3 Teams Left In Fight For 2 Global Chess League Final Spots
A week into the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, only three teams still have a chance to reach one of the two much-coveted spots in Saturday's final. On Wednesday, the PBG Alaskan Knights lost their second match but are still three points ahead of the Triveni Continental Kings and the Alpine Sg Pipers, whose clash in Friday's last round will be very exciting.
For the upGrad Mumba Masters, the American Gambits, and the Ganges Grandmasters it is already certain that they will be playing their final matches on Friday.
Day eight starts on Thursday, October 10, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CEST / 5:30 p.m. IST.
Day 7 Standings
PBG Alaskan Knights 9-10 upGrad Mumba Masters
Although no longer in contention themselves, the upGrad Mumba Masters brought back some tension in this competition by inflicting the second loss upon the PBG Alaskan Knights, with the narrowest possible victory. The two black wins for the Knights were good for eight points, which was just not enough as three White wins meant nine points for the Masters, alongside one draw.
On the "icon" board, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored his third win in the tournament at the expense of GM Anish Giri. The Frenchman had the tiniest of advantages in a queenless middlegame – the bishop pair against bishop and knight – but it was soon neutralized, and Giri got some play in return for a sacrificed pawn. Only deep in the rook endgame was it decided, after mutual errors:
After a bad start (three losses in the first four rounds), GM Raunak Sadhwani has clearly warmed up and is becoming an important weapon for the upGrad Mumba Masters. Today, he was the first to beat GM Nihal Sarin, who had drawn two games and won five, including the first one against Raunak. It felt like Black was playing a piece down with that useless bishop on b4:
Raunak is all pumped after a thumping victory 👊
— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) October 9, 2024
Watch such intense battles on Stake presents #TechMGCL season #TheNextMove #PBGvUMM | @tech_mahindra | @MahindraRise | @chesscom | @chesscom_in | @umumba | @FIDE_chess pic.twitter.com/pgOr5wscw5
Ganges Grandmasters 9-12 Triveni Continental Kings
We had the match with the narrowest possible margin today, and we also had the first match without any draws. Three black wins vs. three white wins meant that the Triveni Continental Kings defeated the Ganges Grandmasters, who were already out of contention for reaching the final.
GM Viswanathan Anand has an amazing career behind him, and who wouldn't have liked him to do well in London? Alas, the five-time world champion is struggling. He couldn't maintain an initial opening advantage against GM Alireza Firouzja and then went for a forcing line that immediately was more pleasant to play for Black. After more inaccuracies, it was quickly over:
Alireza Firouzja gets right back on track after yesterday's blunder to beat Vishy Anand for a 6th win in 7 games! https://t.co/bTKjxSnIxy pic.twitter.com/hjLsTomx1w
— chess24 (@chess24com) October 9, 2024
GM Teimour Radjabov won his first game of the tournament after starting with three losses followed by four draws. He went for a King's Indian, like in his younger years and before he became more focused on being solid. It led to a wild game, also helped by GM Parham Maghsoodloo's aggressive play that initially got him a winning position. But, as so often in the KID, at some point the counter came...
Here is the game with annotations by GM Dejan Bojkov:
Alpine Sg Pipers 11-6 American Gambits
The American Gambits also saw their chance of reaching the final vanish after a critical loss against the Alpine Sg Pipers. There were two black wins for the latter team against a single white win for the Gambits.
The first game between GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Hikaru Nakamura was very interesting, but their second meeting was what the British call a damp squib. More interesting was the second board, where GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu won a good game against GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda:
GM Daniel Dardha is having a rather up-and-down tournament with two losses, two draws, and now two wins as he scored an important victory against GM Jonas Bjerre. The Danish grandmaster erred deep in the endgame and with just 29 seconds on the clock (vs. a minute for Dardha):
How to watch?
You can watch the event on Kick. Games from the event can be viewed on our events page.
The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2024 consists of a preliminary group stage and a final contested by the two top teams. In each match, members of the same team play with the same color. All games have a 20-minute time control without increment.
Previous reports:
- Day 6: PBG Alaskan Knights Close To Reaching Final After Day Of Blunders
- Day 5: Alpine Sg Pipers Inflict 1st Loss Upon PBG Alaskan Knights
- Day 4: Triveni Continental Kings, Alpine Sg Pipers Chase Still Perfect PBG Alaskan Knights
- Day 3: PBG Alaskan Knights Maintain Strong Lead; Ganges Grandmasters Get 1st Win
- Day 2: PBG Alaskan Knights Continue Strong On Global Chess League Day 2
- Day 1: Giri's Alaskan Knights Impress On 2024 Global Chess League Opening Day
- Preview: Global Chess League: All You Need To Know
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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