Caruana and Gukesh both beat Firouzja
The second half of the round-robin phase of the Global Chess League got underway on Friday in Mumbai, bringing a busier daily schedule. While the first half of the six-team competition featured three matches per day, the format now shifts to four matches per day from Friday to Sunday, meaning that two teams play twice on each day. The first sides to face this double duty were Triveni Continental Kings and PBG Alaskan Knights, with both teams recording one win and one loss on the opening day of the second half.
Despite the mixed results, the Continental Kings remain sole leaders of the standings. The team led by Alireza Firouzja now holds a 3-match-point lead over upGrad Mumba Masters, although they have played one match more. Firouzja’s perfect start came to an end on Friday, as he lost both of his games after opening the event with five consecutive wins.
The Alaskan Knights, the other team to have played an extra match, are now tied for fifth place at the bottom of the table following their difficult start of four straight losses. Their Icon, reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, split his results on the day, defeating Firouzja but losing to Hikaru Nakamura.
Master your middlegame with the complete strategy series – now available as a bundle at a reduced price. Take your chance to save and improve!
According to the league’s regulations, the double round-robin phase serves as qualification for the final, which will be contested by the top two teams in the standings. With the Continental Kings now clear favourites to secure one of those spots, attention increasingly turns to the battle for second place. At present, the Mumba Masters lead this race, standing 3 match points ahead of Alpine SG Pipers and Ganges Grandmasters. On Friday, the Mumba Masters strengthened their position by defeating the Ganges Grandmasters, a direct rival, ahead of their upcoming meeting with the Pipers on Sunday.
On the individual boards, several players continue to stand out after six days of play. Firouzja’s 5/7 score remains among the best in the tournament despite his setbacks on Friday. He is joined at the top of the scoring charts by Nino Batsiashvili, who defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk and now has 5½/6 on board five for the Pipers, and by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who improved his tally to 4½/6 on board three for the Mumba Masters with a win over Javokhir Sindarov.
Match #16: Alaskan Knights 9–7 American Gambits
| PBG Alaskan Knights | Rtg | – | Fyers American Gambits | Rtg | 9 – 7 |
| Gukesh, D | 2692 | – | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2732 | 0 – 4 |
| Erigaisi, Arjun | 2714 | – | Artemiev, Vladislav | 2727 | 3 – 0 |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2703 | – | Rapport, Richard | 2702 | 1 – 1 |
| Lagno, Kateryna | 2452 | – | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2461 | 1 – 1 |
| Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | 2356 | – | Injac, Teodora | 2360 | 3 – 0 |
| Dardha, Daniel | 2592 | – | Murzin, Volodar | 2642 | 1 – 1 |
In today’s fast-paced chess world, especially online, where blitz and rapid games dominate, the traditional approach of grinding through lines of opening theory can feel overwhelming, and even unnecessary. The real challenge? Striking the right balance in your opening preparation. How deep should you go? Where do you stop? This course is built on the timeless wisdom of my legendary coach, Chebanenko, who designed opening repertoires for his “lazy” students – not lazy in attitude, but smart in approach. His philosophy? Don’t memorise. Understand.
Sara Khadem
Gukesh Dommaraju could have easily finished the day with two victories to his name (he would beat Alireza Firouzja later in the round), but he failed to make the most of his advantage while in mutual time trouble against Hikaru Nakamura. The five-time US champion showcased his ability to find tricky moves while low on time to end up prevailing.
Nakamura’s victory was not enough for the American Gambits to win the match, though, as Arjun Erigaisi outplayed Vladislav Artemiev in an endgame while Sara Khadem grabbed his first win of the event in her game against Teodora Injac.
