Vishy beats Gukesh, four share lead @ GCL Mumbai
Old wine in new bottle, that’s what it was! as former world champion Viswanathan Anand (Ganges Grandmasters) defeated current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju (PBG Alaskan Knights) in the third round of the $ 1 million Global Chess League at Royal Opera House, Mumbai. Topsy-turvy results of the day paved way for four teams viz., Triveni Continental Kings, upGrad Mumba Masters, Ganges Grandmasters and FYERS American Gambits climb the top of the table with 6 match points each. In the three featured matches, Ganges Grandmasters outplayed PBG Alaskan Knights 12-3, defending champions Triveni Continental Kings lost to Fyer American Gambits 8-10 and upGrad Mumba Masters lost narrowly to Alpine SG Pipers 7-9.
In the first match of the day, Ganges Grandmasters scored a commanding 12-3 victory over the PBG Alaskan Knights. The icon board featuring five times world champion Viswanathan Anand and current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju was the most followed game of the day.
Facing the familiar Sicilian Defence Kan variation, Vishy Anand was in his elements showing no signs of his earlier round losses. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju found himself in a difficult position as his mentor slowly kept tightening the grip. The queen, rook and double bishop middle game saw white enjoying a big space advantage and running down on time Gukesh slipped with 34…Rc8? that allowed a deadly rook intrusion. Not one to miss his chances, Vishy pounced on the unforced error sewing up the game in 45 moves. A fluent win by Vishy in the top board set the ball rolling for a crushing match win.
Two times champion Triveni Continental Kings went down 8-10 in a close match to FYERS American Gambits. GM Alireza Firouzja defeated GM Hikaru Nakamura in the icon board keeping up the momentum, but GM Richard Rapport evened it out with a brilliant win against home hero GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi. The final board black victory for world rapid champion Volodar Murzin against French GM Maurizzi MarcAndria took his team home.
The last match of the day saw Alpine SG Pipers come up with a turnaround 9-7 victory over upGrad Mumba Masters. The first win for Pipers came through wins from former women’s world champion Hou Yifan and prodigy board Indian Grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca. The winning duo offset the icon board loss by former world championship challenger GM Fabiano Caruana against former world blitz champion GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
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 Tech Mahindra and FIDE (International Chess Federation) is into its third successful edition having started off in Dubai 2023 followed by London 2024.
Action continues on Matchday 4 as Fyers American Gambits face Alpine SG Pipers, PBG Alaskan Knights take on upGrad Mumba Masters, and Triveni Continental Kings meet Ganges Grandmasters.
Round four starts on Wednesday, 17th December, by 6:30 AM ET / 12:30 PM CET / 5 PM IST.
Results (Round 3): Ganges Grandmasters beat PBG Alaskan Knights 12-3 (Vishy beat Gukesh, Keymer drew with Erigaisi, Sindarov beat Dominguez, Shuvalova beat Lagno, Tsolakidou drew with Sarasadat, Sadhwani drew with Dardha), Triveni Continental Kings lost to Fyers American Gambits 8-10 (Firouzja beat Hikaru, wei Yi drew with Artemiev, Vidit lost to Rapport, Zhu Jiner drew with Assaubayeva, Kosteniuk beat Teodora, Maurizzi lost to Murzin), upGrad Mumba Masters lost to Alpine SG Pipers 7-9 (Caruana lost to MVL, Giri drew with Wesley So, Pragg drew with Mamedyarov, Hou Yifan beat Humpy, Batsiashvili drew with Harika, Mendonca beat Bardiya).
Viswanathan Anand (2727) – Gukesh Dommaraju (2692) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Qd3 Qc7 8. Be2 Nc6 9. Nxc6 dxc6 10. a3 Bd6 11. h3 O-O 12. O-O Rd8 13. Qe3 Be5 14. Rd1 Rxd1+ 15. Bxd1 Bd7 16. Ne2 Bd6 17. c5 Be7 18. b4 Qe5 19. Nc3 a5 20. Rb1 axb4 21. axb4 Qc7 22. e5 Nd5 23. Qd4 f6 24. f4 Be8 25. Bg4 f5 26. Bf3 h6 27. Be2 g5 28. Nxd5 cxd5 29. Ra1 Qc8 30. Be3 Kg7 31. Kh2 Qb8 32. Qc3 Qd8 33. fxg5 hxg5 34. Bd4 Rc8 35. Ra7 Qc7 36. Ba6 Bc6 37. b5 Qb8 38. Bxb7 Rc7 39. Bxc6 Rxa7 40. b6 Ra2 41. Bd7 g4 42. c6 Qh8 43. c7 Ra3 44. c8=Q Qh4
45. Bxe6 1-0
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2650) – Richard Rapport (2702) 1. d4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 g6 4. e4 Bg7 5. Bd3 d6 6. Nf3 exd5 7. exd5 Qe7+ 8. Be2 Nh6 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 f6 11. Bd2 Nf7 12. Re1 Nd7 13. Bf1 Nde5 14. Bc3 Bg4 15. Nbd2 f5 16. h3 Bh5 17. Be2 Bxf3 18. Nxf3 Rae8 19. Nh2 Qh4 20. Bf1 f4 21. b4 Ng5 22. bxc5 f3 23. cxd6 fxg2 24. Bxg2 Rxf2 25. d7 Qg3 26. dxe8=Q+ Bf8
27. Qxf8+ Kxf8 0-1
Photo Courtesy: Tech Mahindra Global Chess League
Official Site: https://globalchessleague.com/
