The defending champions top the standings
For the first time in this year’s Global Chess League, there is a sole leader in match points. The two-time defending champions Triveni Continental Kings defeated upGrad Mumba Masters by 9–5 in the direct clash between the former co-leaders, moving clear at the top of the standings. The decisive factor once again was Alireza Firouzja, who scored his fifth win in five games and remains the only player with a perfect score in Mumbai. With the first half of the double round-robin now complete, Firouzja has achieved a notable milestone by defeating all five Icon players from the opposing teams.
The match itself was closely contested and lived up to its billing as the marquee encounter of the day. Five of the six games ended in draws, leaving Firouzja’s victory over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on the top board as the sole decisive result and the difference between the teams. On board six, Marc’Andria Maurizzi came close to adding another point for the Continental Kings, but Bardiya Daneshvar defended accurately and managed to secure a draw.
Master your middlegame with the complete strategy series – now available as a bundle at a reduced price. Take your chance to save and improve!
Following their defeat, the Mumba Masters dropped back into a share of second place, level on match points with Ganges Grandmasters. Vishy Anand’s team secured a narrow 8–7 victory over Fyers American Gambits in round five. The match featured one win for each side on the middle boards, but the colour of those victories proved decisive under the league’s scoring system. Javokhir Sindarov scored a win with the black pieces for the Ganges Grandmasters, while Bibisara Assaubayeva won with white for the American Gambits.
The remaining match of the day brought a long-awaited breakthrough for PBG Alaskan Knights, who recorded their first match win of the event by defeating Alpine SG Pipers 12–8. It was also their first success at board level, as they had failed to win a single individual game in the first four rounds. On this occasion, all six boards produced decisive results, with victories for the Alaskan Knights coming from Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, Leinier Dominguez and Kateryna Lagno on the top four boards.
With the first half of the double round-robin concluded, the tournament now moves into a more compressed phase. The opening segment featured three matches per day, spread across five days, while the second half will be completed by Monday. From Friday to Sunday, four matches per day are scheduled, followed by three matches on Monday. To accommodate the increased volume of play, the action will start one and a half hours earlier than usual the next three days, beginning at 11:00 Central European Time.
Match #13: Mumba Masters 5–9 Continental Kings
| Upgrad Mumba Masters | Rtg | – | Triveni Continental Kings | Rtg | 5 – 9 |
| Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2730 | – | Firouzja, Alireza | 2754 | 0 – 4 |
| So, Wesley | 2702 | – | Wei, Yi | 2751 | 1 – 1 |
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2707 | – | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2650 | 1 – 1 |
| Koneru, Humpy | 2448 | – | Zhu, Jiner | 2435 | 1 – 1 |
| Dronavalli, Harika | 2435 | – | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2450 | 1 – 1 |
| Daneshvar, Bardiya | 2498 | – | Maurizzi, Marcandria | 2506 | 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.
In the one decisive game of the match, an in-form Alireza Firouzja played the Najdorf Sicilian while facing one of the best-known experts in this line. In what turned out to be a positional battle – with both kings castled on the kingside – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave erred by weakening his queenside with 29.c3?, granting Black a positional advantage. Firouzja’s conversion was not without mistakes, but he still ended up getting the all-important victory in 52 moves.
Match #14: Alaskan Knights 12–8 Pipers
| PBG Alaskan Knights | Rtg | – | Alpine SG Pipers | Rtg | 12 – 8 |
| Gukesh, D | 2692 | – | Caruana, Fabiano | 2751 | 3 – 0 |
| Erigaisi, Arjun | 2714 | – | Giri, Anish | 2685 | 3 – 0 |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2703 | – | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2663 | 3 – 0 |
| Lagno, Kateryna | 2452 | – | Hou, Yifan | 2536 | 3 – 0 |
| Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat | 2356 | – | Batsiashvili, Nino | 2346 | 0 – 4 |
| Dardha, Daniel | 2592 | – | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2498 | 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.
After a winless first four rounds, the Alaskan Knights showed their class by scoring remarkable wins on the top four boards. Gukesh Dommaraju outplayed Fabiano Caruana convincingly, Arjun Erigaisi played a risky line with an early g2-g4 to beat Anish Giri, Leinier Dominguez showed great techinque to make the most of his bishop pair against Praggnanandhaa, while Kateryna Lagno defeated none other than women’s world number one Hou Yifan.
The Pipers’ Nino Batsiashvili and Leon Luke Mendonca grabbed wins with black on the bottom boards – both players had also won their games in the previous round.
Match #15: American Gambits 7–8 Ganges GMs
| Fyers American Gambits | Rtg | – | Ganges Grandmasters | Rtg | 7 – 8 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | 2732 | – | Anand, Viswanathan | 2727 | 1 – 1 |
| Artemiev, Vladislav | 2727 | – | Keymer, Vincent | 2640 | 1 – 1 |
| Rapport, Richard | 2702 | – | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2704 | 0 – 4 |
| Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2461 | – | Shuvalova, Polina | 2360 | 3 – 0 |
| Injac, Teodora | 2360 | – | Tsolakidou, Stavroula | 2358 | 1 – 1 |
| Murzin, Volodar | 2642 | – | Sadhwani, Raunak | 2611 | 1 – 1 |
The crucial game of the match saw Javokhir Sindarov outsmarting Richard Rapport out of a London System. Rapport, true to his style, gave up material to keep the battle tactical, but saw his opponent, the recent winner of the FIDE World Cup, showing remarkable alertness to get a 22-move victory.
Bibisara Assaubayeva, on her part, was the first player to beat Polina Shuvalova in the event. Shuvalova’s 29…cxd4? was the crucial mistake of the encounter.
