After three days of play at the Global Chess League, no team remains undefeated.
The third day of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League brought big changes. Both previously unbeaten squads, Triveni Continental Kings and upGrad Mumbai Masters, suffered their first losses.
Fyers American Gambits edged Triveni 10 to 8 in a tense clash decided on the prodigy board, while Alpine SG Pipers finally broke through with a 9 to 7 victory over upGrad, their first win of the season. Earlier, Ganges Grandmasters opened the day by sweeping past PBG Alaskan Knights 12 to 3, with Viswanathan Anand scoring his first win in Mumbai against World Champion Gukesh.
After three rounds, the standings have tightened completely. Four teams now share the lead on six Match Points each: Triveni Continental Kings, upGrad Mumbai Masters, Ganges Grandmasters and Fyers American Gambits. upGrad hold a narrow edge on Game Points (on 33), just ahead of the defending champions Triveni (on 32), with Ganges (on 29) and the Gambits (on 25) close behind.
Standings after Day 3
Alpine SG Pipers are now back in contention with three Match Points following their late win over upGrad. PBG Alaskan Knights remain at the bottom of the table, still looking for their first match victory.
Match 7: Ganges Grandmasters vs PBG Alaskan Knights (12:3)
The third day of Season three opened with two teams moving in opposite directions. Ganges Grandmasters had just found their form with a 13 to 7 win over Alpine SG Pipers on day two, after a very tough start against upGrad Mumba Masters. PBG Alaskan Knights came in still shaken by their 3 to 15 loss to Triveni Continental Kings. They were also still without a match victory after a narrow defeat to Fyers American Gambits on day one.
From the outset, it was clear that Ganges had carried their momentum into this round. Across the boards, they were the ones pressing, while the Knights struggled to find their footing. A heavy loss for PBG soon seemed a real possibility.
The first result, however, was peaceful: on the prodigy board, Daniel Dardha and Raunak Sadhwani repeated moves and agreed a draw. After their dramatic earlier games in the league, this time neither side took full risk and the match began with one Game Point each.
The first breakthrough came from Javokhir Sindarov. Facing Leinier Dominguez, accepted a pawn sacrifice for which Black got more than sufficient compensation.
However, a serious mistake on move 25 by Leinier cost him dearly – White managed to neutralize all his threats and liquidated into an endgame with an extra pawn and more active pieces. Dominguez fought on and played on for some time, but there was no real hope. Ganges took the 4 to 1 lead in Game Points.
On the Icon board, the spotlight fell on the all-Indian meeting of two World Champions – former and current. Viswanathan Anand had lost both his games so far in Mumbai and needed a result. Playing with White against Gukesh in a Sicilian, Anand seized space and gradually built up initiative, keeping Black under constant pressure. He eventually broke on the queenside and promoted his c-pawn, creating deadly threats to Black’s king. Gukesh had to resign.
On the second men’s board, Arjun Erigaisi faced Vincent Keymer. Under pressure for much of the game, Arjun defended accurately and steered the position to a draw.
Ganges then struck again on the women’s board. Polina Shuvalova, fresh off her Day 2 win over Hou Yifan, defeated over Kateryna Lagno in a very complex game riddled with mutual mistakes. Polina eventually emerged from complications with an extra piece, and the rest was a smooth sailing. Another three Game Points went to Ganges, stretching the lead to 10 to 1.
The last hope for PBG lay on the remaining women’s board. Sara Khadem outplayed Stavroula Tsolakidou and reached a better endgame. Tsolakidou made several mistakes in mutual time trouble, but Khadem did not manage to find the most precise continuations. The advantage slipped away, and the game simplified to a drawn position. Another half point each went on the scoreboard.
When the dust settled, the final score was 12 to 3 in Game Points for Ganges Grandmasters. With three wins and no losses in this match, they continued their strong recovery. PBG Alaskan Knights, on the other hand, suffered their second heavy defeat in a row and remain under pressure to turn their season around.
