Mumbai, Dec. 18 -- In a post-match evening inside the dinner hall of a five-star hotel in the city where teams competing in the Global Chess League (GCL) are put up, two large tables were connected together. A team dinner was on the anvil for the upGrad Mumba Masters, which features two foreign stars in Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley So, two leading Indian female players in Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli, and P Harikrishna as the non-playing captain, among others. On the table was Indian food and, safe to assume, plenty of chess talk. This was a setting so peculiar for a sport so individual. Apart from the Olympiad, a team environment in top level chess is rare. It is what makes a franchise league like the GCL, held in India for the first time in its third season, a different experience for almost all participants. And, for the young and aspiring Indian players, an opportunity to rub shoulders with and pick the brains of some of the best in the business. The six-team league with six players each comprises an icon and a prodigy. At the Alpine SG Pipers, Leon Luke Mendonca, the 19-year-old GM from Goa, has for company three 2026 Candidates entrants - R Praggnanandhaa, Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri. At the Ganges Grandmasters, Nagpur GM Raunak Sadhwani, 19, can call world No.4 Vincent Keymer and legend Viswanathan Anand his teammates. Teams also have reserve players, and for the Grandmasters they are two 19-year-olds in Pranav V, the reigning world junior champion, and Pranav Anand. "They are here, experiencing the event, enjoying it. How could that hurt?" Anand, the icon player for Grandmasters, said. "In fact, you can get a lot of very good ideas. Because guys are constantly analysing this or that. And you can be the fly on the wall." Franchise leagues in sports like cricket and hockey can help unearth or fast-track young talent in the country. That doesn't quite apply to chess. With GCL, once it becomes "profitable" and "self-sustaining", according to Anand, it can be an "asset" that everyone benefits from through multiple streams - from job opportunities to financial opportunities for players. An apparent benefit in the present, though, is young Indian players being in the company of proven champions. Like Pragg was at the inaugural GCL edition in 2023, where D Gukesh, him and Arjun Erigaisi were in the same team as Magnus Carlsen. A bit before they rose to the stature of a world champion, two-time Candidates contender and India's top-rated player, the three Indian teens were busy simply observing the Norwegian genius in Dubai. In an interview with ChessBase India after the 2023 GCL, Pragg spoke about going on meals together with Carlsen, where they would put on some random live online game and show it to him just "to talk some chess with Magnus" and see how he thinks. One such lunch, recalled Pragg in the interview, went on for about three hours. Pragg also played multiple training games with Carlsen during the league. The 2025 edition carries a similar opportunity for the likes of Mendonca and Sadhwani, both currently rated in the 2600s and seeking to jump into the 2700 elite. Mendonca has a rich spread of three Candidates competitors in his team (including Pragg), and he is only too happy to soak in things. Fly on the wall, as Anand put it. "Sometimes during meals or our bus journeys (from the hotel to the venue and back), we talk a lot. Just listening to what they have to say. many times we discuss certain games and positions, and just listening to their take on it helps quite a lot. You get to analyse with them, and learn to see how they think," Mendonca said. "In general, every player has something unique, even a unique style, which they have to offer. So, just listening and discussing with them can improve your abilities too." Sadhwani brought up a dinner conversation at the 2023 GCL. Going through a "really bad tournament", he was advised to work on his tournament scheduling and plan accordingly. "I followed that after the league and it helped me. So that kind of advice is useful sometimes," said Sadhwani. "Chess-wise, I've played these players several times. So it helps me prepare against them, and learn about new ideas when I am preparing. There are many insights which can be useful, during the game and even after it." It's not just the younger players that can get something out of this concoction of team environment in a chess league. Humpy, for instance, spoke highly of playing alongside French GM and former blitz champion Vachier-Lagrave in the first two GCL seasons for the Mumbai-based franchise. "I felt great admiration for him. The way he handles things, the way he is so sporting, and also motivates and cheers for others to perform. That way, you also get to know someone properly," Humpy said. "Even though we see the same players in other tournaments, here we get a chance to watch closely and interact with them, and maybe analyse things like missed opportunities, etc. That is when you'll know how to handle different situations and keep things under control."...