coach: B. Adhiban

Runners-up, 2024

PBG Alaskan Knights

Board one: Viswanathan Anand

Coach: Swayams Mishra

Runners-up, 2023

CheQ Mumba Masters

Board one: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Coach: P. Harikrishna

Two teams changed name between seasons. The champions played 2025 as the Alpine SG Pipers and are now the Alpine APL Pipers; the Mumba Masters, previously the upGrad Mumba Masters, play Season 4 as the CheQ Mumba Masters. Full squads are on the teams page, and every name in the field, grouped by board, is on the players page. Zapp Chess is an official partner of the FYERS American Gambits for this season. The Gambits' board one, Javokhir Sindarov, plays Gukesh in the World Chess Championship 2026 in Geneva in November.

Past seasons

Triveni Continental Kings won the first two seasons and lost the third final to the Alpine Pipers. This is how each season finished at the top:

More history: Global Chess League overview, winners and past seasons, and the season pages for 2025, 2024 and 2023.

Global Chess League 2026 FAQ