Chess has just raised its game. The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (GCL), in partnership with FIDE and Chess.com, has announced the launch of GCL Contenders 2025, a first-of-its-kind global tournament that gives amateurs and professionals the chance to compete for a spot alongside the world’s top Grandmasters.

The format is as ambitious as it is inclusive. Across two months of online battles and knockout rounds, players from six regions, India, USA, UK, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia, will fight for a once-in-a-lifetime prize: Becoming GCL Season 3 ambassadors and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the stars of the franchise-based league when it kicks off on December 13.

“This is more than a tournament,” said Peeyush Dubey, Chairperson of the Global Chess League. “It’s a landmark step for the global chess community, giving aspiring players a direct pathway to share the stage with the world’s greatest Grandmasters.”

The tournament will be open in three categories – Male, Female, and U21 (Prodigy). After surviving 18 rapid-fire arenas on Chess.com, the best performers will progress to live-streamed knockouts on YouTube and Twitch, facing off against rising stars and titled players. The final three winners will each claim their place as ambassadors for Season 3.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich called it “an innovative concept that brings professionals and non-professionals together in true competition.”

The six GCL franchises, Alpine SG Pipers, American Gambits, Ganges Grandmasters, PBG Alaskan Knights, Triveni Continental Kings, and upGrad Mumba Masters, are expected to use the Contenders as a scouting ground, adding new spice to the high-stakes franchise battles.

Already being hailed as the “T20 of chess,” the GCL has attracted massive viewership in its first two seasons, and organisers say the Contenders format will only grow the game’s global fan base.

Danny Rensch, Chess.com’s Chief Chess Officer, summed it up: “The first two seasons showed us the mass appeal of team-based chess. With Contenders, we’re building a deeper ecosystem, and there’s no better country than India, which lives and breathes chess, to host Season 3.”

Registrations are now open on the official GCL website. For thousands of dreamers, the countdown to the big stage has already begun.