Global Chess League 2024: Highly anticipated clash between India’s Arjun and Praggnanandhaa ends in draw on day one

Two of the world’s most exciting young talents, who were also among the stars of India’s triumph at the Chess Olympiad, took on each other at Friends House on Thursday.

File Photo: Arjun Erigaisi and R. Praggnanandhaa in action. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Among the most anticipated matches of the second edition of the Tech Mahindra Chess League happened on day one.

Two of the world’s most exciting young talents, who were also among the stars of India’s triumph at the Chess Olympiad, took on each other at Friends House on Thursday.

The expectations were indeed high about the game between Arjun Erigaisi and R. Praggnanandhaa. Arjun is representing Ganges Masters while Praggnanandhaa is playing for Alpine SG Pipers.

The two teams clashed in the second match of the league. The game between the two young Indians ended in a draw. The match, however, was won by Alpine SG Pipers, 11-6.

The victory for the Pipers was ensured by Richard Rapport and former women’s World champion Hou Yifan, as the other games were drawn. Among those draws was the game between World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and former World champion Viswanathan Anand, the two men who fought for two World titles.

 Viswanathan Anand (Ganges Grandmasters) and Magnus Carlsen (Alpine SG Pipers). | Photo Credit: GLOBAL CHESS LEAGUE

Hou, who is not that active these days but seems to enjoy playing in this league, defeated Praggnananndhaa’s elder sister R. Vaishali, while Rapport overcame Parham Maghsoodloo. Since the wins came with black pieces, those were worth four points each (there are only three points for wins with white).

The league’s opening match saw American Gambits beating Upgrad Mumba Masters 11-6. The focus in the match was on the game between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura, two of the world’s best players. It was a well-fought game and it was drawn.

“My game was maybe a little shaky at times, but everybody seemed to play well, so I am actually pretty optimistic,” said Nakamura, the biggest addition to the league this season. “I think as the event goes on, we’ll build more chemistry.”

American Gambits pocketed the match thanks to wins posed by Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Kateryna Lagno.

The results:

Upgrad Mumba Masters lost to American Gambits 6-11 (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew with Hikaru Nakamura; Vidit Gujrahit lost to Jan-Krzysztof Duda; Peter Svidler drew with Yu Yangyi; Koneru Humpy lost to Bibisara Assaubayeva; D. Harika bt Elisabeth Paehtz; Raunak Sadhwani lost to Jonas Buhl Bjerre.

Ganges Grandmasters lost to Alpine SG Pipers 6-11 (Viswanathan Anand drew with Magnus Carlsen; Arjun Erigaisi drew with R. Praggnanandhaa; Parham Maghsoodloo lost to Richard Rapport; R. Vaishali lost to Hou Yifan; Nurgyul Salimova bt Kateryna Lagno; Volodar Murzin drew with Daniel Dardha.

PBG Alaskan Knights bt Triveni Continental Kings 15-3 (Anish Giri drew with Firouzja Alireza; Nodirbek Abdusattorov bt Wei Yi; Shakhriyar Mamyedarov bt Teimour Radjabov; Tan Zhongyi drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk; Alina Kashlinskaya drew with Valentina Gunina; Nihal Sarin bt Javokhir Sindarov.

(The writer is in London at the invitation of Tech Mahindra).