When Magnus Carlsen claimed India is on track to become a leading chess nation

Fivetime world champion Magnus Carlsen feels that India is on its way to become a leading chess nation saying the country is doing a lot of right thingsCarlsen who is the current world rapid chess champion is widely regarded as the best player of the current generationThe Indian chess players have performed extremely well in the global circuit in recent years and the country also successfully hosted the Chess Olympiad last yearI think India is doing a lot of right things so far and it is a matter of time before it is clearly the leading chess nation in the world Carlsen was quoted as saying in a press releaseThe Norwegian Grandmaster is one of the icon players for the inaugural Global Chess League GCL which is the worlds first and largest official franchise league of its kind with chess players from all over the world competing in a unique joint team formatIt is an exciting prospect for me to be a part of This will be something new something that has not been done this way in overtheboard chess I am looking forward to exploring this format for futurerdquo Carlsen saidOther icon players include reigning world champion Ding Liren fivetime world champion Viswanathan Anand and fourtime womens world champion Hou YifanAlso Read Chess icons Viswanathan Anand Magnus Carlsen Ding Liren Hou Yifan to feature in Global Chess LeagueGCL which is a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and the International Chess Federation FIDE will be held from June 21 to July 2 in Dubai It will witness six teams competing in a minimum of 10 matches each in a double roundrobin rapid format with the winner of each match being decided in a bestofsix board scoring system played simultaneously The top two teams will qualify for the final and the winner will be crowned the world championCarlsen who is known for his experimental views on chess said he prefers playing in team events The 32yearold from Norway is also looking forward to rubbing shoulders with the young Indian playersPersonally I very much enjoy team events and the team spirit within the group So it is something I always look forward tordquo the chess icon saidI am looking forward to meeting the other players in the team I look forward to competing with and against the exciting young generation of Indian playersrdquo he addedGCL will feature male and female chess champions competing in the same team Playing on the popular rapid format the leagues joint malefemale teams will have the rare distinction of being a unique multiplayer team in the world of professional sportsOne of the really good things about this tournament is men and women can compete against each other at the same stage Carlsen addedWith PTI inputs