Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Hou Yifan and Ding Liren to feature in Global Chess League

The upcoming inaugural edition of the Global Chess League (GCL) will feature the sport's icons such as Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Hou Yifan and Ding Liren.

GCL is a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and the international chess federation FIDE. The complete list of players was announced on Tuesday.

The first season of the Global Chess League will be held at the Dubai Chess & Culture Club from June 21 to July 2 in association with the Dubai Sports Council.

Liren is the reigning world champion, Carlsen is the world's top-ranked player, Anand is a five-time world champion while Yifan is a four-time women's world champion.

All teams will compete in a one-of-a-kind joint team format, with each team consisting of six players with a minimum of two women chess players per side. To add to the level of competition, five more world champions will be competing in the Global Chess League, including Liren, 2021 world rapid Champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 2008 blitz chess world champion Leinier Domínguez, three-time blitz champion Alexander Grischuk and 2018 world rapid champion Daniil Dubov.