Triveni Continental Kings: Building a Chess Legacy
The third season of the Global Chess League got underway on Saturday, 13 December, with the action shifting to Mumbai this year after the first two seasons were held in Dubai and London respectively. There are quite a few talking points heading into the third season of the league, from reigning world champion D Gukesh playing on the ‘Icon’ board after skipping the previous season, the absence of Magnus Carlsen, to the event taking place in India for the first time. The spotlight is also firmly on the Triveni Continental Kings, the team comprising Alireza Firouzja (Icon), Wei Yi (Superstar Men), Vidit Gujrathi (Superstar Men), Alexandra Kosteniuk (Superstar Women), Jiner Zhu (Superstar Women) and Marc’Andria Maurizzi (Prodigy). The team – promoted by Triveni Sports Private Limited that is a joint venture between Triveni Engineering & Industries Limited and Triveni Turbine Limited – had won back-to-back titles in the first two seasons and are gunning for a third title this year. Firstpostcaught up with Akash Premsen, CEO of Triveni Continental Kings who also happens to be also Vice President-Strategy at Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd and was more than happy to share some insights into the story behind GCL’s most successful team and what sets it apart from other sides. Excerpts from the conversation… Firstpost: How did the Triveni Group’s association with chess come to be? Akash Premsen: So, the genesis of why Triveni entered the league. It’s a passion project for our CMD Dhruv Sawhney. He was the All India Chess Federation President from 1988 till the year 2000. And he is kind of known as the ‘Original Grandfather of Chess’ in that way. Because he supported chess quite significantly. He helped Vishy (Viswanathan Anand) early in his career. When he joined, India only had two or three Grandmasters. Now, we have 90-plus. So, he helped set up the foundation of the All India Chess Federation. And basically, I joined Triveni about five years ago. And I’m an MBA from the Darden School of Business, in the University of Virginia. And I had worked with many Fortune 20 companies like BMW Group, Johnson & Johnson, so on and so forth. And when I joined Triveni Group, I obviously had a very unique set of skills. Which is that, as a general manager, if you give me any project, I can kind of move it forward and do everything with that. And I’m also a marketeer. So, Mr. Sawhney then came to me and said that, ‘Look, I’m thinking about doing this with Anand Mahindra. Will you be able to lead this? So, I was able to accept it like a challenge. And I was given full authority to do whatever I needed to do to make it a success. So, that’s kind of how it was sorted. I do play chess, but I’m embarrassed to mention that. Because when you’re playing with the best or when you’re around the best, you shouldn’t really talk about it. So, it’s like, you know, if you’re with LeBron James and Steph Curry, you don’t talk about playing basketball. So, it’s kind of like that. So, whenever somebody asks me if I play chess, I always say no. Because that’s, you know, that’s an easy thing to do. So, that’s kind of the history of why Triveni is in chess. This is a passion project. We’re in it for the love of the game. It’s not because of a business plan. Obviously, the league has to be profitable and things have to make sense. And there is a business side to things. However, it is really about the love of the sport. FP: You’re also Vice President-Strategy at Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd. How do you juggle between your role as Triveni team manager and your responsibilities as vice-president? AP: It’s quite simple. See, the league is only 10 days a year. There is a level of planning. But it’s okay. I mean, I’m also… So, I’m Vice President for strategy. And I’m also CMO for the group. So, from that perspective, it’s totally fine. Effectively, I’m able to juggle multiple responsibilities. But, you know, Amit, I’m not alone. I have an absolutely phenomenal team behind me. There are people in my team who are involved with contracting, with marketing, all that other stuff. So, as with every corporate structure, right? When you lead a team, you have people around you that are doing good work. So, the culture of Triveni is very simple. We want to be very detail-oriented. We want to focus on the planning. We want to have a plan for success. That’s very important. And that ties into my role as strategy head, right? So, it’s kind of linked to that. In addition to that, the fact that I have a proclivity towards marketing helps also. Because a lot of the, I would say, culture of the team, what we’re trying to do, etc. It’s all linked. I would also like to think that I’m a student of behavioral science. So, from that perspective, you know, understanding how relationships work, how do you motivate people. I mean, let me give you an example, right? So, these six players, they are like the top of their game, right? Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates. And it was your job to lead that team. How would you take that leadership position? So, that is the pressure on me. Because the people I’m dealing with are at the top of their game. And they’re amazing at what they do. They’re Olympic athletes. And my job is to walk in and help motivate them. And also help create them into a cohesive team. So, it is the ultimate management request. Because one has to be incredibly humble. One has to be logic-oriented. And one has to create a culture of success. It is really about building a strong foundation of trust. Because I’m not going to tell them how to play chess. But I am going to create the conditions for them to play some of the best chess of their life. And obviously, we have a phenomenal team coach. Because the way I look at it is that there has to be somebody involved with the organisation side of things, and there has to be somebody involved with the chess side of things. So, I am the Chief Operating Officer in terms of making sure that everything is functioning. And Loek (Dutch Grandmaster Loek van Wely, coach of Triveni Continental Kings) is the subject matter expert. That’s the way to look at it. So, when people are talking about a mistake made on the board. Or they’re talking about understanding what exactly happened. Loek is heavily respected within the chess community globally. He’s ranked number 2 in Netherlands. He’s a top 5 grandmaster over the age of 50 globally. And having him in our team as a ‘coach’ to handle these conversations, as well as to provide that inspiration is useful, because that takes the pressure off me in terms of trying to understand what are you going to say to these guys? So, it’s a very strong division of labour between us. FP: So, that way you have to have a great understanding with Loek as well. In terms of your responsibilities. Where you divide the managerial side and the technical side. AP: So, I think that was the master stroke. When Mr. Sawhney told me to go ahead and do whatever needed to be done, I realised very fast that the first thing I need to do is find a strong person who can help me. And after going through many names, I landed on Loek. And I remember doing a Zoom call. And the first thing, the only thing I cared about in the zoom call is that. Will I get along with this guy? So, we had a Zoom call. Where for basically one hour, we just cracked jokes and laughed at each other. And I knew that I could be friends with this guy. And that was the key. Because I knew we would be friends. And because I knew we had similar interests in life. I said okay. Let’s get started on this journey. Because you know. If you have somebody with the right attitude, that’s worth 100 times more than somebody with tremendous skill. Because attitude cannot be taught. You have to have the right attitude. You know. And Loek is a guy who’s very competitive. I’m also secretly very competitive. And I also believe that. One has to be very honest about their abilities. And at the right time, put up the hand and ask for help. And that’s something both of us do. You know very often. I’ll be facing like a small issue. And I’ll say listen Loek. You know. This person’s got to do XYZ. How do I approach it? FP: Has managing a sports team influenced how you approach your role as Vice-President at the Triveni Group? AP: Actually. It’s the other way around. I think I’m able to manage. A sports team well. Because I’m able to manage very high performance team in office. So it’s the other way around. I think that because of my corporate experience, managing a sports team is actually easier. Because in a corporate office, you have a lot of complex relationships. You have team members that get along. You have team members that don’t. You have team members that have certain skills. Team members that have other skills. Everybody gets motivated due to a different reason. And if you’re a good manager, you actually want everyone in your team to have a successful life and to deliver. So I actually treat my sports team exactly the way I treat my reporting team. It’s the same way. I give everybody the same level of respect, the same level of responsibility as well as the same level of expectation. The only difference I would say is that the chess team doesn’t ‘report’ to me. Because they’re all equals. In the sense that the corporate world is a little bit like the military. Because you have a leader. And then you have people under you that are genuinely responsible for output. These chess players are Olympians. They are gods in the world that they’re existing in. So. It’s a little bit different. The level of focus is a bit different. But from an organisational psychology, it’s exactly the same. So, very quickly I have to find out what motivates somebody. Very quickly I have to find out how to push somebody, versus not push somebody. Very quickly one has to find out what are someone’s weaknesses and what are someone’s vices and what are some...
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