Thipsay guided SG Pipers to glory within the third season of the GCL.
| Picture Credit score: GCL
Pravin Thipsay turned a Grandmaster (GM) at a time when getting the title was a distant dream for even probably the most proficient of Indian chess gamers. He turned India’s third GM in 1997, after Viswanathan Anand and Dibyendu Barua.
He doesn’t take into account it the best second of his life, although. That got here in Mumbai, his hometown, a number of days in the past: he coached Alpine SG Pipers to victory within the third season of the International Chess League (GCL).
“The GCL title means to me greater than the GM title as a result of that was a person achievement and this was a crew occasion, wherein the world’s high gamers competed,” Thipsay informed The Hindu. “It was nice working with gamers of our crew, like Fabiano Caruana, Hou Yifan, Anish Giri and R. Praggnanandhaa.”
He’s additionally glad that he picked Nino Batsiashvili because the crew’s second feminine participant. “I picked her as a result of she is a crew participant, because the Georgians at all times are,” he mentioned. “And she or he was a heavy scorer for us. I’m additionally completely satisfied that I received Leon Mendonca for our Prodigy board.”
Thipsay was glad that the GCL lastly got here to India after the primary two seasons have been held in Dubai and London, respectively. “It was good to see so many individuals wished our crew to win,” he mentioned. “And I used to be completely satisfied to see good crowds coming to observe the matches, particularly for the weekends. Our international gamers like Fabiano and Hou have been pleasantly shocked by the type of response from the chess followers right here. And I observed the followers weren’t disturbing the gamers earlier than the sport, which I believe was good.”
His crew had three males who could be taking part in on the Candidates match — Caruana, Praggnanandhaa and Giri. “Caruana and Praggnanandhaa ought to be among the many favourites,” he mentioned. “And I Anish too ought to do effectively; his preparations, a few of which we noticed on the GCL, appear to be wonderful”.
Printed – January 01, 2026 08:09 pm IST
