Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi, Indian chess’ Karan Arjun, reunited for Global Chess League 3 at PBG Alaskan Knights

The GCL Draft is unique, because instead of money, all teams have 1000 points at the start to build their roster. Should a team decide to retain players from the previous season they forsake 200 points. The American Gambits opted to retain Hikaru Nakamura and Bibisara Assaubayeva while Triveni Continental Kings retained Alireza Firouzja, Wei Yi and Alexandra Kosteniuk from the roster that won the title last season. The UpGrad Mumba Masters retained Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli while Alpine SG Pipers retained Hou Yifan and R Praggnanandhaa.

While the league does not divulge which players were picked for how many points, it is learnt that Gukesh, Arjun, Wesley So and Zhu Jiner saw teams fight it out to get on their roster.

“When we started with Gukesh, we had two teams vying for him. For Arjun too, there was a fierce battle between teams,” Peeyush Dubey, Chairman of Global Chess League, told The Indian Express.

Gukesh’s teammate Arjun, in particular, saw three teams trying to snap him up while the Mumbai team came into the draft with their eyes firmly set on Wesley So, who is also making his debut in the league. They did manage to fend off others to pick him up.

“We sensed that there were teams playing very, very different strategies. One strategy was to completely dominate on one board (so go all out to get a play for that board) but then potentially be somewhat exposed on the other boards versus teams who had a strategy of having very, very strong players across the team. Sometimes when the bidding for a single player went up, it was usually because there were two teams that were playing the same strategy,” Gourav Rakshit, Commissioner of the Global Chess League, told The Indian Express.

Viswanathan Anand will return with Ganges Grandmasters while D Gukesh, who represented Alpine SG Pipers in season 1, will play for PBG Alaskan Knights this time around. (GCL)

Joining Gukesh and Arjun in the Alaskan Knights franchise will be Leinier Dominguez, Sara Khadem, Kateryna Lagno and Daniel Dardha.

The defending champions Triveni Continental Kings will have Vidit Gujrathi and Marc’Andria Maurizzi joining the retained trio of Alireza Firouzja, Wei Yi, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Chinese GM Zhu Jiner, who they went all out for as they look to defend the title.

Here is the full roster list for all 6 franchises:

Ganges Grandmasters: Viswanathan Anand, Javokhir Sindarov, Vincent Keymer, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Polina Shuvalova and Raunak Sadhwani.

Alpine SG Pipers: Fabiano Caruana, Praggnanandhaa R, Anish Giri, Hou Yifan, Nino Batsiashvili and Leon Mendonca.

American Gambits: Hikaru Nakamura, Richard Rapport, Vladislav Artemiev, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Teodora Injac, Volodar Murzin.

upGrad Mumba Masters: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wesley So, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and Bardiya Daneshvar.

Triveni Continental Kings: Alireza Firouzja, Wei Yi, Vidit Gujrathi, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Zhu Jiner and Marc’Andria Maurizzi

Alaskan Knights: Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Leinier Dominguez, Sara Khadem, Kateryna Lagno and Daniel Dardha