The Pipers reached the finals despite a late defeat from PBG in the final day of round-robin matches. Having started the tournament with four losses, PBG ended the event on a high, tying for second place and reaching the third-place playoffs where they will face Ganges Grandmasters.
The all play all round-robin phase of Season 3 concluded in Mumbai with a day filled with action, tension, turnarounds and disappointment. With defending champions Triveni Continental Kings already qualifying for the finals the day before, the focus shifted to who would join them and who would go into the third place playoffs.
Each team played one match on the final day. The most anticipated encounter was the duel between Alpine SG Pipers and PBG Alaskan Knights, which decided the second finalist. The Pipers lost that match 6–11, but still finished ahead of Ganges Grandmasters thanks to a single extra Game Point, 84 to 83. Thanks to their victory over the Pipers, PBG qualified for the third-place playoffs, where they will face Ganges.
Standings after Day 9
Earlier in the day, Ganges defeated Fyers American Gambits 12–3. The Gambits finished season three in last place. With three victories and seven defeats, the team led by Hikaru Nakamura and featuring heavyweights such as Richard Rapport and Vladislav Artemiev failed to find consistent form in Mumbai.
The tournament’s most tragic figures were the upGrad Mumbai Masters. After closely contending with Triveni for the top spot, they collapsed with three consecutive defeats. Today brought a fourth loss as they fell to Triveni 10–9. They finished Season 3 in fifth place with 12 Match Points.
The final will see Alpine SG Pipers take on defending champions Triveni Continental Kings,
Match 28. Ganges Grandmasters vs Fyers American Gambits (12 – 3)
The Gambits had a tough tournament, winning only three of their nine matches and suffered a four-match losing streak. On Day 8, they lost narrowly to the Pipers and entered the final day at the bottom of the table, on 9 Match Points. Their opponents Ganges had a better event and were in shared second place, but their chances of reaching the final were damaged after losing the last two matches. In this match, Ganges had more to lose than the Gambits had to gain.
Ganges also had the advantage of the white pieces and took the initiative on most boards from the start.
On board one, Viswanathan Anand drew with Hikaru Nakamura in the Murphy Defence of Ruy Lopez. White emerged with an extra pawn, but after Anand missed the best continuation on move 23, Nakamura liquidated into an equal heavy-piece ending where a draw was agreed on move 41. It was the first result of the match.
On board five, Stavroula Tsolakidou emerged clearly better against Teodora Injac in the Italian Game. She went on to collect most of Black’s weak pawns and won with ease, giving Ganges a 4–1 lead.
More good news followed for Ganges on board two, where Vincent Keymer scored three Game Points against Vladislav Artemiev. He finished the game with a clear checkmate and increased his team’s edge to 7–1.
The Gambits had a strong chance to strike back on board three, where Richard Rapport was pressing Javokhir Sindarov in the Queen’s Indian. Sindarov sacrificed an exchange to build some sort of fortress on the light squares. Seeing that his opponent was short on time, Rapport played quickly, hoping to provoke an error, but Sindarov held firm and the game ended in a draw.
On the prodigy board, Raunak Sadhwani gained a clear advantage against Volodar Murzin in the Closed Sicilian early on and converted his advantage, sealing the match for Ganges.
The final game to finish was between Polina Shuvalova and Bibisara Assaubayeva. Shuvalova reached a much better position and had the initiative, but misplayed the winning endgame with an extra pawn and two bishops allowing Assaubayeva to escape with a draw.
The final score was 12 – 3. Ganges did everything they could, scoring a convincing win and moving into shared second place with the Pipers, as they awaited the result of Alpine’s match with PBG.
Match 29. Triveni Continental Kings vs upGrad Mumba Masters (10 – 9)
The second match of the day pitted Triveni against upGrad. Their positions in the standings could not have been more different. Triveni were on 21 Match Points and had already qualified for the finals. upGrad, who had chased them closely for much of the season, were in free fall after three consecutive defeats. Of all the teams on 12 Match Points before the final day, upGrad had the highest Game Point score, 83, which still gave them good chances to catch Alpine and reach the finals (assuming Alpine don’t defeat PBG in the final match of the day). To stay in the race, upGrad needed to beat Triveni.
