Tech Mahindra GCL Day 3: Firouzja outplays Nakamura and Anand, Triveni Continental Kings move up
Alireza Firouzja defeated Hikaru Nakamura and Vishy Anand in consecutive games. He outplayed both of them. A win against World no.1, 2 and a legend is certainly going to skyrocket Firouzja's confidence. Triveni Continental Kings lost their second match of the day after Parham Maghsoodloo and IM Nurgyul Salimova empowered their team, Ganges Grandmasters to their first victory, despite their 'Icon' board Anand losing to Firouzja. It was the closest match of the tournament so far in terms of game points, 8-10. PBG Alaskan Knights maintain their sole lead by winning all four games in-a-row. Ganges Grandmasters became their latest victim by losing 8-12. Tomorrow is the last day when four matches will be played, starting with American Gambits and Ganges Grandmasters from 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
Parham and Nurgyul power Ganges Grandmasters to their first win, Alaskan Knights maintain their sole lead
PBG Alaskan Knight continues to be the most balanced team at the event so far. Anish Giri is holding the fort on the 'Icon' board. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov made a massive swindle in a completely lost position against Parham Maghsoodloo. The Women Superstars - GM Zhongyi Tan and IM Alina Kashlinskaya also scored two important victories. Speaking of women, IM Nurgyul Salimova scored an important win over GM Valentina Gunina. It earned Ganges Grandmasters their first match win of the event so far.
Match #8: Ganges Grandmasters - PBG Alaskan Knights: 0-3 (8-12)
Nodirbek Abdusattorov - Arjun Erigaisi ended in a draw first, followed by Anish Giri and Vishy Anand. IM Alina Kashlinskaya scored the first win for her team PBG Alaskan Knights over IM Nurgyul Salimova. R Vaishali lost on time against Zhongyi Tan. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov capitalized on his opponent Parham Maghsoodloo's one-move blunder in a completely winning position.
Giri - Anand
Vishy Anand marched his king to d4 to grab the b5-pawn 40...Kd4 41.Rc8 Raxb5 42.Rh1 Rb8 43.Rcc1 Ke5 44.Rxh7 Black lost the h7-pawn in an unceremonious way and his advantage soon waned, eventually the game ending in a draw.
Abdusattorov - Arjun
Arjun Erigaisi made an interesting offer of an exchange sacrifice 20...fxe5 White decided to accept it 21.Nxf8 Rxf8 22.Rxf8+ Bxf8 23.Bb5 Qg6 soon the queens got traded and Black got a decisive advantage. However, it was not easy to convert it into a win and the game ended in a draw.
Shakhriyar - Parham
The above pawn ending is winning for Black. However, Parham made a grave mistake 67...c2?? Find out why it is a big mistake and what Black should have done instead. Shakh pounced on his opportunity and won the game after a one-move blunder.
Replay GG - PBS AK games
Match #9: American Gambits - Triveni Continental Kings: 0-3 (2-14)
First result is a draw between Yangyi Yu and Teimour Radjabov. Alireza Firouzja outplayed Hikaru Nakamura after the latter made a mistake in the opening. Wei Yi scores the second win for the team against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Alexandra Kosteniuk scored the third win of the match against IM Bibisara Assaubayeva. It ensured the victory for the team.
Nakamura - Firouzja
After dropping the f4-pawn without any consequence, Nakamura made the mistake of exchanging one of his knights 27.Ne7? Nxe7 28.Rxe7 and he got outplayed by Firouzja.
TV time especially live television time is worth its weight in gold. Everyone knows that, so they shared a light moment. However, at the end of the game, Nakamura stormed off after the loss because well he is a human after all, a loss always hurts.
