Today's Edition
Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)
The Global Chess League (GCL), a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and FIDE, announced the shuffled list of icon players for its second season to be held in London from October 3-12 at Friends House.
Six teams of six players each, including greats such as Magnus Carlsen and Vishwanathan Anand, were part of the inaugural season when it was held in Dubai. The two as well as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are three icon players who have been retained by their teams – Alpine SG Pipers, Ganges Grandmasters and Mumba Masters – respectively.
Carlsen’s team has had a minor name change with Pipers replacing the word Warriors in the title. One team in the Dubai staging, Gulf Chingari Titans, has made way to a new entrant called American Gambits with Hikaru Nakamura making his way in to the tournament for the first time, straight as their icon player.
Defending champions Triveni Continental Kings have poached Ian Nepomniachtchi as their icon player, replacing Levon Aronian. Incidentally, the latter was a late replacement for Ding Liren when the GCL kicked off at Dubai’s Le Meridien hotel.
Along with Nakamura, a new icon player to enter the second season as a debutant is Anish Giri of Singapore, who will fill in for Nepomnichtchi at PBG Alaskan Knights. The organisers did not respond to Aletihad’s questions about the criteria on the changes such as players switch and the team swap in time.
Magnus Carlsen, the five-time world champion, said in a statement from the organisers: “The first season in Dubai was a fantastic experience. Chess has been an individual sport, but the concept of a team setting introduced by the GCL is very exciting and refreshing. I look forward to playing again with the Alpine SG Pipers.”
Although born in Osaka, Japan, Nakamura is a United States citizen and became the youngest Grandmaster for America at the time when he was 15 years of age. Now 36, the American Gambits icon said: “I followed the Global Chess League in its first season and was hooked to the format. It is an exciting opportunity not only for the top players, but also for fans as they get to pick a team with their favorite players to cheer on.”
