GM Alireza Firouzja won a dramatic game against GM Viswanathan Anand as the Triveni Continental Kings beat the Ganges Grandmasters 14-5 to cruise into the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2025 Final. Who they face will be decided on Monday’s final day of the round-robin, with GM Fabiano Caruana‘s Alpine SG Pipers knowing a win will guarantee them the spot. If they lose, however, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave‘s upGrad Mumba Masters will snatch the place with a win.
Day nine starts on Monday, December 22, at 5:00 a.m. ET / 11:00 CET / 3:30 p.m. IST.
Triveni Continental Kings are in the Final after opening up a six-point lead. Due to the tiebreaker of game points, only upGrad Mumba Masters can overtake Alpine SG Pipers, but they need the Pipers to lose (to the Alaskan Knights) while they beat the leaders on the final day. The teams that finish third and fourth will also play a match, so that everyone still has something to play for.
upGrad Mumba Masters 7-8 Alpine SG Pipers
This match was decided by the smallest of margins, with GM Hou Yifan‘s win over GM Koneru Humpy earning a point more since it came with the black pieces. Hou understood she had to blow open the center, and when Humpy missed one chance it was game over.
The match could very easily have gone the other way, however, since GM Anish Giri‘s 22…Qc3?? should have cost him the game against GM Wesley So.
White’s two bishops are attacked, but 23.Bd4! hits the queen and the rook on b2, and would have won the game. It was curious, therefore, that So thought for over a minute before defending his bishops with 23.Qd3?, when the game ended in a draw. Giri tweeted: “Practicing opponent hypnosis before the Candidates.😵💫”
That loss for the local Mumbai team that had been pushing the leaders hardest meant all the pressure was off the Continental Kings as they booked their spot in the Final.
Ganges Grandmasters 5-14 Triveni Continental Kings
This match looks like a crushing victory at a glance, but a seven-point swing happened in a single move.
Here 43.Rg2+! blocks the check and wins on the spot, as Black can only delay checkmate by a single move by putting the rook on d4. In fact 43.Kh1 also leaves Black with little to do but give desperate checks and resign.
Shuvalova thought for 10 seconds, but then played 43.Kg1??, when after 43…Nf3+! Zhu could force a draw on the spot but instead correctly decided to play on and win. That meant Firouzja didn’t need to win a dramatic clash against Anand, but he did, finding a beautiful finish for his first win in four games.
Firouzja pounces on a blunder by Anand to win a wild game as the Triveni Continental Kings make absolutely certain of their spot in Tuesday’s Final! https://t.co/B9s8G7ib1Z#TechMGCL #MegaMove pic.twitter.com/AjoZZAyFxu
— chess24 (@chess24com) December 21, 2025
That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed below.
GM Javokhir Sindarov‘s sparkling win over GM Vidit Gujrathi was therefore only a consolation, but the FIDE World Cup winner continues to enhance his reputation.
Fyers American Gambits 7-8 Alpine SG Pipers
This was the end of the road for the American Gambits, at least as far as the battle for first place goes and, once again, things were decided by the narrowest of margins. A third win in a row for the women’s number-one again made all the difference, and again because it came with the black pieces. It meant GM Volodar Murzin‘s win on the prodigy board couldn’t rescue the match.
Elsewhere two misfortunes had cancelled each other out. IM Teodora Injac failed to win despite having an enormous advantage against GM Nino Batsiashvili while GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu spoiled what should have been the winning brilliancy 27…Qxa4!, exploiting GM Richard Rapport‘s issues on the back rank.
In the end, however, Rapport pulled off an amazing escape when Praggnanandhaa allowed his knight to be trapped and White established a fortress.
The final match of the day was one the upGrad Mumba Masters needed to win to keep their fate in their own hands, but once again having the white pieces proved their undoing as their wins were only worth three points each.
upGrad Mumba Masters 8-10 PBG Alaskan Knights
World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju was eventually ground down by Vachier-Lagrave, but by that point the match was already decided.
MVL beats Gukesh, but it’s not enough to save his team in the match! https://t.co/gXdjuxV5kU#TechMGCL #MegaMove pic.twitter.com/dh8ySSGctw
— chess24 (@chess24com) December 21, 2025
The heroes were GM Leinier Dominguez, who put GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to the sword brilliantly despite being low on time, and IM Sara Khadem, who won a position that looked utterly hopeless.
There’s one day of the round-robin to go, with who plays the final to be decided in two matches. First it’s the Triveni Continental Kings taking on the upGrad Mumba Masters—the Mumbai-based team must win to keep alive a chance of playing the Final. If they do win that match, then it comes down to the final match of the day—the Alpine Pipers will need a win (or a very unlikely draw) vs. the Alaskan Knights.
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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