Alpine SG Pipers emerge Global Chess League 2025 Champions
US Champion Fabiano Caruana led team Alpine SG Pipers delivered when it mattered, dethroning two time champions Triveni Continental Kings by an aggregate score of 8.5-3.5 in both the finals of the 3rd season of the Global Chess League at Royal Opera House, Mumbai. PBG Alaskan Knights came from behind to pip Ganges Grandmasters in the tie-breaks to take the third place. Global Chess League (GCL), a joint initiative of Indian technology giant Tech Mahindra and FIDE (International Chess Federation) successfully completed its third edition at Mumbai having started off in Dubai 2023 followed by London 2024.
Having made it to the finals edging Ganges Grandmasters under a narrow tie-break score, Alpine SG Pipers came up with a neat performance emerging clear champions. The first of the finals with black pieces Pipers swept Kings 4-2, while in the match with the reversed colors Pipers again shut out Kings 4.5-1.5 taking the title without the need of a tie-break.
Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri was awarded the player of the match for outclassing GM Wei Yi with both black and white pieces. Giving Giri able support was Indian GM Leon Luke Mendonca who also scored 2/2 against GM Maurizzi MarcAndria lending valuable support to the Pipers in the prodigy board. Upon winning the title Giri said, “Yesterday I had a mixed feeling because I had a terrible match but the team reached the final. But today there’s no mixed feeling.”
Echoing the feelings of Giri, another Pipers star GM Praggnanandhaa said, “It feels great. The last two times, we were quite close to making the final. This time also we barely made it. But in the final everyone showed up with their best game and it is a great feeling.”
Icon board player GM Alireza Firouzja received the player of the tournament (male) while former women’s world champion Hou Yifan was awarded the player of the tournament (female).
The day started with the fight for the third place between former world champion Vishy Anand led Ganges Grandmasters and current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju led PBG Alaskan Knights. Ganges drew the first blood defeating Knights 4-2 in the first match where the Indian maestro Vishy defeated his student and current world champion Gukesh. But the young Knights fought themselves back into the match winning the reverse match by a narrow 3.5-2.5 after which Ganges collapsed with two further defeats in the tie-breaks.
In the final tie-break blitz game the match score stood 3-2 in favor of Pipers and it was world champion Gukesh Dommaraju who sealed the match defeating his mentor Indian icon Viswanathan Anand. The current and former world champions played four games with scores remaining even, with one win, one loss and two draws each. A silent performer for the Knights was GM Erigaisi Arjun who won three of his four matches against GM Vincent Keymer taking his team across the line.
3rd place play-off (Game 1): Ganges Grandmasters beat PBG Alaskan Knights 4-2 (Vishy beat Gukesh, Keymer lost to Erigaisi, Sindarov beat Dominguez, Shuvalova beat Lagno, Tsolakidou lost to Sarasadat, Sadhwani beat Dardha).
3rd place play-off (Game 2): PBG Alaskan Knights beat Ganges Grandmasters 3.5-2.5 (Gukesh drew with Vishy, Erigaisi beat Keymer, Dominguez beat Sindarov, Lagno lost to Shuvalova, Sarasadat lost to Tsolakidou, Dardha beat Sadhwani).
3rd place play-off (Tie-break 1): Ganges Grandmasters lost to PBG Alaskan Knights 2.5-3.5 (Vishy drew with Gukesh, Keymer lost to Erigaisi, Sindarov beat Dominguez, Shuvalova lost to Lagno, Tsolakidou lost to Sarasadat, Sadhwani beat Dardha).
3rd place play-off (Tie-break 2): PBG Alaskan Knights beat Ganges Grandmasters 4-2 (Gukesh beat Vishy, Erigaisi lost to Keymer, Dominguez beat Sindarov, Lagno beat Shuvalova, Sarasadat lost to Tsolakidou, Dardha beat Sadhwani).
Final (Game 1): Triveni Continental Kings lost to Alpine SG Pipers 2-4 (Firouzja beat Caruana, Wei Yi lost to Giri, Vidit drew with Pragg, Zhu Jiner drew with Hou Yifan, Kosteniuk lost to Batsiashvili, Maurizzi lost to Mendonca).
Final (Game 2): Alpine SG Pipers beat Triveni Continental Kings 4.5-1.5 (Caruana beat Firouzja, Giri beat Wei Yi, Pragg beat Vidit, Hou Yifan drew with Zhu Jiner, Batsiashvili lost to Kosteniuk, Mendonca beat Maurizzi).
Player of the finals: Anish Giri (Alpine SG Pipers)
Player of the tournament (Male): Alireza Firouzja (Triveni Continental Kings)
Player of the tournament (Female): Hou Yifan (Alpine SG Pipers)
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2663) – Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2650) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. Nxe5 Qe7 7. Nd3 d5 8. Bxd5 Bg4 9. f3 Nxf3+ 10. gxf3 Nxd5 11. Qe2 Nxc3 12. dxc3 Be6 13. Be3 Bb6 14. a4 O-O 15. O-O-O Rfd8 16. Kb1 Qe8 17. b3 Ba5 18. Bd4 f6 19. Rhg1 Kh8 20. Rg3 Bb6 21. Rdg1 Rd7 22. a5 Bxd4 23. cxd4 g6 24. Qf2 b6 25. h4 c6 26. h5 gxh5 27. R3g2 Qf7 28. Nf4 Bxb3 29. Rg7 Ba2+ 30. Kb2 Qc4 31. Rxd7 Qb4+ 32. Kxa2 bxa5 33. Qe3 Qa4+ 34. Qa3 Qxc2+
35. Qb2 1-0
Anish Giri (2685) – Wei Yi (2751) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. h4 Nbd7 8. a4 c5 9. Na3 cxd4 10. Nxc4 Qc7 11. Qxd4 Bc5 12. Qf4 e5 13. Nfxe5 Nh5 14. Qg5 Ndf6 15. Nd3 Bd4 16. Ne3 Be6 17. Nf4 h6 18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. Qg6 Rad8 20. Bf3 Qc5 21. Ra3 Rf7 22. b4 Qe5 23. Rd3 Rdf8 24. Nc4 Qxg3+ 25. Qxg3 Nxg3 26. Rxd4 Nxf1 27. Kxf1 Nd5 28. Ne5 Rf5 29. Nd3 Nc3 30. b5 b6 31. Rc4 Nd5 32. Ke1 R5f6 33. h5 Rd8 34. Bb2 Rf7 35. Ne5 Rff8 36. Nc6 Rd7 37. Bg4 Re8 38. Re4 Nc7 39. Nxa7 Red8 40. Kf1 Rd2 41. Be5 Nd5 42. Bxe6+ Kh8 43. Nc6 Rf8 44. Bxd5 Rxd5 45. Ne7 Rd1+ 46. Kg2 Rf7 47. Ng6+ Kh7 48. Bg3 Rf5 49. Nf4 Ra1 50. Rc4 Re5 51. e3 Ra2 52. Kf3 Re7 53. Nd5 Rf7+
54. Kg4 1-0
Photo Courtesy: Tech Mahindra Global Chess League / SG Pipers Official
Official Site: https://globalchessleague.com/
