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

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.

Gukesh Dommaraju (LEFT) and Arjun Erigaisi--seen here during the Norway Chess Games earlier this year--will team up in the Global Chess League for the PBG Alaskan Knights. (Express Photos by Amit Kamath)

World champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Arjun Erigaisi will come together in one team for the third edition of the Global Chess League (GCL) after the PBG Alaskan Knights team picked up both Indian stars at the GCL Draft in Mumbai on Friday. Meanwhile, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand spearheads the Ganges Grandmasters team once again, while Fabiano Caruana will make his GCL debut with the Alpine SG Pipers, where he will be joined by Praggnanandhaa.

Gukesh was a notable absence in the second season of the league as he was shaping up his challenge for the world championship battle against Ding Liren in Singapore in November-December. Gukesh had joined forces with Magnus Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi in the SG Alpine team (now rechristened to Alpine SG Pipers) in the inaugural season. The third season will not have Magnus Carlsen competing, after the Norwegian World No 1 was a part of the league in the first edition in Dubai and the second edition in London.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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