Firouzja downs Caruana, 3rd GCL takes off @ Mumbai
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated home favorite GM Viswanathan Anand taking his team upGrad Mumba Masters past Ganges Grandmasters 17-4 in the first round of the $ 1 million Global Chess League, Mumbai. This mega & colorful event runs at the historic Royal Opera House from 14th to 23rd December, 2025. In another close match, reigning champions Triveni Continental Kings scored a 9-7 win over Alpine SG Pipers. PBG Alaskan Knights, featuring a World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and GM Arjun Erigaisi went down 8-5 to US No. 1 Hikaru Nakamura led Fyers American Gambits in the final tie of the day.
With four wins from six boards, upGrad Mumba Masters defeated Ganges Grandmasters 17–4 in a one-sided encounter on the opening day. Global Chess League (GCL), is a joint initiative of Tech Mahindra and FIDE (International Chess Federation) is into its third successful edition having started off in Dubai 2023 followed by London 2024.
A day earlier, the official Grand Chess League Season 3 trophy was unveiled. Gracing the ceremony were Mr Anand Mahindra, Chairperson of the Mahindra Group, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand, GMs Erigaisi Arjun, Alireza Firouzja, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Dronavalli Harika and world rapid champion Volodar Murzin.
Kings and Pipers kicked off GCL Season 3, focusing on the top-board clash between GMs Alireza Firouzja and Fabiano Caruana, where the French star got the better of US Champion in a Sicilian Dragon game. Earlier, Pipers delivered the first blow when GM Nino Batsiashvili defeated GM Alexandra Kosteniuk with black, fetching Kings a four-point win. Firouzja’s match-winning performance got him the Player of the Match award.
A novel points scoring system is used here, one that gives four game points for a win with Black and three game points for a win with White, which makes draws (1 game point) not that lucrative. The playing format remained unchanged, comprising six players in each team including two women and a junior player. Like the previous edition, the time control remains 20 minutes per player per game, but this time there is now an increment of two seconds per move after move 41. A big change welcomed by many stars including Indian icon Vishy Anand.
Results (Round 1): Triveni Continental Kings beat Alpine SG Pipers 9-7 (Firouzja beat Caruana, Wei Yi beat Giri, Vidit drew with Pragg, Zhu Jiner drew with Hou Yifan, Kosteniuk lost to Batsiashvili, Maurizzi drew with Mendonca), Ganges Grandmasters lost to upGrad Mumba Masters 4-17 (Vishy lost to MVL, Keymer drew with wesley So, Sindarov lost to Mamedyarov, Shuvalova beat Humpy, Tsolakidou lost Harika, Sadhwani lost to Bardiya), Fyers American Gambits beat PBG Alaskan Knights 8-5 (Hikaru drew with Gukesh, Artemiev drew with Erigaisi, Rapport drew with Dominguez, Assaubayeva drew with Lagno, Teodara beat Sarasadat, Murzin drew with Dardha).
Alireza Firouzja (2754) – Fabiano Caruana (2751) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 d6 9. f3 Bd7 10. Qd3 Ne5 11. Qd2 Rc8 12. h4 h5 13. O-O-O Nc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. Kb1 Qc7 16. Nde2 b5 17. Nf4 Bc6 18. g4 Rc8 19. gxh5 b4 20. hxg6 bxc3 21. gxf7+ Kxf7 22. Qg2 e5 23. Rhg1 exf4 24. Qxg7+ Ke6 25. Qg6 fxe3 26. Qf5+ Kf7 27. Rg6 Qe7 28. Rdg1 Bxe4 29. Rg7+ Ke8 30. Rxe7+ Kxe7 31. Rg7+ Ke8
32. Qe6+ 1-0
Viswanathan Anand (2727) – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2730) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. d5 Nb8 13. Nf1 Nbd7 14. Ng3 Nc5 15. Bc2 c6 16. b4 Ncd7 17. dxc6 Bxc6 18. Bg5 h6 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Bb3 Qc7 21. Nh2 d5 22. exd5 Rad8 23. Ng4 Nxd5 24. Qc2 Nf4 25. Qf5 g6 26. Nf6+ Kg7 27. Nxe8+ Rxe8 28. Qc2 Nxg2 29. Re2 Qc8 30. f3 Nh4 31. Re3 Nxf3+ 32. Rxf3 Bxf3 33. Bxf7 Kxf7 34. Rf1
34…e4 0-1
Photo Courtesy: Tech Mahindra Global Chess League
Official Site: https://globalchessleague.com/
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