Caruana & Gukesh halt Firouzja @ GCL Mumbai
GM Fabiano Caruana (Alpine SG Pipers) & little later World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju (PBG Alaskan Knights) grounded GM Alireza Firouzja pegging back leaders Triveni Continental Kings after day 6 of the $ 1 million Global Chess League, a joint initiative of Indian giant Tech Mahindra and FIDE, at the Royal Opera House, Mumbai. But, Kings played their 7th round and got past PBG Alaskan Knights keeping their lead with 15 match points. Defending champions Kings have played a match more than second placed upGrad Mumba Masters, who at 12 match points have an extra match on hand.
In the four featured matches for the day, PBG Alaskan Knights overcame FYERS American Gambits 9-7, Alpine SG Pipers upstaged Triveni Continental Kings 12-8, upGrad Mumba Masters beat Ganges Grandmasters 11-6 and in the final match of the day Triveni Continental Kings got past PBG Alaskan Knights 10-9.
In the first match of the day the FYERS American Gambits began well as the icon board clash saw GM Hikaru Nakamura putting it across world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. But wins by GM Erigaisi and IM Sarasadat took the PBG Alaskan Knights through to a 9-7 win, their second in seven matches so far.
Earlier, US Champion Fabiano Caruana delivered a high flying GM Alireza Firouzja his first defeat after a 5/5 start. The Fabi – Alireza was more a heart-stopper than an icon game. It was turning out to be a free-for-all middle game where two rooks and three minor pieces dazzled. The pulse increased as Fabi’s pawns started racing down the aisle. Down the final few seconds pieces were flying all around. Banking on delivering a checkmate Firouzja’s piled up his armoury on the kingside. But an extra queen for white was little too much of a compensation as Fabi finished with finesse – a queen sacrifice on the 77th move.
Riding high on Fabi’s icon board win Alpine SG Pipers accounted for two time champions Triveni Continental Kings 12-8. It turned out to be a no draw contest as all the six games produced result. Wins by Grandmasters Giri, Pragg, Batsiashvili put the issue beyond doubt for the Pipers. Black triumphs for GMs Zhu Jiner and Mendonca turned out to be small consolation for Kings.
In the third match of the day, upGrad Mumba Masters overcame Ganges Grandmasters 11-6 where wins behind the icon board saw the Masters through. The icon board game between GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and former world champion Vishy Anand ended in a draw. But wins from Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Koneru Humpy helped the team conquer Ganges Grandmasters.
It turned out to be a day of a tough reality check for Firouzja, as World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and GM Fabiano Caruana brought down the Iranian Frenchman who was running away with a 5/5 high ELO performance. Despite getting knocked 0-2 in the icon board leaders Triveni Continental Kings managed to win one of the two matches thanks to better support in the lower boards. With speed time control ruling the roost, most of the games went up to the very last second, producing several heart-stopping moments.
In a hard fought last match of the day that ran close, two time champions Triveni Continental Kings beat PBG Alaskan Knights 10-9, despite GM Alireza Firouzja losing the icon board clash to World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Crucial black wins by GMs Wei Yi, Vidit Gujrathi and Alexandra Kosteniuk saw Kings coasting home by the narrowest of the margins. GM Kateryna Lagno‘s defeat of GM Zhu Jiner only helped reduce the deficit as prodigy board GM Daniel Dardha could only snatch a draw from GM Maurizzi MarcAndria.
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.
With speed time control ruling the roost, most of the games went up to the very last second, producing several exhilarating moments. 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.
Day 7 starts on Saturday, 20th December, by 5 AM ET / 11 PM CET / 3:30 PM IST.
Results (Round 6): PBG Alaskan Knights beat FYERS American Gambits 9-7 (Gukesh lost to Hikaru, Erigaisi beat Artemiev, Dominguez drew with Rapport, Lagno drew with Assaubayeva, Sarasadat beat Teodora, Dardha drew with Murzin), Alpine SG Pipers beat Triveni Continental Kings 12-8(Caruana beat Firouzja, Giri beat Wei Yi, Pragg beat Vidit, Hou Yifan lost to Zhu Jiner, Batsiashvili beat Kosteniuk, Mendonca lost to Maurizzi), upGrad Mumba Masters beat Ganges Grandmasters 11-6 (MVL drew with Vishy, Wesley So beat Keymer, Mamedyarov beat Sindarov, Humpy beat Shuvalova, Harika lost to Tsolakidou, Bardiya drew with Sadhwani), Triveni Continental Kings beat PBG Alaskan Knights 10-9 (Firouzja lost to Gukesh, Wei Yi beat Erigaisi, Vidit beat Dominguez, Zhu Jiner lost to Lagno, Kosteniuk beat Sarasadat, Maurizzi drew with Dardha).