Match #17: Pipers 12–8 Continental Kings
| Alpine SG Pipers | Rtg | – | Triveni Continental Kings | Rtg | 12 – 8 |
| Caruana, Fabiano | 2751 | – | Firouzja, Alireza | 2754 | 3 – 0 |
| Giri, Anish | 2685 | – | Wei, Yi | 2751 | 3 – 0 |
| Praggnanandhaa, R | 2663 | – | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2650 | 3 – 0 |
| Hou, Yifan | 2536 | – | Zhu, Jiner | 2435 | 0 – 4 |
| Batsiashvili, Nino | 2346 | – | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2450 | 3 – 0 |
| Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2498 | – | Maurizzi, Marcandria | 2506 | 0 – 4 |
Data, plans, practice – the new Opening Report In ChessBase there are always attempts to show the typical plans of an opening variation. In the age of engines, chess is much more concrete than previously thought. But amateurs in particular love openings with clear plans, see the London System. In ChessBase ’26, three functions deal with the display of plans. The new opening report examines which piece moves or pawn advances are significant for each important variation. In the reference search you can now see on the board where the pieces usually go. If you start the new Monte Carlo analysis, the board also shows the most common figure paths.
Nino Batsiashvili
All games ended decisively in this entertaining match. Fabiano Caruana was the first player to beat Alireza Firouzja in Mumbai, as he made the most of his connected passers on the queenside to grab a second victory in the event.
While Caruana found a number of nice tactical ideas on the top board, Anish Giri’s 30-move victory over Wei Yi featured even better-looking combinations.
Already in a winning position, Giri found the killer 21.Qe5, threatening to capture on h8. Wei realised he could not save his rook with 21…Rg8 and played 21…Bxd5, which was followed by 22.Qxh8 Ke7 23.Rxd5, and White did not take long to break Black’s last defences.
The material is balanced, but the black king is doomed in the centre of the board.
Notably, the line that prevented Black from playing 21…Rg8 leads to a nice checkmate pattern with queen, knights and rook – i.e. 22.Nxh7+ Ke8 23.Ndf6+ Ke7 24.Rd7#
Match #18: Mumba Masters 11–6 Ganges GMs
| Upgrad Mumba Masters | Rtg | – | Ganges Grandmasters | Rtg | 11 – 6 |
| Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2730 | – | Anand, Viswanathan | 2727 | 1 – 1 |
| So, Wesley | 2702 | – | Keymer, Vincent | 2640 | 3 – 0 |
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2707 | – | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2704 | 3 – 0 |
| Koneru, Humpy | 2448 | – | Shuvalova, Polina | 2360 | 3 – 0 |
| Dronavalli, Harika | 2435 | – | Tsolakidou, Stavroula | 2358 | 0 – 4 |
| Daneshvar, Bardiya | 2498 | – | Sadhwani, Raunak | 2611 | 1 – 1 |
Humpy Koneru
Vishy Anand got a better position with black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on the top board, but stubborn defence by the Frenchman prevented the former world champion from grabbing his second win of the event.
The heroes of the day for MVL’s teams, the Mumba Masters, were Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Humpy Koneru, who all defeated opponents that have been showing a good form in the competition.
Match #19: Continental Kings 10–9 Alaskan Knights
| Triveni Continental Kings | Rtg | – | PBG Alaskan Knights | Rtg | 10 – 9 |
| Firouzja, Alireza | 2754 | – | Gukesh, D | 2692 | 0 – 4 |
| Wei, Yi | 2751 | – | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2714 | 3 – 0 |
| Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2650 | – | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2703 | 3 – 0 |
| Zhu, Jiner | 2435 | – | Lagno, Kateryna | 2452 | 0 – 4 |
| Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2450 | – | Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | 2356 | 3 – 0 |
| Maurizzi, Marcandria | 2506 | – | Dardha, Daniel | 2592 | 1 – 1 |
Picture this: you’ve outplayed your opponent move by move, you’re clearly better – and then the endgame slips into a draw, simply because you lacked the crucial theoretical knowledge. That is exactly where this course comes in. Without solid endgame skills, there’s no way forward. Rook endgames are most essential: they occur more often than any other type of endgame, and often make the difference between victory and half a point. If you master them, you’ll confidently convert your advantages into wins!
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: Bodycheck
Vidit Gujrathi
Only the board of prodigies ended drawn in the match between the leaders and the team that has struggled the most in Mumbai so far. Alireza Firouzja could not recover from his loss at the start of the day, as he was outplayed by Gukesh Dommaraju in an endgame – the world champion had also lost his first game of the day.
Firouzja’s teammates came to the rescue, though, with Wei Yi, Vidit Gujrathi and Alexandra Kosteniuk all winning after having lost their games earlier in the day. Talk about resilience!
