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The Global Chess League, the world’s first and largest official franchise chess league, has announced the icon players for the second season, scheduled to be held at Friends House in London from October 3 to 12.
GCL, a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and FIDE, aims to bring fans together to witness the game in a never-seen-before avatar. The league features both male and female players in the same team, playing for the ultimate prize.
The six franchises competing in the second season are Alpine SG Pipers, Ganges Grandmasters, Mumba Masters, PBG Alaskan Knights, and Triveni Continental Kings. American Gambits will be the new team co-owned by Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin.
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Notably, Triveni Continental Kings emerged as the inaugural season's champions, defeating Mumba Masters in the final.
Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand are part of the line-up for Global Chess League 2024
The impressive line-up of icon players includes World No.1 player and five-time World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, who was also part of the first edition of the Global Chess League. He will continue to ply his trade with Alpine Warriors in the second season.
GCL has come up with two new icon players for the second edition. Hikaru Nakamura will be a part of the new team American Gambits as an icon player while Anish Giri will make his debut with PBG Alaskan Knights as the icon player.
Five-time world champion Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand returns as the icon player for Ganges Grandmasters. Maxime Vachier Lagrave will continue his services as the icon player for the first edition’s finalists Mumba Masters. Inaugural season champions Triveni Continental Knigs will have Ian Nepominachtchi as the icon player.
GCL took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the news.
The Grand Chess League will feature a minimum of three marquee showdowns every day between the icon players as they lead their teams into the chess arena. Each team will have six players, including one icon player, two superstar male players, as many superstar female players, and one prodigy player.
It’s worth noting that following the success of the first season, the Global Chess League aims to unite the world’s top chess players in the second season.
