At a social event recently, current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju made his way to chess legend Viswanathan Anand and his son Akhil. After exchanging pleasantries with Anand’s son, Gukesh turned to his idol for some light-hearted conversation where he mentioned how he had taken a short vacation after the World Cup and had gone trekking.

Then, out of nowhere, the 19-year-old switched to shop talk.

“We’re playing against each other in the third round (of the Global Chess League).”

Anand chuckles as he recollects this meeting with his 19-year-old protege and his polite reminder. With both of them playing on icon boards at the upcoming GCL’s third edition, they will face off twice with Anand wearing Ganges Grandmasters’ colours while Gukesh will play for Alaskan Knights.

“I thought that

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