Alireza Firouzja (2754) – Gukesh Dommaraju (2692) 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Bg4 5. f3 Bd7 6. dxc5 Nc6 7. Nxd5 e5 8. Bg5 Qa5+ 9. Nc3 Be6 10. a3 Nd5 11. Qd2 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 13. bxc3 Bxc5 14. e4 f6 15. Bh4 O-O-O 16. Bd3 Na5 17. Bf2 Bxf2+ 18. Kxf2 Bc4 19. Ke3 Rd6 20. Nh3 Rc6 21. f4 Rd8 22. fxe5 Bxd3 23. cxd3 Rxc3 24. exf6 Rdxd3+ 25. Kf4 gxf6 26. Nf2 Rd2 27. Ng4 Nb3 28. Rad1 Rxg2 29. Nxf6 Nc5 30. Rhg1 Rf2+ 31. Ke5 b6 32. Rg7 Nd3+ 33. Rxd3 Rxd3 34. Rxa7 Rxh2 35. Nd5 Rh5+ 36. Kf4 Kb8 37. Rg7 Rh4+ 38. Ke5 Rxa3 39. Nxb6 Ra5+ 40. Nd5 h5 41. Rh7 Rh1 42. Kd4 Ra4+ 43. Ke5 h4 44. Rh8+ Kb7 45. Rh7+ Kb8 46. Rh8+ Kb7 47. Rh7+ Ka6 48. Rh6+ Ka5 49. Rh8 Rc4 50. Ra8+ Kb5 51. Rb8+ Ka6 52. Ne3 Rc5+ 53. Kd6 Rb5 54. Ra8+ Kb7 55. Rh8 h3 56. Nd5 h2 57. Rh7+ Kb8 58. Kc6
58…Rxd5 0-1
Wesley So (2702) – Vincent Keymer (2640) 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nge2 d6 6. O-O a5 7. d4 exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. h3 Nbd7 10. Kh2 a4 11. b3 axb3 12. cxb3 Bb4 13. Nde2 h6 14. Qc2 Ne5 15. f4 Ng6 16. a3 Bd7 17. Bb2 Bc5 18. b4 Ba7 19. Rad1 h5 20. Nd5 Nxd5 21. Rxd5 h4 22. Rg5 Ne5 23. gxh4 f6 24. Rg3 Nf7 25. e5 f5 26. exd6 Qxh4 27. Rxg7+ Kf8 28. Qxc7 Rad8 29. Ng3 Nh6 30. Rxd7 Rc8 31. Bg7+ Kg8
32. Bd5+ 1-0
Fabiano Caruana (2751) – Alireza Firouzja (2754) 1. c4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Nc3 e5 5. d5 a5 6. Bd3 Na6 7. Be3 Bh6 8. Bxh6 Nxh6 9. Qd2 Ng4 10. h3 Nf6 11. Nge2 Qe7 12. g4 Nd7 13. O-O-O Ndc5 14. Bb1 Bd7 15. f4 exf4 16. Qxf4 O-O-O 17. Rdf1 Nb4 18. Kd2 Rdf8 19. Qf6 Kd8 20. Nd4 Qxf6 21. Rxf6 Ke7 22. Rf2 f6 23. a3 Nba6 24. Nce2 a4 25. Bc2 Be8 26. Nf4 Bf7 27. h4 Nd7 28. Bxa4 Ne5 29. Kc3 Nc5 30. Bc2 Nxg4 31. Re2 Ra8 32. Ra1 Ne5 33. a4 g5 34. Ng2 Bh5 35. Re3 Bg4 36. b4 Ncd7 37. a5 c5 38. dxc6 bxc6 39. Nf5+ Bxf5 40. exf5 h6 41. Be4 Rhc8 42. Ree1 d5 43. Bd3 Kd6 44. Be2 c5 45. b5 d4+ 46. Kb3 Rcb8 47. hxg5 hxg5 48. Rh1 Re8 49. Ne1 Nf7 50. Bf3 Re3+ 51. Kb2 Rae8 52. Bd5 Nfe5 53. Ra3 Re2+ 54. Kc1 g4 55. Rg1 Rh8 56. Ng2 Rh2 57. a6 Nb6 58. a7 d3 59. Ra6 Nxc4 60. a8=Q Rc2+ 61. Kb1 Ke5 62. Qb8+ Kd4 63. Ka1 Nxd5 64. Qxh2 Nd2 65. Ra4+ c4 66. Ra3 Nb3+ 67. Rxb3 cxb3 68. Qd6 Kc4 69. Qc6+ Kd4 70. Qd6 Kc4 71. Ne3+ Nxe3 72. Qf4+ Kc3 73. Qxe3 Ra2+ 74. Kb1 Rb2+ 75. Kc1 Rc2+ 76. Kd1 b2
77. Qxd3+ 1-0
Photo Courtesy: Tech Mahindra Global Chess League / SG Pipers Official
Official Site: https://globalchessleague.com/
