World champion D Gukesh will be one of the “icon” players, along with the likes of five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand and R Praggnanandhaa, in the Global Chess League (GCL) Season 3 player draft scheduled to be held here on Friday.
However, World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway will skip the tournament, which will be held in Chennai from December 13 to 24, after being part of the previous two editions of the event in the UAE and London, respectively.
The GCL, a joint initiative of Tech Mahindra and FIDE involving six franchises, will also witness the participation of the likes of American Grandmasters Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the draft pool of 36 players. Anish Giri, Arjun Erigaisi, four-time world champion Hou Yifan and World Cup runner-up Koneru Humpy will also be participating in the event.
Franchises will build their rosters over four draft rounds, and the pool will be segmented into "Icon Players", "Men's", "Women's" and "U-21 Prodigy" categories. The U-21 Prodigy category will feature Volodar Murzin, winner of the 2024 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship, and Marc’Andria Maurizzi, the 2023 World Junior champion.
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Each of the franchises fields six players in a fixed-board format: one Icon, two men, two women and one U-21 Prodigy. The franchises for the third season are defending champions Triveni Continental Kings, PBG Alaskan Knights, UpGrad Mumba Masters, Ganges Grandmasters, Alpine SG Pipers and American Gambits.
After competing in the GCL inaugural edition in 2023, Gukesh had skipped the 2024 edition because of the world championship title showdown with China's Ding Liren.
"GCL is more than a tournament - it's a celebration of intelligence, teamwork and creativity. It combines tradition with innovation and creates a platform worthy of the game's global stature. I'm proud to see such a league emerging from India onto the world stage," said Anand in a press release.
"With every season of the GCL, we're not just building teams, we’re elevating the future of chess and inspiring a new generation of players and enthusiasts," said Peeyush Dubey, chairperson, Tech Mahindra Global Chess League.
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