Tag : ICONS

Mumbai: The Global Chess League held its first draft for the highly anticipated inaugural edition at the Mahindra Campus, here on Wednesday. The GCL, which is a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and FIDE and scheduled to take place from June 21 to July 2, at the Dubai Chess & Culture Club in association with the Dubai Sports Council, has captured the attention of chess enthusiasts worldwide, with renowned players like Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Ding Liren, and Hou Yifan leading the pack. The draft witnessed the selection of 36 of the world's best chess players, who were drafted by six GCL franchises: Ganges Grandmasters owned by Suresh Kotak led-Insurekot Sports (ISPL), Triveni Continental Kings owned by Triveni Group (Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd. and Triveni Turbine Ltd.), SG Alpine Warriors owned by APL Apollo-led SG Sports, Chingari Gulf Titans owned by Chingari App (Tech4Billion Group), upGrad Mumba Masters owned by Ronnie Screwvala led-U SPORTS, and Balan Alaskan Knights owned by Punit Balan Group (PBG). The players were divided into four categories: ICONS, Superstars Men, Superstars Women, and Prodigies. In a thrilling bidding process, Magnus Carlsen, the five-time World Chess Champion and the top-ranked player in the world, was selected by the SG Alpine Warriors. On the other hand, the five-time World Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand, joined the Ganges Grandmasters. The current World Champion, Ding Liren was drafted by Triveni Continental Kings. Other notable selections included Grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda by Chingari Gulf Titans and Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi by Balan Alaskan Knights. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave joined upGrad Mumba Masters as their ICON player. Each team was allocated a total of 1000 point ...