With the white pieces and no pressure to win, Triveni came out visibly relaxed. The players were smiling and joking as they walked to the stage. In contrast, upGrad’s team looked tense, well aware of the situation they had created for themselves. That difference in mood was reflected on the boards.
On the first women’s board, Harika Dronavalli, who had lost a winning position against Sara Khadem in the critical match with PBG on Day 8, gained an upper hand with Black against Alexandra Kosteniuk in a French Defence. Despite being an exchange up, she could not achieve more, and the game ended in a draw.
On the other women’s board, Humpy Koneru blundered in a tense position and allowed Zhu Jiner to score three Game Points for Triveni, giving the champions an early 4–1 lead.
Mumba struck back on board three. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov turned the tables on Vidit Gujrathi in the Caro-Kann and eventually won. The score now stood at 5 – 4 for upGrad.
On board two, Wei Yi defeated Wesley So, who miscalculated in a sharp position and lost a piece. The result flipped again and Triveni moved in front, 7–5.
Then came a big break for upGrad. On the prodigy board, Bardiya Daneshvar came back from a significantly worse position to defeat Marc’Andria Maurizzi giving another four points to Mumba and swinging the score to 9–7 in their favour.
While these games were finishing, a dark cloud was hanging over upGrad’s Icon board. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won an exchange in a sharp tactical exchange early on, but on move 20 played a natural bishop retreat, which turned out to be a serious mistake. Alireza Firouzja got a sufficient compensation but hardly more. However, MVL slipped on move 35 landing in a lost endgame. MVL kept the last game in play going, but there was no escape. Firouzja converted and Triveni narrowly won the match 10–9.
This was Triveni’s eighth victory of the season. They lost only two matches in the round-robin. For upGrad the league ended miserably with four straight defeats, dropping from a strong second place into the lower half of the table.
Match 30. Alpine SG Pipers vs PBG Alaskan Knights (6 – 11)
The final match of the day decided the second finalist. Alpine SG Pipers started the last round in clear second place. A draw or a win would take them to the finals. PBG Alaskan Knights had woken up late in the season, climbing to 12 Match Points by winning four of their previous five matches.
Alpine had the advantage of the first move. For much of the round, the games were level on most boards. Only on board four Pipers stood clearly stand better, where Hou Yifan was winning against Kateryna Lagno.
Hou was indeed the first to score. In an extremely sharp Giuoco Piano, Lagno made several mistakes, giving White a clear advantage. She tried to complicate matters with a piece sacrifice, but had to resign two moves later.
The second result was a draw on board five between Nino Batsiashvili and Sara Khadem. The opponents quickly traded most of the pieces and shook hands in an equal, symmetrical position.
Then came the first big break for PBG: Arjun Erigaisi defeated Anish Giri. In an equal endgame arising from a King’s Indian, Giri, who was often glancing away from his board to check other results, made several mistakes. Erigaisi took full advantage and scored four critical points for PBG, who now took the lead in the match, 5–4.
Two draws followed quickly, on the Superstar board between Praggnanandhaa and Leinier Dominguez and on the prodigy board between Leon Luke Mendonca and Daniel Dardha. After these results, PBG led by 7–6.
A storm was brewing on board one, where Gukesh was playing Fabiano Caruana in a Sicilian. Black emerged with an extra pawn and better coordinated pieces, making it hard for White to find counterplay. Caruana finally cracked under relentless pressure and Gukesh converted, adding four more points for his team. The final result was 11–6 for PBG. The Knights moved to 15 Match Points, tying for places two to four.
Despite losing the last match, Alpine SG Pipers held on the second place thanks to a single extra Game Point over third placed Ganges, 84 against 83. They advanced to the final to face Triveni.
Thanks to their big comeback at the end of the event, PBG reached the match for third place in the league, where they will play Ganges Grandmasters.
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