GCL partners with BMC Helix to run AI-driven operations for Season 3
The Global Chess League (GCL), a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and FIDE, has selected BMC Helix AIOps to bring predictive intelligence and automation to its IT operations. The goal is simple: keep matches continuous, streams stable, and experiences consistent for players, organizers, and fans.
Season 3 runs December 13-24, 2025. With bigger audiences and more digital touchpoints, the league is treating operations as a competitive edge-not an afterthought.
Why this matters for operations leaders
- Predict issues before they hit live play: anomaly detection and trend analysis reduce surprise outages during peak traffic and tense moments.
- Cut alert noise: event correlation routes the right incident to the right owner, faster.
- Automate the busywork: scripted remediation and runbooks tackle recurring failure modes without delaying broadcasts.
- Protect SLOs that drive trust: stable streams, low latency, and consistent multilingual feeds keep partners and fans satisfied.
- Plan capacity with confidence: forecast spikes around marquee matchups and fan activations, then scale without overspending.
What GCL is implementing
Through BMC Helix AIOps, GCL is leaning on predictive analytics and automation to keep operations smooth. The focus is uninterrupted gameplay, reliable broadcasts, and clean handoffs across teams during high-pressure windows.
The league will also roll out improved broadcast formats, multilingual commentary, and inclusive engagement zones. Digital activations and worldwide fan challenges are slated to drive traffic and real-time participation throughout Season 3.
Leadership perspective
Peeyush Dubey, Chairperson, Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, said, "Every move in chess is about foresight, precision, and timing, and those same principles guide the operations at GCL. Partnering with BMC Helix allows us to build a digital backbone that mirrors the intelligence of the game itself. Together, we're setting a new standard for how sport and technology can work in perfect synchrony."
Shwetha Sanjeev, Area Vice President - GOSI International, BMC Helix, said, "The Global Chess League reflects a unique blend of strategy and innovation, and our collaboration brings that philosophy to life through technology. With AI-driven insights and predictive service and operations management, we're helping ensure every match runs smoothly, allowing players to focus on their game and fans to enjoy a truly connected experience."
Operational checklist you can borrow
- Map services to business outcomes: tie incidents to broadcast SLOs, match continuity, and fan engagement KPIs.
- Define golden signals for live events: latency, error rate, drop frames, sync across multilingual feeds.
- Pre-build runbooks for top 10 failure modes: CDN routing issues, encoder faults, API rate limits, auth spikes, data desync.
- Set predictive alerts early: trend on traffic, compute, and network usage days ahead of marquee fixtures.
- Drill incident command: clear roles, paging paths, and comms templates for partners and on-site crews.
- Postmortems with teeth: track MTTR, repeat incidents, and action item burn-down before the next matchday.
Fan experience backed by reliable ops
GCL's mixed-team format brings top male, female, and prodigy players together. On the ground and online, fans can expect premium lounges, Superfan programs, and immersive digital zones-all of which depend on stable, observable systems and fast recovery when things wobble.
The takeaway for ops teams: treat audience moments as production moments. If it affects a match or a stream, it's a priority signal, not background noise.
Key dates and focus
- Season 3: December 13-24, 2025
- Core outcomes: uninterrupted games, dependable broadcasts, responsive digital engagement
- Enablers: predictive analytics, event correlation, automated remediation, clear SLOs
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