Bengaluru: Javokhir Sindarov has a somewhat important match to play later this year. It might be hard to tell from the number of tournaments he’s playing in the run-up to it.
The 20-year-old Uzbek GM and challenger, who will take on Gukesh in the World Championship match in November is playing a battery of competitions – Grand Chess Tour events, World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships, inaugural Daniel Naroditsky Memorial Rapid and Blitz tournament and the Chess Olympiad, will be arriving in India in September, along with a galaxy of stars such world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, to play the fourth season of the Global Chess League (GCL).
The GCL, which will be held in Bengaluru between September 3-13 just ahead of the Olympiad in Samarkand will be missing two notable Indian stars – reigning world champion, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa. Gukesh, who is struggling with form, will next be seen in Chennai Grand Masters in July after his Norway Chess outing which concluded in early June. His only other tournament appearance before the match will likely be the Olympiad.
In the GCL draft which took place in Mumbai on Monday, Sindarov was picked by the FYERS American Gambits as its icon player alongside his girlfriend Bibisara Assaubayeva and Indian GM Nihal Sarin, among others. After a season away, Carlsen returns to GCL as Alpine APL Pipers’ icon player, in a team featuring Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi, Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy. Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, PBG Alaskan Knights’ icon player will have chess’ current phenom, 14-year-old Turkish GM Yaagiz Kaan Erdogmus and India’s highest-ranked player, Arjun Erigaisi, on his side.
GCL Season 4 teams:
FYERS American Gambits: Javokhir Sindarov, Nihal Sarin, Daniil Dubov, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Sara Khadem, Marc’Andria Maurizzi
Alpine APL Pipers: Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy, Volodar Murzin
Ganges Grandmasters: Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian, Leinier Domínguez, Polina Shuvalova, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Leon Luke Mendonca
upGrad Mumba Masters: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Vladimir Fedoseev, Carissa Yip, Harika Dronavalli, Bardiya Daneshvar
PBG Alaskan Knights: Viswanathan Anand, Arjun Erigaisi, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, Kateryna Lagno, Nino Batsiashvili, Abhimanyu Mishra
Triveni Continental Kings: Alireza Firouzja, Wei Yi, Aravindh Chithambaram, Zhu Jiner, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Pranav Venkatesh
