Global Chess League 2026
Global Chess League 2026 Players
All 36 players, board by board
Magnus Carlsen returns, Viswanathan Anand changes teams, and the reigning Candidates winner plays his last event before the World Championship match. Here is every player in the Season 4 field, grouped by the board they play, with the storylines that decide how the six squads compare.
Every Global Chess League squad fields the same six boards: one Icon, two Superstar men, two Superstar women and one Prodigy. The 36 players below were settled at the Season 4 draft in Mumbai on 29 June 2026, from a pool of 36. Squads, coaches and retained players are on the teams and squads page; the schedule and the live points table are on the Global Chess League 2026 page; match tickets for The Lalit Ashok in Bengaluru are on the tickets page. Every name below links to the player's profile; the Global Chess League players index lists all 36 profiles by team.
The six Icons
The Icon is the marquee player of each franchise and plays board one. Every Icon in 2026 has either held a world title or challenged for one.
Alpine APL Pipers
Triveni Continental Kings
FYERS American Gambits
Ganges Grandmasters
PBG Alaskan Knights
CheQ Mumba Masters
The twelve Superstar men
Two Superstar men fill boards two and three of each team. This group holds the reigning Candidates winner and two former world number twos.
Alpine APL Pipers
Alpine APL Pipers
Triveni Continental Kings
Triveni Continental Kings
FYERS American Gambits
FYERS American Gambits
Ganges Grandmasters
Ganges Grandmasters
PBG Alaskan Knights
PBG Alaskan Knights
CheQ Mumba Masters
CheQ Mumba Masters
The twelve Superstar women
Two Superstar women play boards four and five. Their game points go into the same match score as every other board, so a team cannot win without them.
Alpine APL Pipers
Alpine APL Pipers
Triveni Continental Kings
Triveni Continental Kings
FYERS American Gambits
FYERS American Gambits
Ganges Grandmasters
Ganges Grandmasters
PBG Alaskan Knights
PBG Alaskan Knights
CheQ Mumba Masters
CheQ Mumba Masters
The six Prodigies
The Prodigy board belongs to each team's youngest talent. The 2026 group includes the youngest grandmaster in chess history.
Alpine APL Pipers
Triveni Continental Kings
FYERS American Gambits
Ganges Grandmasters
PBG Alaskan Knights
CheQ Mumba Masters
Magnus Carlsen returns
Carlsen sat out Season 3 and comes back as the Icon of the team that won it: the Alpine APL Pipers, champions in Mumbai as the Alpine SG Pipers. It is the first time he and Anish Giri, the Season 3 Final MVP, play on the same team. The Pipers also pair Divya Deshmukh, winner of the 2025 Women's World Cup, with Koneru Humpy, the player she beat in that final.
Viswanathan Anand in new colours
Anand, five-time World Champion and the league's ambassador, moves to the PBG Alaskan Knights for Season 4. The Knights put him on the same team as Arjun Erigaisi, India's highest-rated active player, and give him the two youngest boards in the league behind him: Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, born in 2011, and Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest grandmaster in history.
Javokhir Sindarov before the World Championship
Sindarov won the 2026 Candidates and plays D Gukesh in the World Chess Championship 2026 in Geneva in November, so the league is his last team event before the match. He is the Icon of the FYERS American Gambits, the team Zapp Chess partners this season, and plays alongside Bibisara Assaubayeva, two-time Women's World Blitz champion — the two are a couple.
The Indian players
Ten of the 36 players are Indian, in the league's first season in Bengaluru: Viswanathan Anand and Arjun Erigaisi for the Alaskan Knights, Vidit Gujrathi, Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy for the Pipers, Aravindh Chithambaram and Pranav V for Triveni, Nihal Sarin for the Gambits, Leon Mendonca for the Ganges Grandmasters and Harika Dronavalli for the Mumba Masters. Five of the six head coaches are Indian too: Pravin Thipsay, Srinath Narayanan, B. Adhiban, Swayams Mishra and P. Harikrishna.
World champions in the field
The 2026 field holds world titles across every format. Carlsen and Anand are five-time World Champions. Alexandra Kosteniuk was Women's World Champion in 2008. Volodar Murzin won the World Rapid title in 2024 and Daniil Dubov in 2018. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the World Blitz in 2021 and Leinier Dominguez has held it too. Kateryna Lagno has won the Women's World Rapid and Blitz titles multiple times, Bibisara Assaubayeva the Women's World Blitz twice, and Koneru Humpy the Women's World Rapid. Ian Nepomniachtchi has challenged for the classical world title twice.
Player questions
Who plays in the Global Chess League 2026?
Thirty-six players across six teams, six to a squad: one Icon, two Superstar men, two Superstar women and one Prodigy. The Icons are Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja, Javokhir Sindarov, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Viswanathan Anand and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Is Magnus Carlsen playing in the Global Chess League 2026?
Yes. Carlsen is the Icon of the Alpine APL Pipers, the defending champions. He sat out Season 3 and returns for Season 4 in Bengaluru.
Is Gukesh playing in the Global Chess League 2026?
No. D Gukesh is not in any Season 4 squad, and neither are R Praggnanandhaa, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana or Hou Yifan. Gukesh plays Javokhir Sindarov in the World Chess Championship 2026 in Geneva in November.
Which Indian players are in the Global Chess League 2026?
Ten of the 36 players: Viswanathan Anand, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, Aravindh Chithambaram, Nihal Sarin, Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Pranav V and Leon Mendonca. Five of the six head coaches are also Indian.
How many women play in the Global Chess League?
Twelve, two in every squad, on the Superstar woman boards. Their results count in the match score exactly like the men's boards.
Who are the youngest players in the Global Chess League 2026?
Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus of the PBG Alaskan Knights was born in 2011 and plays a Superstar board. His teammate Abhimanyu Mishra, born in 2009, became the youngest grandmaster in history.