Tech Mahindra GCL Day 1: PBG Alaskan Knights squash the defending champions, Triveni Continental Kings
PBG Alaskan Knights made a fantastic start by defeating the defending champions, Triveni Continental Kings on the first day of Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2024. The inaugural edition's bottom finisher made a roaring start by registering a 3-0 (15-3) win. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Nihal Sarin ensured the team's success. American Gambits and Alpine SG Pipers also won their first matches respectively. The league CEO - Sameer Pathak made the inaugural first move. Tomorrow is the first of three days when four matches will be played, starting with upGrad Mumba Masters vs Ganges Grandmasters from 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
Praggnanandhaa misses several chances against Arjun Erigaisi
The first day witnessed several exciting games. The first encounter between Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen ended in a lukewarm draw. They will at least face one more time at this event.
Match #1: American Gambits - upGrad Mumba Masters: 3-0 (11-6)
Jan-Krzysztof Duda (AG) set the tone for the match when he scored an emphatic victory over Vidit Gujrathi (uMM). IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (AG) and GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre (AG) scored two more crucial victories over GM Koneru Humpy (uMM) and GM Raunak Sadhwani (uMM) respectively. Both Duda and Jonas checkmated their opponents. GM Hikaru Nakamura (AG) defended a difficult position against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (uMM). GM Harika Dronavalli (uMM) scored the sole game win for her team against GM Elisabeth Paehtz (AG).
Duda - Vidit
Duda made an interesting knight sacrifice 18.dxe5!? Although White is not winning immediately, there are some practical chances and this is how Duda loves to play. Vidit accepted the sacrifice offered 18...Qxa4 19.Bxg4 hxg4 20.exd6+ Kf8 only move 21.Qe7+ Kg7 22.Qe5+ Kg8?? 23.d7+- and White checkmated the black king in six more moves. Instead, 22...Kh7 is what Black needed to play to keep the game going.
Nakamura - MVL
Nakamura navigated the complex chain exchange of pieces 36.Rxd8+ Qxd8 37.Rc8 Bxf5 38.Rxd8+ and the World no.2 defended quite well. The computer might say the position is balanced but in less time and with no increment, it was certainly not an easy draw.
Jonas - Raunak
Raunak needed to defend his knight and keep the f-file locked 38...g5. Instead, 38...Nd3 which is the usual choice when you have a square for a knight like that. However, it turned out to only make things difficult for Black 39.Qh4 Qe7 40.Qh3 Nxb2?? then came the bolt from the blue 41.Rxf7!! what a fantastic move
No matter how Black captures the rook either with the queen or king, White is winning 42.Rxd5. Jonas went on to make a checkmate threat in another eight moves.
Replay uMM - AG games
Match #2: Ganges Grandmasters - Alpine SG Pipers: 0-3 (6-11)
Richard Rapport (ASGP) and Yifan Hou (ASGP) scored the crucial wins over Parham Maghsoodloo (GG) and R Vaishali (GG) respectively. R Praggnanandhaa (ASGP) missed quite a few opportunities to win against Arjun Erigaisi (GG). IM Nurgyul Salimova (GG) scored the sole win of the match against GM Kateryna Lagno (ASGP).
Arjun - Praggnanandhaa
Although White is losing the h2-pawn, still the game is far from over. 52...Rxh2 53.Kf5 d4 54.Kxf6 d3 55.f4?? d2-+ 55.Ra3 was the way to go for White to stay in the game d2 56.Rd3 and White is not losing. 56.Ra1 h5 57.Kg5 h4 58.Kg4 Ke7 59.f5 Kf6 60.Kf4 Rg2?
61.Ra6+ Kf7 62.Rd6 was a draw instead 62.Ra7+?? once again Black in driver's seat Ke8 63.Ra8+ Kd7 64.Ra7+ Kd6 65.Ra6+ Kd5 66.Ra8 h3 67.Rd8+ now Black needed to move his king up towards the pawn Kc4 to win the game. Instead, 67...Kc6? allowed White to get away with a draw 68.Kf3 and the game ended in a draw in a few moves more.
Richard Rapport (ASGP) opted for a surprise in the Semi-Slav with 4...Qb6 against Parham Maghsoodloo (GG).
Parham - Rapport
71.Bxc2 Rxc2 72.Rxc2 Bxe5 73.Rg2 Nf6 and there is still a game. However, White made a simple one move blunder 71.Rb8?? Rxg3+ 72.Kxg3 Bxe5+ Black gained a piece and went on to win the game.
Nurgyul - Kateryna
GM Kateryna Lagno (ASGP) made a simple tactical error. Her opponent, IM Nurgyul Salimova (GG) had no trouble to capitalize on her opportunity 35.Nxf6 Kxf6 36.Rh6+ Kg7 37.Rg6+ Kf7 38.Rxd6+- and White converted her advantage into a win smoothly.
Replay GG - ASGP games
Match #3: PBG Alaskan Knights - Triveni Continental Kings: 15-3
Anish Giri (PBGAK) was winning against Alireza Firouzja (TCK) after the latter made an incorrect tactic which almost cost him the game. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Nihal Sarin scored the crucial victories over Wei Yi, Teimour Radjabov and Javokhir Sindarov respectively to ensure PBG Alaskan Knights score a huge win 15-3.
Firouzja - Giri
36.Rh1? Rxf3+! 37.Ke2 Qxh1 38.Qxe5+ Kf8 39.gxf3 fxg4 40.Qxc7 gxf3+ and Black ideally should have won the game. However, no increment made things that much difficult for Black. Eventually he sacrificed his e-pawn incorrectly and White escaped with a draw.
Wei - Abdusattorov
Black focused five out of six pieces on the kingside. 27...Nxg2! worked well as White does not have any proper response to it. 28.d5? Bxd5 29.Qxd5 Nxg3 30.Rg1 Nf4 31.Qxb7 Nf1+ 32.Kh1 Qf5 Black won the game with a beautiful finish.
Sindarov - Nihal
Nihal Sarin showed fantastic positional play to outwit his opponent and beat him for the first at GCL. Their last two encounters at the inaugural edition ended in draws.
Replay PBG AK - TCK games
Video Gallery
Standings after Day 1
Day 2 matches
Match #4: upGrad Mumba Masters vs Ganges Grandmasters from 1 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST.
Match #5: PBG Alaskan Knights vs American Gambits from 2:15 p.m. local time, 6:45 p.m. IST.
Match #6: Triveni Continental Kings vs Alpine SG Pipers from 3:30 p.m. local time, 8 p.m. IST.
Match #7: upGrad Mumba Masters vs PBG Alaskan Knights 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.
Round 1 results
| No. | Team | Team | Res. | : | Res. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mumba Masters | American Gambits | 2 | : | 4 |
| 2 | Ganges Grandmasters | Alpine Sg Pipers | 2½ | : | 3½ |
| 3 | PBG Alaskan Knights | Triveni Continental Kings | 4½ | : | 1½ |
Links
Tech Mahindra Global Chess League: Official site, facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube and linkedin
Tech Mahindra: Official site, facebook, twitter, youtube and linkedin
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