Match 8: Triveni Continental Kings vs Fyers American Gambits (8:10)
The day’s second match pitted the defending champions against one of the most dangerous challengers. Triveni Continental Kings had started the season with two wins: they beat Alpine SG Pipers by 9-7 on and then crushed PBG Alaskan Knights by 15-3. Fyers American Gambits arrived on three Match Points from two rounds. They had defeated PBG Alaskan Knights on the opening night, then narrowly lost to upGrad Mumba Masters.
Both teams fielded their strongest lineups. For Triveni this meant Alireza Firouzja, Wei Yi, Vidit Gujrathi, Zhu Jiner, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Marc’Andria Maurizzi. For the Gambits it was Hikaru Nakamura, Richard Rapport, Vladislav Artemiev, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Teodora Injac and Volodar Murzin.
The first decisive result came on one of the men’s boards. Richard Rapport played a fine positional game against Vidit Gujrathi. Step by step, he restricted White’s pieces and built a kind of geometric cage around the white king. Vidit spent a long time searching for a defence but there was no way out. The Gambits took the first win of the match and four Game Points.
Triveni struck back spectacularly on a women’s board. In a very sharp Scotch, Alexandra Kosteniuk emerged with two minor pieces against Teodora Injac’s rook and a pawn. The position remained balanced for a long time, but in Injac misplayed walking her king into a mating net. Kosteniuk finished the game by checkmating with a pawn – a rare sight in top level chess. Her win brought three Game Points and leveled the match.
The Icon board then tilted the match in favor of the reigning champions. Alireza Firouzja and Hikaru Nakamura battled in a sharp line of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted in which Black was left with a weak pawn on e6. Firouzja arranged his pieces on optimal squares around this target and then advanced his queenside majority. Nakamura defended resourcefully, but had to invest a lot of time to find accurate moves. After missing the key defensive idea, he allowed Firouzja to trade queens and create an unstoppable c-passer. Nakamura resigned and Triveni moved into the lead.
After these three decisive games, the score stood at 6 to 4 for Triveni. The remaining boards would decide the match.
On the top men’s board, Vladislav Artemiev (Gambits) gained a slight edge against Wei Yi in a Vienna Game. However, White’s position was solid to enough for the player of Wei’s caliber to hold with accurate defense. The players repeated moves and agreed a draw.
The women’s game between Bibisara Assaubayeva (Gambits) and Zhu Jiner followed a different pattern. Assaubayeva obtained the better position and pushed for more. At the critical juncture she made a serious mistake that completely turned the tables. White emerged with a decisive advantage but then it was Zhu’s turn to falter. After she hastily grabbed the rook the game liquidated into an opposite-coloured bishops ending, in which White had no winning chanced despite an extra pawn. The game soon ended in a draw.
With four boards finished and one win each for both sides, plus two draws, Triveni were still two Game Points ahead at 8-6. Everything now depended on the prodigy board.
Marc’Andria Maurizzi and Volodar Murzin played a very sharp Sicilian. Maurizzi emerged with the more pleasant position and increased pressure by advancing his kingside pawns. With more time on his clock and the initiative on the board, it looked as if Triveni might seal another match victory. Then the tension and the clock began to tell. First, White prematurely relieved the tension on the kingside giving Black some breathing space and then gave up his h-pawn allowing Murzin to created a very dangerous passer, which decided the game in game in Gambits’s favor.
Murzin’s win with Black was worth four Game Points and swung the match. The final score was 10 to 8 in Game Points for Fyers American Gambits. They took three valuable Match Points and handed Triveni Continental Kings their first defeat of the season. For the Gambits, it was an important response after their loss to upGrad Mumba Masters on Day 2.
Match 9: Alpine SG Pipers vs upGrad Mumba Masters (9:7)
The final match of day three brought together two teams at opposite ends of the table. upGrad Mumba Masters had started with two convincing wins, crushing Ganges Grandmasters on Day 1 and then edging out Fyers American Gambits on Day 2. Alpine SG Pipers had lost both their matches. For them, this felt like a last chance to restart their season.
