The rivals of GM Alireza Firouzja finally struck back on day six, with GM Fabiano Caruana ending a five-game winning streak before Firouzja also lost to World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Triveni Continental Kings still won that second match to lead the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2025 by three points after day six, but GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave‘s upGrad Mumba Masters will catch them if they win their match in hand.
Day seven starts on Saturday, December 20, at 5:00 a.m. ET / 11:00 CET / 3:30 p.m. IST.
For the first time we had four matches and two teams playing twice, so that leaders Triveni Continental Kings and last-placed PBG Alaskan Knights have played one more match than the rest.
| # | Team | Matches | + | = | – | Match Points | Game Points |
| 1 | Triveni Continental Kings | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 70 |
| 2 | Upgrad Mumba Masters | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 67 |
| 3 | Alpine SG Pipers | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 53 |
| 4 | Ganges Grandmasters | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 49 |
| 5 | Fyers American Gambits | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 43 |
| 6 | PBG Alaskan Knights | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 43 |
PBG Alaskan Knights 9-7 Fryers American Gambits
The first match of the day was ultimately decided by GM Arjun Erigaisi overcoming GM Vladislav Artemiev in a tricky endgame and a comprehensive first win for IM Sara Khadem, over IM Teodora Injac, but by far the most entertaining clash was one that ultimately didn’t alter the outcome of the match: GM Hikaru Nakamura‘s win over Gukesh.
For most of the game it was going the way of the world champion, who was winning on the board and doing well on the clock, but Nakamura switched to full hustle mode and managed to turn things around in the dying stages. 41.Qf8? (41.Bd2!) was the final mistake.
Nakamura went from losing to winning against Gukesh in the space of a couple of moves! https://t.co/lIjjhxHDrM#TechMGCL #MegaMove pic.twitter.com/LOIAN3BixQ
— chess24 (@chess24com) December 19, 2025
Nakamura recapped a win that couldn’t prevent his team suffering a third loss in a row.
Alpine SG Pipers 12-8 Triveni Continental Kings
This match had it all, and fittingly came down to an absolute thriller on the top board where Firouzja’s five-game winning streak was ended by a win for a player who knows a bit about streaks against his greatest rivals: Caruana. It was understandable that both players smiled at the end.
Caruana finally ends Firouzja’s rampage by winning a crazy time scramble! https://t.co/wo0FY1ljgh#TechMGCL #MegaMove pic.twitter.com/yoKfoUy6A1
— chess24 (@chess24com) December 19, 2025
The outcome of the game was fair considering there was only one brief moment in a time scramble when Firouzja was winning (56…Nf3!), but the greatest excitement came when it seemed it was all over after Caruana had queened a pawn. Firouzja whipped up amazing complications, with the U.S. star commenting: “I thought I would win after I queened my pawn, but then he started to advance his king and attacked me, which was of course a great practical chance, and I still wasn’t sure—I could flag, I could blunder mate!”
That game won the local game of the round prize, which was hard on GM Anish Giri, who after two losses and three draws played a brilliant game to defeat the previously unbeaten GM Wei Yi. He commented: “Fabiano is going to win five more games in this tournament, even though there are four games left, and for me we might have to wait two more seasons till it happens again!”
For me we might have to wait two more seasons till it happens again!
—Anish Giri on not getting the game of the round prize for his win
Giri credited his modest 3.c3 idea to GM Vladimir Kramnik, who he helped prepare for the 2018 FIDE Candidates Tournament, explaining: “The remarkable part about modern chess is that from this very stupid move, which is the most harmless move ever, you can get a position that is so sharp and attacking.”
That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed below.
It was a dream match for Alpine SG Pipers, with GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu taking advantage of GM Vidit Gujrathi losing on time…
Praggnanandhaa wins on time as Vidit doesn’t quite make it to move 40! https://t.co/KqheNtiu8O#TechMGCL #MegaMove pic.twitter.com/M2v8yLu0RM
— chess24 (@chess24com) December 19, 2025
…and GM Nino Batsiashvili continuing her brilliant form with a fifth win in six games after a Greek gift sacrifice on h7 was flawed but nevertheless proved enough to take down GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.
upGrad Mumba Masters 11-6 Ganges Grandmasters
IM Stavroula Tsolakidou scored her first win of the event, but even if GM Viswanathan Anand had joined her by converting a winning position against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave it wouldn’t have been enough after wins for GMs Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Koneru Humpy gave the upGrad Mumba Masters victory.
GM Javokhir Sindarov had been on a four-game winning streak but has now lost twice to Mamedyarov, while GM Vincent Keymer was given no chance by So in one of the cleanest games of the day. From about move 14 on every move of So’s can be given an exclamation mark, while Keymer didn’t really make a clear blunder. The final position sums up the game.
Mumba Masters were level on points with Triveni Continental Kings, but Firouzja’s team got to play an extra match on day six, and took advantage to regain the lead… by the narrowest of margins!
Triveni Continental Kings 10-9 PBG Alaskan Knights
It didn’t rain but it poured for Firouzja, as he went on to lose a second game in a row, this time in an endgame against Gukesh. Firouzja came close to holding, but in the end it was Gukesh who bounced back after his loss to Nakamura.
This time, however, no harm was done to the team, as Vidit made up for losing on time by winning on time vs. GM Leinier Dominguez, and there was another reversal of fortune as Kosteniuk, who earlier lost, defeated Khadem, who had won.
The most important turnaround was Wei’s recovery from the loss to Giri to strike against Arjun, a player he knocked out of the 2025 FIDE World Cup. Wei took over in middlegame complications, with 24.Rae1! based on the fact that the black queen can’t defend both the knight on e7 and the rook on f4, so there’s no time to grab the bishop on c2.
In huge time trouble, Wei almost let the win slip away, but in the end he held on to clinch the narrowest of wins for the Triveni Continental Kings.
The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2025 consists of a six-team double round-robin group stage and a final contested by the top two teams. In each match, all members of a team play with the same color, with four points for a win with Black and three for a win with White. All games have a 20-minute time control, with a two-second increment from move 41.
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