Triveni Continental Kings joined the top two squads on 15 match points at the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League on Friday.
On a day which saw the favourites and tournament leaders suffer stunning defeats, Kings, which had a challenging start to the league and had to replace a player mid-league, managed to rise to the top.
Former Indian tennis player, Mahesh Bhupathi visited the event and made a ceremonial first move in the match between SG Alpine Warriors and the Kings.
Chingari Gulf Titans vs upGrad Mumba Masters (12:3)
The first good sign for Chingari occurred early on as Vidit Gujrathi made a blunder giving a dominant position to Dubov who soon converted this into a victory, after just 23 moves. Before that game ended, two heavyweights, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk, drew their game. By this point, the result was 4:1 for the Titans.
READ: GM’s Koneru Humpy, Hou Yifan bat for more tournaments like Global Chess League for women
More bad news followed for the Masters as Alexandra Kosteniuk and Polina Shuvalova defeated their opponents, bringing another six points to the Titans. With the score 10:1, the Titans had the match in the bag as, even if the Masters scored a victory on the remaining two boards, that would not change the result. The remaining two games ended in draws.
SG Alpine Warriors vs Triveni Continental Kings (8:10)
In their second match of the league, Magnus Carlsen again lost to Levon Aronian. After opening with the unusual move 1.b3, Carlsen gained more special initiative but in a relatively stable position made a blunder leading directly into a defeat.
Warriors’ Gukesh D managed to take the initiative against Yu Yangyi. The Chinese Grandmaster found himself in a lot of trouble trying to fend off checkmate. Despite avoiding mate, his position was lost and he resigned. Triveni Continental Kings quickly hit back with a victory on board three where Wei Yi outplayed Arjun Erigaisi in a queen and rook endgame.
In a duel between Praggnanandhaa R and Jonas Bjerre, the talented player from India managed to win what was a completely lost position. After misplaying in the middlegame, Praggnanandhaa defended the best he could and in a queen and rook endgame managed to take over the advantage and win.
Elisabeth Paehtz and Sara Khadem drew relatively quickly in 36 moves, as did Irina Krush and Kateryna Lagno.
upGrad Mumba Masters vs Ganges Grandmasters (10:4)
The Masters had to win the match with as many game points as possible, to rejoin the race for the top. while the tournament leader Ganges Grandmasters had less pressure on it after SG Alpine Warriors lost in the previous match.
Javokhir Sindarov got Masters off to a good start, defeating Andrey Esipenko. Despite Sindarov allowing black to get into a better position, Esipenko undermined the threats from the two bishops pinning his king and in the end, overlooked checkmate.
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Although a pawn up, former world champion Viswanathan Anand played a draw against Vachier-Lagrave.
The match saw a huge upset on board four as former Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan went for a combination which completely overlooked the threat of checkmate from Konery Humpy. Despite her best efforts to find a way out, and with seconds on her clock, Hou Yifan resigned handing another three huge points to the Masters.
Vidit and Leinier Dominguez Perez drew after reaching an even rook endgame. The game between Harika Dronavalli and Bella Khotenashvili also ended in a draw where Black had more chances but white found a series of endless checks.
Grischuk was in trouble against Richard Rapport – in a complicated endgame, he was trying to prevent black from advancing his h-pawn towards promotion. Having played the greater part of the endgame in extreme time trouble, Grichuk held on and drew.
Triveni Continental Kings vs Balan Alaskan Knights (10:9)
Buoyed by its success earlier in the day after defeating SG Alpine Warriors, the Kings had a huge opportunity. By beating the Balan Alaskan Knights, it would have joined the league leaders. With just three victories and five defeats, the Knights also needed to win.
The Kings started with a lucky break as Sara Khadem defeated Nino Bastiashvili, after she overlooked a piece in an even endgame. Yu Yangyi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov drew their game where both sides managed to hold an even position throughout.
The next game to finish was between Kateryna Lagno and Tan Zhongyi. In an even position, Lagno chose the wrong continuation, giving a huge initiative to Tan. Lagno gave up a rook for a bishop and a pawn, but her position was shattered and eventually lost.
The sharpest game of the match was played between Teimour Radjabov and Wei Yi. Radjabov was defending well in a complicated position. At one point, Wei forced too much and blundered, but in time trouble Radjaov misplayed. Towards the end, White promoted another queen and the game was lost for Black.
In his second win of the day, Levon Aronian defeated the two-time candidate for World Champion, Ian Nepomniachtchi. In an even endgame, Nepomniachtchi lost a pawn but was still in the game. However, in a critical moment, Nepomniachtchi made a huge blunder and ended up with a knight for a rook and completely lost.
The Knights had the final victory of the match, as Jonas Bjerre suffered a loss to Raunak Sadhwani.
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