The battle lines have been drawn for the inaugural Global Chess League after the draft of players for the six-team event was held in Mumbai. The highly anticipated tournament is scheduled to take place from June 21 to July 2 at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
A joint venture between Tech Mahindra and FIDE, the GCL has captured the attention of chess enthusiasts worldwide, with renowned players like Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Ding Liren, and Hou Yifan leading the pack.
The draft witnessed the selection of 36 of the world’s best chess players, days after the league confirmed the identity of the six franchise owners and the team names. The players were divided into four categories: Icons, Superstars Men, Superstars Women, and Prodigies.
They are: Ganges Grandmasters owned by Suresh Kotak led-Insurekot Sports (ISPL), Triveni Continental Kings owned by Triveni Group, SG Alpine Warriors owned by APL Apollo-led SG Sports, Chingari Gulf Titans owned by Chingari App (Tech4Billion Group), upGrad Mumba Masters owned by Ronnie Screwvala led-U SPORTS, and Balan Alaskan Knights owned by Punit Balan Group (PBG).
Each team was allocated a total of 1,000 points to be used while choosing players from categories two, three and four, barring the ICONS. The ICON players were selected based on a preferential draft system.
Magnus Carlsen, the five-time World Chess Champion and the top-ranked player in the world was selected by SG Alpine Warriors. A five-time World Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand, joined the Ganges Grandmasters. The current World Champion, Ding Liren was drafted by Triveni Continental Kings.
Other notable selections included Grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda by Chingari Gulf Titans and Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi by Balan Alaskan Knights. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave joined upGrad Mumba Masters as their ICON player.
Each franchise picked up the mandatory quota of two male players in their squad. In this category, the maximum points 350 were used to acquire Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov to the Balan Alaskan Knights.
Next up were the Superstar Women and all the franchises went all out to garner the services of Hou Yifan. The world’s top-ranked women Grandmaster attracted the highest points’ bid in the first edition’s draft across both Superstar Men & Women categories. Ganges Grandmasters picked her for 470 points.
upGrad Mumba Masters picked up the Indian pair of Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli at 360 and 330 points, respectively.
The six teams will engage in a double round-robin format, playing a total of 10 matches. The matches will be decided using a best-of-six board scoring system, played simultaneously, adding an extra layer of excitement to the tournament. The top two teams will advance to the final on July 2, where the coveted title of World Champion Franchise Team will be awarded.
Magnus Carlsen
