Kings increase lead @ GCL Mumbai
Led by GM Alireza Firouzja leaders Triveni Continental Kings kept themselves on top of the table with 18 match points after day 7 of the $ 1 million Global Chess League, a joint initiative of Tech Mahindra and FIDE, at the Royal Opera House, Mumbai. Sharing the second spot with 12 match points were Ganges Grandmasters and upGrad Mumba Masters. But, Mumba Masters have an extra match to play on hands.
In the four featured matches for the day, FYERS American Gambits beat upGrad Mumba Masters 16-1, Ganges Grandmasters beat Alpine SG Pipers 10-9, FYERS American Gambits lost to Triveni Continental Kings 7-8, PBG Alaskan Knights beat Ganges Grandmasters 9-7.
FYERS American Gambits swept the first match of the day by a whopping 16-1 score against second placed upGrad Mumba Masters. Winning the first five boards through GMs viz., Hikaru, Artemiev, Rapport, Assaubayeva and European Champion Teodora the Gambits recorded the biggest win of Season 3.
Ganges Grandmasters led by five times world champion Viswanathan Anand coasted home to a close 10-9 win over Alpine SG Pipers. The icon board game between Vishy Anand and Fabiano Caruana ended in a draw. Wins by GMs Vincent Keymer, Javokhir Sindarov and IM Tsolakidou took the Indian team home.
In the closest match of the day, a narrow 8-7 win over FYERS American Gambits helped defending champions Triveni Continental Kings keep the lead. European Women’s Champion Teodora Injac defeated former women world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk adding 3 points to her team. It proved a little short as a black win in the prodigy board by GM Maurizzi MarcAndria against world rapid champion GM Volodar Murzin did the magic when Kings squeaked home by one point.
In the fourth and final match of the day, PBG Alaskan Knights defeated Ganges Grandmasters 9-7 in a close match. GM Erigaisi Arjun kept up the momentum defeating GM Vincent Keymer, while IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat completed the job defeating IM Stavroula Tsolakidou taking Knights past the winning line.
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 Indian giant Tech Mahindra and FIDE (International Chess Federation) is into its third successful edition having started off in Dubai 2023 followed by London 2024.
Day 8 starts on Sunday, 21st December, by 5 AM ET / 11 PM CET / 3:30 PM IST.
Results (Day 7): FYERS American Gambits beat upGrad Mumba Masters 16-1 (Hikaru beat MVL, Artemiev beat Wesley So, Rapport beat Mamedyarov, Assaubayeva beat Humpy, Teodara beat Harika, Murzin drew with Bardiya), Ganges Grandmasters beat Alpine SG Pipers 10-9 (Vishy drew with Caruana, Keymer beat Giri, Sindarov beat Pragg, Shuvalova lost to Hou Yifan, Tsolakidou beat Batsiashvili, Sadhwani lost to Mendonca), FYERS American Gambits lost to Triveni Continental Kings 7-8 (Hikaru drew with Firouzja, Artemiev drew with Wei Yi, Rapport drew with Vidit, Assaubayeva drew with Zhu Jiner, Teodora beat Kosteniuk, Murzin lost to Maurizzi),PBG Alaskan Knights beat Ganges Grandmasters 9-7 (Gukesh drew with Vishy, Erigaisi beat Keymer, Dominguez drew with Sindarov, Lagno lost to Shuvalova, Sarasadat beat Tsolakidou, Dardha drew with Sadhwani).
Erigaisi Arjun (2714) – Vincent Keymer (2640) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 Rb8 9. Bd3 Bd6 10. Nc3 Bg4 11. Qg3 e4 12. Qe3 O-O 13. Ngxe4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Re8 15. f3 Bh5 16. g4 Bg6 17. b3 Be5 18. c3 Bf4 19. Qe2 h5 20. Rg1 Bxh2 21. Rg2 Bf4 22. gxh5 Qh4+ 23. Kd1 Qxh5 24. Kc2 f5 25. Bc4+ Kh7 26. d3 fxe4 27. dxe4 Bc7 28. Rg5 Qh3 29. Bd3 Rbd8 30. Bd2 Rxd3 31. Qxd3 Rf8 32. Rag1 Rf6 33. Rxg6 Rxg6 34. e5 Qh5 35. Rg5 Qh6
36. Qf5 1-0
Teodora Injac (2360) – Alexandra Kosteniuk (2450) 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Bf5 4. O-O e6 5. c4 dxc4 6. Na3 Bxa3 7. Qa4+ c6 8. Qxa3 Nbd7 9. b3 cxb3 10. Qxb3 Nc5 11. Qe3 Qb6 12. Ba3 Nce4 13. Qf4 Nd5 14. Qe5 f6 15. Qb2 Qxb2 16. Bxb2 Bg6 17. d3 Nd6 18. a4 O-O-O 19. Rfc1 Kb8 20. Nd4 Bf7 21. Ba3 e5 22. Nf3 Kc7 23. Rab1 h5 24. h4 Be6 25. Nd2 Nc8 26. Ne4 b6 27. Rb2 c5 28. Nxc5 bxc5 29. Rxc5+ Kd7 30. Bxd5 Bxd5 31. Rxd5+ Ke6 32. Rxd8 Rxd8 33. Rb8 g5 34. hxg5 fxg5 35. Kg2 Rg8 36. Bc5 Kd7 37. a5 Kc7 38. Rb4 Kc6 39. Be3 a6 40. Rc4+ Kd6 41. Bxg5 Rxg5 42. Rxc8 e4 43. dxe4 Rxa5 44. f4 Ra3 45. Rh8 a5 46. Rxh5 Kc6 47. f5 Re3 48. f6 Rxe2+ 49. Kf3 Re1
50. Rf5 1-0
Photo Courtesy: Tech Mahindra Global Chess League
Official Site: https://globalchessleague.com/
