India, Dec. 25 -- Perched on the balcony of the iconic Royal Opera House here, Hou Yifan stood alongside her teammates after they checked out of the Global Chess League as champions.

They exchanged laughs, waved at the crowd below and, after taking several shots at it, uncorked a few champagne bottles. The buzz, for those fleeting moments, wasn't awash with chess.

It was something Hou wasn't too used to in the company of her five Alpine SG Pipers teammates - three among them Candidates material (R Praggnanandhaa, Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri) - during the 10-day event.

"My teammates here, I see them discussing chess before the games, after the games, everywhere," said Hou, laughing.

Is it too much chess?

"Well, to me, yes," she sai...