Replay AG - TCK games
Match #10: upGrad Mumba Masters - Alpine SG Pipers: 0-3
Magnus Carlsen was determined to win this, considering how he lost the previous game. Every time he loses a game, he makes a fierce comeback. So when he entered the playing arena, he went straight for a water bottle, ignoring instructions to stand in a team file for the program. Magnus is Magnus. He does not need to follow any queues. He went straight for his chair but once again he was reminded to join his team and he did this time. The first result was a draw between Harika Dronavalli and Kateryna Lagno. Vidit Gujrathi drew with R Praggnanandhaa, followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen share the point. Richard Rapport scored the first and crucial win for the team against Peter Svidler. Koneru Humpy draws with Yifan Hou. Raunak loses to Daniel Dardha which means Alpine won the match.
Replay uMM - ASGP games
Match #11: Triveni Continental Kings - Ganges Grandmasters: 0-3 (8-10)
Alireza Firouzja set the tone for the match by striking first against Vishy Anand. It means he defeated Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Vishy Anand in three consecutive games. Wei Yi and Arjun Erigaisi ended in a draw. R Vaishali lost her fourth game in-a-row. Parham Maghsoodloo scored a clutch win over Teimour Radjabov. IM Nurgyul Salimova scored an important win over GM Valentina Gunina to win the game and match for her team.
Firouzja - Anand
Alireza Firouzja started the game with 1.Nc3 and by 17th move he had his pawns on g5 and h5, making his intentions very clear that he is playing for only on result. His confidence was definitely at an all time high as he defeated the World no.1 and 2 in two successive games. Anand tried to put up resistance but it was just not enough and eventually he succumbed.
Wei - Arjun
Wei Yi is a dynamic and all-rounder. So sacrificing a queen is in his wheelhouse 28.bxc6! Rxf5 29.cxd7+ Kc7 30.Ne6+ Kb6 31.Nxd8 Qxd8 32.f4 Kc6 it was not easy for White to seize his advantage and eventually it fizzled out, the game ended in a draw.
Interviews with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alireza Firouzja, Shreyas Royal and Nurgyul Salimova will be published soon. Stay tuned.
Video Gallery
Standings after Day 3
Day 3 matches
Match #12: American Gambits vs Ganges Grandmasters from 1 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST.
Match #13: Alpine SG Pipers vs PBG Alaskan Knights from 2:15 p.m. local time, 6:45 p.m. IST.
Match #14: upGrad Mumba Masters vs Triveni Continental Kings from 3:30 p.m. local time, 8 p.m. IST.
Match #15: Alpine SG Pipers vs American Gambits from 4:45 p.m. local time, 9:15 p.m. IST.
Scoring System for Game Points (GP)
4 GP (3+1) | A player wins the Game with Black Pieces |
3 GP | A player wins the Game with White Pieces |
1 GP | Draw |
0 GP | Defeat |
Scoring System for Match Points (MP)
3 MP | The team that scores more Game Points |
1 MP | If both teams are level on Game Points |
0 MP | The team that scores lesser Game Points than the opponent |
The Final will be played over best-of-2 matches. There will be a drawing of lots to determine which Team is White in Match 1, this team will then be black in Match 2. The team who wins more matches will be the Champion. In the event of a tie:
• There will be a playoff blitz fixture, which will be a best-of-2 match. The team that was white in Match 1 and black in Match 2 will play white in Match 3 and black in Match 4. The time limit for each game will be all moves in 3 minutes plus 2 seconds. The Team that wins the most matches in the fixture will be the Champion.
• If the Teams remain tied, there shall be a drawing of lots to determine a board from 1 to 6. The player from each Team on this board will then participate in a sudden-death blitz game. The time limit for this game will be 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. The player from the Team who was white in Matches 1 and 3, will play white in this game.
• If the sudden death blitz game is drawn, then the procedure is repeated except that the colour of the player from each team alternates from the colour the team had in the preceding sudden death blitz game.
• If the tie remains unbroken, the above procedure is repeated until a sudden death blitz game has a winner.
Links
Tech Mahindra Global Chess League: Official site, facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube and linkedin
Tech Mahindra: Official site, facebook, twitter, youtube and linkedin
