Gukesh, Anand, Praggnanandhaa headline Global Chess League draft on Sept 26

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 Season 3 player draft, scheduled to be held here on Friday.

However world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway will skip the tournament, to be held in Chennai from December 13 to 24, after being part of the previous two editions in the UAE and London, respectively.

The GCL, a joint initiative of Tech Mahindra and FIDE involving six franchises, will also see the likes of American GMs 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 add more star value to 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, spearheading the next wave of talent. 

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 third season are defending champions Triveni Continental Kings, PBG Alaskan Knights, UpGrad Mumba Masters, Ganges Grandmasters, Alpine SG Pipers, and American Gambits.

Gukesh, after competing in the GCL inaugural edition in 2023, 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 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.