The new Bundesliga season 2024-25 will actually start with the first round on 5-6 October. It will end with the central finals in Deggendorf on 25-27 April. The women's Bundesliga will also play its final rounds there. It will again be a great chess festival.

In fact, the new season will start this weekend. The matches involving the newly-promoted team Düsseldorfer SK have been brought forward due to a scheduling conflict and will now take place on 28-29 September in Kirchweyhe. The host and its travel partner Mülheim Nord will face Düsseldorfer SK and its travel partner SG Solingen. 

Düsseldorf will be playing with a combination of Indian and Chinese national team players, namely Erigaisi (table 1), Gukesh (3), Praggnanandhaa (5), Wei Yi (6), Yu Yangyi (8) and Vidit (9). There are also a few other international players who are not bad either, such as Nepomniachtchi, So, Giri and a few others.

With this squad, Düsseldorf is undoubtedly one of the favourites to win the title. However, there might be scheduling problems when it comes to other top tournaments that also feature these superstars. Such is the case on the nominally first weekend of the Bundesliga. Then the 2nd Tech Mahindra Global Chess League starts in London, with most of the Indian superstars and many other top players taking part.

For this reason, Düsseldorf SK were granted to change dates. Otherwise, sponsor Wadim Rosenstein might have had to play himself for lack of alternatives. He is registered in 'his' team on board 16.

For almost 20 years, OSG Baden-Baden was almost always the top favourite for the championship title and, with one exception (2015/16: Meister Solingen), lived up to this role. In the meantime, the distribution of roles has changed somewhat.

Last year, the SC Viernheim was the favourite to win the title. Now, with Düsseldorf SK, another serious contender for the title has been promoted from the Second Bundesliga West. If you like, 'half of Düsseldorf SK' has just won gold at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. 

The big question during the long season, however, will be whether Düsseldorfer SK can get its top players to the board. Seven of the first nine players come from Asia, India and China.

The OSG Baden-Baden, Viernheim and Düsseldorf OSGs have businesspeople and sponsors in the background who are keen on chess. But now there is also strong new support in the north in the person of the financially strong chess friend Jan Henrik Buettner. He has a slightly different concept. Magnus Carlsen has infected Jan Henrick Buettner with his enthusiasm for Chess 960, which is now called Freestyle Chess. The two have big plans and have already found an investor for them. ‘Normal’ chess has not been forgotten. The FC St. Pauli from Hamburg can look forward to the arrival of some strong players. Magnus Carlsen will play for St. Pauli and has brought along a few friends and other ‘Vikings’: David Howell, Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, Jonas Bjerre, Aryan Tari, Peter Heine Nielsen and Marc'Andria Maurizzi - a strong team. This means that St. Pauli may not be the favourite for the championship, but if the new players play often, they will at least be among the top teams. We will see. In any case, Magnus Carlsen will be a real crowd-puller at the St. Pauli football Stadium, where St. Pauli plays its home games.

But the Hamburger SK is also supported by Jan Henrick Buettner in his efforts to popularise chess in the Hanseatic city. The club is held in high esteem here as it is the second oldest sports club in Hamburg still in existence. Although the club was not particularly successful last season, Frederik and Rasmus Svane were retained. Niclas Huschenbeth has returned. Leonardo Costa, one of Germany's biggest talents, now plays for Hamburg.

In addition to St. Pauli and Düsseldorf, there are two 'normal', i.e. not so strong, promoted teams. SV Bad Mergentheim have relatively unknown players, including three Lithuanians on the top boards. That's half the Lithuanian national team - they beat Germany at the Chess Olympiad.

And the SV Deggendorf is making a name for itself by organising a central final round. It doesn't get any better than that.

Links

• Schachbundesliga...
• Results at the website of the German Chess Federation...