Firouzja scores third win in a row
Day three of the Global Chess League at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai produced a reshuffle in the tournament standings, as the two teams that led the event after the opening rounds both suffered defeats. Triveni Continental Kings were beaten by Fyers American Gambits, while upGrad Mumba Masters went down against Alpine SG Pipers. In the remaining match, Ganges Grandmasters defeated PBG Alaskan Knights, maintaining the tournament’s run of decisive outcomes, with all nine matches played so far producing a winner.
As a result of the day’s matches, four teams are now tied at the top of the table on 6 match points: Mumba Masters, Continental Kings, Ganges Grandmasters and American Gambits (in that order, according to their Game Points). Alpine SG Pipers moved into sole fifth place on 3 match points, while the Alaskan Knights remain bottom of the standings with none. The league’s scoring system, which awards 4 game points for a win with black and 3 for a win with white, continues to encourage decisive play.
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For the second day in a row, all three top-board games ended decisively. Alireza Firouzja extended his perfect start by defeating Hikaru Nakamura with the white pieces, recording his third consecutive win. Despite this, the Continental Kings lost the match, as Richard Rapport and Volodar Murzin secured important victories with black for the American Gambits, tipping the overall balance in their favour.
The pattern repeated itself in the second match of the day, where a top-board success was again not enough to secure the match. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the Icon player for the Mumba Masters, defeated Fabiano Caruana with black, but Hou Yifan and Leon Luke Mendonca both bounced back from losses on the previous day to score wins for the Pipers.
In the remaining encounter, on the other hand, Ganges Grandmasters aligned a top-board victory with overall success, as Vishy Anand defeated Gukesh Dommaraju in a battle of Indian world champions. Anand’s victory was supported by additional wins from Javokhir Sindarov and Polina Shuvalova. Shuvalova is the only player other than Firouzja to have won all three of her games so far in Mumbai.
Match #7: Ganges GMs 12–3 Alaskan Knights
| Ganges Grandmasters | Rtg | – | PBG Alaskan Knights | Rtg | 12 – 3 |
| Anand, Viswanathan | 2727 | Gukesh, D | 2692 | 3 – 0 | |
| Keymer, Vincent | 2640 | – | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2714 | 1 – 1 |
| Sindarov, Javokhir | 2704 | – | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2703 | 3 – 0 |
| Shuvalova, Polina | 2360 | – | Lagno, Kateryna | 2452 | 3 – 0 |
| Tsolakidou, Stavroula | 2358 | – | Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | 2356 | 1 – 1 |
| Sadhwani, Raunak | 2611 | – | Dardha, Daniel | 2592 | 1 – 1 |
The Ganges Grandmasters inflicted a third consecutive loss on the Alaskan Knights | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
Following his poor start with two losses in the previous rounds, Vishy Anand showed his class by first getting a positional advantage and then patiently converting it into a win in his game with white against Gukesh Dommaraju. Anand, aged 56, won the FIDE World Championship before Gukesh was born, in 2000, and became the 15th undisputed world champion before his young compatriot, now the world champion himself, had turned 2 years old.
Anand’s Ganges GMs also scored victories on boards three and four, with Javokhir Sindarov defeating Leinier Dominguez in a tactical battle and Polina Shuvalova convincingly taking down Kateryna Lagno.
Match #8: Continental Kings 8–10 American Gambits
| Triveni Continental Kings | Rtg | – | Fyers American Gambits | Rtg | 8 – 10 |
| Firouzja, Alireza | 2754 | – | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2732 | 3 – 0 |
| Wei, Yi | 2751 | – | Artemiev, Vladislav | 2727 | 1 – 1 |
| Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2650 | – | Rapport, Richard | 2702 | 0 – 4 |
| Zhu, Jiner | 2435 | – | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2461 | 1 – 1 |
| Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2450 | – | Injac, Teodora | 2360 | 3 – 0 |
| Maurizzi, Marcandria | 2506 | – | Murzin, Volodar | 2642 | 0 – 4 |
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Richard Rapport | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
Alireza Firouzja outplayed Hikaru Nakamura in a positional battle and saw his teammate Alexandra Kosteniuk beat Teodora Injac after converting a favourable endgame with rook and two minor pieces against two rooks and two extra pawns.
The wins by Firouzja and Kosteniuk were offset by the results seen on boards three and six, as Richard Rapport and Volodar Murzin both won with black to give the American Gambits overall victory. True to his style, Rapport played enterprisingly to beat Vidit Gujrathi in a tactical battle that lasted 27 moves.
Match #9: Pipers 9–7 Mumba Masters
| Alpine SG Pipers | Rtg | – | Upgrad Mumba Masters | Rtg | 9 – 7 |
| Caruana, Fabiano | 2751 | – | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2730 | 0 – 4 |
| Giri, Anish | 2685 | – | So, Wesley | 2702 | 1 – 1 |
| Praggnanandhaa, R | 2663 | – | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2707 | 1 – 1 |
| Hou, Yifan | 2536 | – | Koneru, Humpy | 2448 | 3 – 0 |
| Batsiashvili, Nino | 2346 | – | Dronavalli, Harika | 2435 | 1 – 1 |
| Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2498 | – | Daneshvar, Bardiya | 2498 | 3 – 0 |
Leon Luke Mendonca (right) defeated Bardiya Daneshvar | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
The Mumba Masters saw their leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave collecting a second win with black in the event, as the Frenchman beat Fabiano Caruana by employing one of his opening specialties, the Najdorf Sicilian.
However, a convincing victory by Hou Yifan over Humpy Koneru and a 49-move win by Leon Luke Mendonca – in a battle against Bardiya Daneshvar that featured mutual mistakes in time trouble – gave the Pipers their first match victory of the event.
