Triveni & Mumba share lead @ GCL Mumbai
Defending champions Triveni Continental Kings along with upGrad Mumba Masters with 6 match points each led the table after the second round in the $ 1 million Global Chess League at Royal Opera House, Mumbai. This mega & colorful event that has assembled the cream of all the top players in the world, runs from 14th to 23rd December, 2025. Global Chess League (GCL), 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.
Defending champions Triveni Continental Kings scored a big 15-3 win against PBG Alaskan Knights, as world champion Gukesh Dommaraju went down to GM Alireza Firouzja in the top board. The icon board win set it up for Triveni as wins in the other boards saw them march to a huge win. Chinese star Zhu Jiner overcame Kateryna Lagno, while French junior Maurizzi swept past Dardha. PBG Alaskan Knights could only muster three draws from six games and would look forward to redeem itself at the earliest.
One pairing caught the imagination of the sponsor who brought a Hollywood style banner for the match between former women’s world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and Spanish Iranian International Master Khademalsharieh Sarasadat.
Screamed the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League Facebook post: “Queen energy on both sides. Who will win?”
And the chess loving public got to see an exciting game between Alexandra and Sara. A fighting draw that lasted 67 moves.
Despite a second defeat in a row for Ganges Grandmasters icon Vishy Anand, the team bounced back to stun Alpine SG Pipers 13-7 in a crucial second round encounter. Polina Shuvalova’s defeat of former women’s world champion Hou Yifan set the ball rolling for the Ganges team. Newly crowned World Cup champion Javokhir Sindarov brought down FIDE Circuit winner Praggnanandhaa, while Raunak Sadhwani defeated the Grandmaster from Goa Leon Luke Mendoca carrying his team home.
In a closely fought battle upGrad Mumba Masters defeated Fyers American Gambits 9-7, thanks to victories in the middle and lower boards. First time father GM Hikaru Nakamura got the points on board winning the Icon board against French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. But the Gambit players couldn’t match their top board as Mamedyarov and Bardia successfully put it across Rapport and Murzin respectively. It was greater depth across all the boards that carried Mumba Masters through and right now they look set to go all the way.
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.
Round three starts on Tuesday, 16th December, by 6:30 AM ET / 12:30 PM CET / 5 PM IST.
Results (Round 2): Fyers American Gambits lost to upGrad Mumba Masters 7-9 (MVL lost to Hikaru, Wesley So drew with Artemiev, Mamedyarov beat Rapport, Humpy drew with Assaubayeva, Harika drew with Teodara, Bardiya beat Murzin), Alpine SG Pipers lost to Ganges Grandmasters 13-7 (Caruana beat Vishy, Giri drew with Keymer, Pragg lost to Sindarov, Hou Yifan lost to Shuvalova, Batsiashvili beat Tsolakidou, Mendonca lost to Sadhwani), PBG Alaskan Knights lost to Triveni Continental Kings 3-15 (Gukesh lost to Firouzja, Erigaisi drew with Wei Yi, Dominguez drew with Vidit, Lagno lost to Zhu Jiner, Sarasadat drew with Kosteniuk, Dardha lost to Maurizzi).
Gukesh Dommaraju (2692) – Alireza Firouzja (2754) 1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 c5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 a6 6. O-O Rb8 7. d3 b5 8. cxb5 axb5 9. Be3 b4 10. Na4 d6 11. d4 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Nf6 14. b3 O-O 15. Rc1 Qa5 16. Qd2 Bd7 17. Qe3 Rfe8 18. h3 Qh5 19. g4 Qh4 20. Rc7 Be6 21. Rd1 Rbc8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Qd2 h5 24. f3 hxg4 25. hxg4 Bh6 26. Qxb4 Bf4 27. Qe1 Qh2+ 28. Kf1 Nd5 29. Qf2 Rc2 30. Qg1 Qxg1+ 31. Bxg1 Rxa2 32. Rb1 Ne3+ 33. Bxe3 Bxe3 34. Nc3 Rc2 35. Nd1 Bd4 36. g5 Bf5 37. Nf2 Ra2 38. Rd1 Be3 39. b4
39…Bc2 0-1
Khademalsharieh Sarasadat (2356) – Alexandra Kosteniuk (2450) 1. d4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 d5 6. O-O e5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. c4 d4 9. e3 Be7 10. exd4 exd4 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Ne5 Qb6 13. b3 Bf5 14. Nd2 Rad8 15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. Qf3 c5 17. Bc7 Qxc7 18. Qxf5 g6 19. Qd3 Ng4 20. Nf3 Bf6 21. h3 Ne5 22. Nxe5 Bxe5 23. h4 f5 24. Bd5+ Kg7 25. f4 Bf6 26. Rae1 Rfe8 27. Kg2 Qa5 28. Re2 Qc3 29. Qd1 Re3 30. Rxe3 dxe3 31. Qe2 Qd2 32. Bf3 Qxe2+ 33. Bxe2 Rd2 34. Kf3 Bd4 35. Rd1 Rxa2 36. b4 Kf6 37. bxc5 Bxc5 38. Rd5 Ra5 39. h5 gxh5 40. Bd3 Bb6 41. Rxa5 Bxa5 42. Kxe3 Bb6+ 43. Kf3 a5 44. Bc2 Ke6 45. Ke2 Bd8 46. Kf3 h4 47. g4 fxg4+ 48. Kxg4 h5+ 49. Kh3 Kd6 50. f5 Kc5 51. f6 Bxf6 52. Kh2 Kxc4 53. Ba4 Kb4 54. Be8 Be5+ 55. Kh1 Bg3 56. Bxh5 a4 57. Bf7 a3 58. Kg2 Be5 59. Bg8 Bf4 60. Bf7 Be5 61. Bg8 Bf4
62. Bf7 1/2-1/2
Photo Courtesy: Tech Mahindra Global Chess League Facebook page
Official Site: https://globalchessleague.com/
