Written by Amit KamathSeptember 26, 2025 05:24 PM IST 2 min readViswanathan 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)World champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Arjun Erigaisi will turn out for the PBG Alaskan Knights team in the third edition of the Global Chess League (GCL) after being picked by the franchise at the GCL Draft in Mumbai on Friday. 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 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.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 Alireza Firouzja, Wei Yi, Vidit Gujrathi, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Zhu Jiner and Marc’Andria Maurizzi in their ranks as they look to defend the title.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.American Gambits: Hikaru Nakamura, Richard Rapport, Vladislav Artemiev, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Teodora Injac, Volodar Murzin.Story continues below this adupGrad Mumba Masters: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wesley So, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and Bardiya Daneshvar.Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd