Triveni Kings & Mumba Masters share lead @ GCL Mumbai
Two time champions Triveni Continental Kings along with upGrad Mumba Masters led the pack with 9 match points after the fourth round of the $ 1 million Global Chess League at Royal Opera House, Mumbai. Following the leaders with 6 match points were Ganges Grandmasters, Alpine SG Pipers, FYERS American Gambits respectively.
In the three featured matches for the day, Alpine SG Pipers beat FYERS American Gambits 10-4, PBG Alaskan Knights slid to their fourth defeat in a row this time against upGrad Mumba Masters by 2-18 score, while defending champions Triveni Continental Kings won the final match of the day defeating Ganges Gangsters 11-6.
A stunning 4/4 start by GM Alireza Firouzja carried Triveni Continental Kings across the line against local favorites Ganges Grandmasters.
GM Alireza playing the Vienna game overcame Indian icon Vishy Anand in the top board. In an even middle game where white was enjoying a good piece play the former world champion chose to trade his queen for two rooks. From then on Firouzja took over and never relinquished the grip taking the game in 46 moves. With an all win record and an ELO 2726 performance it has been Alireza’s tournament so far.
Wins from GMs Wei Yi and Alexandra Kosteniuk went well with Alireza’s victory in the icon board. With three wins in six board the Kings managed to offset GM Vidit Gujrathi’s loss against World Cup winner GM Javokhir Sindarov in the middle board. Triveni Continental Kings showed for once youth can over ride experience, placing themselves as firm title favorites.
PBG Alaskan Knights suffered their fourth successive loss as upGrad Mumba Masters swept the Knights by a whopping 18-2 score. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and former world rapid champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew their games while the rest of the quartet went down to GMs Wesley So, Humpy, Harika and Bardiya respectively. The PBG Alaskan Knights team led by world champion Gukesh Dommaraju is yet to get off the mark and would really need to redeem itself in the remaining rounds.
The Alpine SG Pipers shocked FYERS American Gambits 10-4 thanks to two big wins in the lower boards. For the second day in a row the native talent from Goa GM Leon Luke Mendonca delivered when it mattered. Mendonca’s win over world rapid champion Volodar Murzin was huge and along with GM Batsiashvili’s win carried Pipers past Gambits. Both the teams share the third spot along with Ganges Grandmasters at 6 match points.
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.
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.
Presently, it appears to be a two horse race between Mumba Masters and Triveni Kings, but with five rounds to go a turnaround is very much possible. Action continues on Matchday 5 as upGrad Mumba Masters take on Triveni Continental Kings, Alpine SG Pipers face PBG Alaskan Knights while Ganges Grandmasters meet FYERS American Gambits.
Round 5 starts on Thursday, 18th December, by 6:30 AM ET / 12:30 PM CET / 5 PM IST.
Results (Round 4): Alpine SG Pipers beat FYERS American Gambits 10-4 (Caruana drew with Hikaru, Giri drew with Artemiev, Pragg drew with Rapport, Hou Yifan drew with Assaubayeva, Batsiashvili beat Teodora, Mendonca beat Murzin), PBG Alaskan Knights lost to upGrad Mumba Masters 2-18 (Gukesh drew with MVL, Erigaisi lost to Wesley So, Dominguez drew with Mamedyarov, Lagno lost to Humpy, Sarasadat lost to Harika, Dardha lost to Bardiya), Triveni Continental Kings beat Ganges Grandmasters 11-6 (Firouzja beat Vishy, Wei Yi beat Keymer, Vidit lost to Sindarov, Zhu Jiner drew with Shuvalova, Kosteniuk beat Tsolakidou, Maurizzi drew with Sadhwani).
Alireza Firouzja (2754) – Viswanathan Anand (2727) 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. a3 Bc5 4. Nf3 d6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Be2 Re8 8. Nb3 Bb6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Rxe4 13. O-O Nc6 14. Nd2 Re8 15. Nc4 Bd4 16. c3 Bg7 17. Bh5 d5 18. Ne3 d4 19. Qf3 Be6 20. Nf5 Bxf5 21. Qxf5 Qf6 22. Qb5 dxc3 23. bxc3 Qxc3 24. Qxb7 Rab8 25. Qxc7 Re7 26. Qxe7 Nxe7 27. Bxb8 Qb3 28. Rab1 Qxa3 29. Rfd1 Nc6 30. Rb7 Nxb8 31. Bxf7+ Kh7 32. Rxb8 Bd4 33. Rb7 Qc5 34. Bh5+ Kg8 35. Kh1 a5 36. h3 a4 37. Rd7 Bg7 38. Rd8+ Kh7 39. Bf3 Qe5 40. Ra8 Qf4 41. Ra7 h5 42. Rdd7 Qc1+ 43. Kh2 Qf4+ 44. Kg1 Qc1+ 45. Rd1 Qc5
46. Rxa4 1-0
Leon Luke Mendonca (2498) – Volodar Murzin (2642) 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 c6 5. b3 Nbd7 6. Bb2 Bd6 7. d4 O-O 8. Be2 b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bd3 Re8 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. Re1 dxc4 13. bxc4 c5 14. d5 exd5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. cxd5 Nf6 17. e4 c4 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Rxc4 Re7 20. h3 Rce8 21. Ra4 a5 22. Bb5 Rd8 23. Rd4 g6 24. a4 h5 25. e5 Bxe5 26. Rxe5 Rxe5 27. Nxe5 Qxe5 28. d6 Qg5 29. f3 Qc5 30. Kh2 Bc6 31. Bxc6 Qxc6 32. Qd3 Qe8 33. d7 Qe5+ 34. f4 Qf6 35. Qe4 Kg7 36. Rd5 Qe6 37. Qd4+ Qf6 38. Qd2 Qe6 39. f5 Qe4 40. fxg6 fxg6 41. Qg5 Qb4 42. Qe5+ Kh7 43. Rd6 Qc5 44. Qf6 Qf5 45. Qe7+ Kh6 46. Rd4
46…Qc5 1-0
Photo Courtesy: Tech Mahindra Global Chess League
Official Site: https://globalchessleague.com/
