India, Dec. 23 -- In the conference room of a posh Mumbai hotel, Viswanathan Anand walks around a table signing chess boards. These were mementos that every player competing in the third season of the Global Chess League was adding their autograph to.

Yet, Anand's name carries greater value. Dressed in the yellow jersey of the Ganges Grandmasters franchise, with his name and the number 64 neatly emblazoned on the back, Anand - a five-time world champion - is the only male player competing at the event to have been a world No.1.

At 56, India's first Grandmaster - he earned the title in 1988 - may have deliberately reduced his playing time, but he remains an active figure and is the current world No.12.

"Chess players are geared to get f...