The Pipers, playing with the white pieces, began well. On the men’s boards, Praggnanandhaa built early pressure against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. On the women’s boards, both Hou Yifan and Nino Batsiashvili obtained promising positions. For a while, it looked as if the bottom placed team might finally have found the right line-up and rhythm.
The first game to finish was between Anish Giri and Wesley So. On the Superstar board, they followed a quiet line in the Scotch, taking no risks. Soon most of the pieces came off, and the game ended in a draw – one Game Point for each team.
Then Hou Yifan delivered her best game of the season so far. Facing Humpy Koneru in a Giuoco Piano, she punished Black for an untimely pawn thrust in the center. After winning the battle for the key squares, she launched a devastating kingside attack, forcing capitulation on move 31. Pipers moved ahead by 4 to 1 in Game Points, and Hou gained a big boost after two difficult days.
On the Icon board, however, the trend was reversed. Fabiano Caruana facing the Najdorf against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave somewhat surprisingly began to spend a lot of time in a complex endgame, without getting clear chances. At some point, he lost the thread, while MVL sensed the unease and grew more confident with every move. Eventually, Black won a pawn and gradually converted his extra material. With this win with Vachier Lagrave put upGrad in front by 5 to 4.
The next result was another setback for Alpine. Nino Batsiashvili, who had won both her previous games, exerted some pressure Harika Dronavalli in a Queen’s Gambit Declined. To her credit, Harika defended accurately and steered the game into a drawn position. They split the point and upGrad stayed one Game Point ahead.
Then came one of the most dramatic turns of the day. On the second men’s board, Praggnanandhaa handled the London System in exemplary style against Mamedyarov. He avoided the sharpest lines, exchanged pieces at the right moments, and gained a sizable advantage. In the rook endgame that followed, he collected all of Black’s pawns except two and was completely winning. However, with less than ten seconds on his clock, Pragg made a natural move, snatching Black’s second-to-last pawn, which turned out to be a blunder. The four extra pawns suddenly meant nothing, as Mamedyarov delivered perpetual check and forced a draw. It was a huge escape for upGrad and a painful miss for the Pipers.
The score now stood at 7 to 6 for upGrad. Everything depended on the game on Prodigy board between Leon Luke Mendonca and Bardiya Daneshvar. For most of the game the position stayed roughly balanced, but late middlegame White’s queen reached h8 and disturbed the king on g6 and the surrounding pieces.
Bardiya still had more time, but the position, although objectively equal, was treacherous for Black, with latent threats looming. Trying to untangle, he overlooked a long queen move from h8 to a1 (long backward moves are notoriously easy to miss) and found himself in a mating net. Mendonca finished the game by delivering checkmate.
Leon’s win with White was worth three Game Points and turned the match around. Alpine SG Pipers won by 9 to 7 in Game Points and finally recorded their first victory of the season. For upGrad Mumba Masters, this was their first defeat, while for the Pipers it was a badly needed boost at the end of a long and dramatic day in Mumbai.
Written by Milan Dinic
Photos: Global Chess League
About Tech Mahindra Global Chess League
The Global Chess League is the world’s first and largest official franchise league of its kind, with chess players from all over the world competing in a unique joint team format. It is a joint venture between Tech Mahindra, a part of the Mahindra Group, and FIDE. The league will feature male and female chess champions competing in the same team. Playing on the popular rapid format, the league’s joint male-female teams will have the rare distinction of being a unique multiplayer team in the world of professional sports. In addition, the league is a one-of-its-kind live televised chess event offering fans a unique viewing experience. Tech Mahindra and FIDE will explore innovative ways to promote the game through interactive technology-enabled platforms by leveraging next-generation technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, among others.
For more information on Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, please visit: globalchessleague.com/
Contact: Abhilasha Gupta, Global Head – Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, Tech Mahindra
Email: Abhilasha.Gupta@TechMahindra.com; media.relations@techmahindra.com