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The second season of the Global Chess League is all set to start on October 3 with the player draft concluded on Sunday, August 11. A total of 30 world's best chess players were picked by six franchises for the second edition.
After the successful inaugural edition, the GCL will be hosted at Friends House in London this year. The six participating teams are Alpine SG Pipers, Ganges Grandmasters, Mumba Masters, PBG Alaskan Knights, defending champions Continental Kings and debutants American Gambits.
1000 points were allocated to each team for the bidding process in the Global Chess League player draft to fill their quota of two Superstar Men, two Superstar Women and one Prodigy Player, alongside the already announced icons.
Magnus Carlsen will be the icon player for Alpine SG Pipers while Viswanathan Anand will be a part of Ganges Grandmasters as the icon player. The other icons include Maxime Vachier-Lagrave for Mumba Masters, Ian Nepomniachtchi for Triveni Continental Kings, Hikaru Nakamura for American Gambits and Anish Giri for PBG Alaskan Knights.
Interestingly, the Superstar Women dominated the bidding process at the Global Chess League player draft as franchises used a large chunk of points from their purse to acquire their services. While PBG Alaskan Knights retained Yaz Zhongyi, they also picked up Alina Kashlinskaya.
Vaishali R and Nurgyul Salimova were roped in by Ganges Grandmasters, with Alexandra Kosteniuk and Valentina Gunina joining Triveni Continental Kings. On the other hand, American Gambits picked up Bibisara Assaubayeva and Elisabeth Paehtz, while Grandmasters Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli were retained by Mumba Masters.
Global Chess League 2024: Final Squads
Alpine SG Pipers
Icon Player: Magnus Carlsen
Superstar Men: Praggnanandhaa R, Richard Rapport
Superstar Women: Hou Yifan, Karetyna Lagno
Prodigy Player: Daniel Dardha
Ganges Grandmasters
Icon Player: Viswanathan Anand
Superstar Men: Arjun Erigaisi, Parham Maghsoodloo
Superstar Women: Vaishali R, Nurgyul Salimova
Prodigy Player: Volodar Murzin
Mumba Masters
Icon Player: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Superstar Men: Vidit Gujrathi, Alexander Grischuk
Superstar Women: Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli
Prodigy Player: Raunak Sadhwani
PBK Alaskan Knights
Icon Player: Anish Giri
Superstar Men: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Shakhriyar M
Superstar Women: Tan Zhongyi, Alina Kashlinskaya
Prodigy Player: Nihal Sarin
Triveni Continental Kings
Icon Player: Ian Nepomniachtchi
Superstar Men: Wei Yi, Teimour Radjabov
Superstar Women: Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina
Prodigy Player: Javokhir Sindarov
American Gambits
Icon Player: Hikaru Nakamura
Superstar Men: Vladislav Artemiev, Jan-Krzysztof Duda
Superstar Women: Bibisara Assaubayeva, Elisabeth Paehtz
Prodigy Player: Jonas Buhl Bjerre
