Global Chess League Season 1: Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh D, and Praggnanandhaa R to Team with Magnus Carlsen

The Indian grandmasters Praggnanandhaa R, Gukesh D, and Arjun Erigaisi are to be on the side of Magnus Carlen, the world no. 1 champion in the Global Chess League.

Written by: Arjita Gupta

Edited by: Krutarth Ghosalkar

Last Updated: June 08, 2023

Owned by Insurekot Sports, Ganges Grandmasters will have Viswanathan Anand, the five-time world champion as their lead player, along with Hou Yifan of China, Andrey Esipenko, Richard Rapport, Bella Khotenashvili, and Dominguez Perez. Owned by SG Sports, SG Alpine Warriors will have Elisabeth Pahtz and Irina Krush as their icon players. On Tuesday, SG Alpine Warriors drafted the world no. 1 - Magnus Carlsen as the icon player in the inaugural season of the Global Chess League.

Magnus Carlsen will accompany Praggnanandhaa R, Gukesh D, and Arjun Erigaisi, the three young Indian grandmasters. The draw witnessed Punit Balan Group owned Balan Alaskan Knights pick Ian Nepomniachtchi, who earlier this year lost at the world chess championship to Chinese GM. And Triveni Engineering & Industries Limited owned Triveni Continental Kings chose Ding Liren.

Owned by U Sports, upGrad Mumba Masters went ahead with icon player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and three other Indian players such as Harika Dronavalli, Koneru Humpy, and Vidit Gujrathi will also be at their side. Owned by Chingati App, the Chingari Gulf Titans is the sixth team in the competition. And their icon player is Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

The league will take place at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club from 21 June to 2 July 2023. While chess is known to be the silent game of geeks and reserved people, it is not unknown to attract wide attention from people, especially in India, where there are several key players representing the nation’s pride and skillset. The GCL plans to start off the initial two seasons with these six franchises.

The competition will introduce us to a mixed-team format, making the annual GCL more interesting with each of the franchises having played double round-robin styled 10 matches. In such games, the winner of the match will be decided through the system of best-of-six board scores, which also will be played simultaneously. And then the final game will occur between the two teams who emerge at the top.