Tech Mahindra GCL Day 6: Chingari Gulf Titans move up as Anand's win goes in vain

by Shahid Ahmed
6/27/2023 – Vishy Anand has defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda twice in five days. The legend continues to make it look easy. The Poland no.1 sacrificed an exchange and things did not work out for him. Anand's win did not help the team though, as he scored the sole victory for Ganges Grandmasters. Yifan Hou had a great chance to win against Alexandra Kosteniuk. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't find a way in time trouble. Harika Dronavalli and Jonas Buhl Bjerre scored crucial victories for upGrad Mumba Masters to beat Triveni Continetal Kings. Both rematches had the inverse overall match result of their first encounter at this event. There will be two matches tomorrow, starting at 5:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
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Anand beats Duda twice in five days

If Vishy Anand could play on all six boards, perhaps Ganges Grandmasters could have avoided their second loss of the event. That is practically impossible. The league is quite strong. How do we know? Every team has lost at least two matches out of the six they played so far. It cannot be said that one team is way stronger than the other. Even teams which were at the bottom of the standings are crawling back up.

Chingari Gulf Titans vs Ganges Grandmasters: 3-0 (9-7)

The first result of the match was a calm draw between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (CGT) and Richard Rapport (GG). IM Polina Shuvalova (CGT) scored the first win for her team against GM Bella Khotenashvili (GG). Leinier Dominguez Perez (GG) ran out of time against Daniil Dubov (CGT). The maestro Vishy Anand (GG) beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda (CGT) again.

Duda - Anand
Position after 30...Nd3

Anand (GG) beautifully manoeuvred his knight from d7 to d3 via b6-a4-b2 to counterbalance his opponent's bishop at d6. Duda (CGT) could not resist having an octopus knight. He decided to sacrifice an exchange with 31.R2xd3 cxd3 32.Qxd3 Qc1+ 33.Kg2 Qb2+ 34.Kh3. White made some more errors which his opponent capitalized on to win the game.

Vishy beats Duda for the second time in five days, still Ganges Grandmasters lost | Video: ChessBase India

Dubov - Leinier
Position after 40...gxf6

Dubov (CGT) mentioned that he had chances before he misplayed the position. After 40...gxf6 White needed to go 41.Rg2 Bd8 42.Reg1. It would have been difficult for Black to save the game. White won the game after seven more moves when Black ran out of time.

Daniil Dubov ended Leinier Dominguez's unbeaten streak at this event | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Kosteniuk - Yifan
Position after 59.Ke2??

Yifan (GG) had a few chances against Kosteniuk (CGT) in the endgame. There was a beautiful finish after 59.Ke2?? Kg2! 60.Rxf1 d3+ 61.Ke1 h3 and Black's pawns are too strong for the white pieces to stop.

Yifan Hou had the opportunity to beat Alexandra Kosteniuk for the second time in five days | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Nihal Sarin drew against Andrey Esipenko again | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Chingari Gulf Titans avenged their first-day loss against the Ganges Grandmasters | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Chingari Gulf Titans - Ganges Grandmasters: 0-3 (7-9)

Replay CGT vs GG games

upGrad Mumba Masters vs Triveni Continental Kings: 3-0 (10-4)

Koneru Humpy (uMM) drew against Kateryna Lagno (TCK) as the first result of the match. The 'Icons' game between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (umM) and Levon Aronian (TCK) also ended in a draw. Vidit Gujrathi (uMM) had a hard-fought draw against Wei Yi (TCK). Javokhir Sindarov (uMM) scored the first win over Jonas Buhl Bjerre (TCK). Harika Dronavalli (uMM) scored another win to ensure an insurmountable lead over TCK. Since the team won the match, Grischuk (uMM) immediately drew his game against Yangyi Yu (TCK).

Grischuk - Yangyi
Position after 41...dxe3

Grischuk (uMM) was winning against Yangyi (TCK). He needed to stop the e3-passed pawn with his king 41.Kg3 and he would have won. Instead, White played 41.Re5?? and immediately realized what mistake he had made after ...e2.

Alexander Grischuk (uMM) missed his win, however, his miss did not affect the outcome of the match | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Harika Dronavalli (uMM) was too strong for IM Sara Khadem (TCK) in her debut game | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Sindarov - Jonas
Position after 24.Kb1

Jonas Buhl Bjerre (TCK) had a decisive advantage over Javokhir Sindarov (uMM). Black needed to go 24...c4. Even after a couple of moves, he still had the opportunity to play the same with a similar effect — but he didn't. Eventually, Black erred, which White correctly spotted and went on to win the game.

Both Sindarov-Jonas games at this event were exciting | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

On Tuesday, upGrad Mumba Masters avenged their loss against Triveni Continental Kings | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

upGrad Mumba Masters - Triveni Continental Kings: 3-0 (10-4)

Replay uMM vs TCK games

A dream come true for young chess fans | Video: ChessBase India

Standings after Day 6

Ganges Grandmasters and SG Alpine Warriors are the coleaders 12/18 | Photo: Official site

Day 7 matches

  • Balan Alaskan Knights vs upGrad Mumba Masters from 5:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST
  • SG Alpine Warriors vs Ganges Grandmasters from 7 p.m. local time, 8:30 p.m. IST

What is the Scoring System?

Each team will have six players and a manager, who will be competing on six boards which will be played simultaneously. While each board will be called a game, all six combined boards will be termed one match. Once the board order is decided, it cannot be altered after drawing lots while deciding the run order of play. And in each match, all the players of one team will play with the same colour.

A game won with Black pieces will result in 4 Game Points (GP) to the winning player. A victory for a player with White pieces will see them win 3 GP. A draw will be rewarded with 1 GP, and a defeat gets the player 0 GP. Each players’ GP will contribute to the Team’s total Match Points (MP).

With regards to the calculations on Match Points (MP), a Team which scores more GP than their opposition will be rewarded with a bonus of 3 MP. If both the Teams are level on GP, they will be awarded 1 MP each. However, if a team scores lesser GP than the opposing team, they won’t get any MP for that Match.

Scoring System for Game Points (GP)

4 GP (3+1) 

A player wins the Game with Black Pieces 

3 GP 

A player wins the Game with White Pieces 

1 GP 

Draw 

0 GP 

Defeat 

Scoring System for Match Points (MP)

3  MP 

The team that scores more Game Points 

1  MP 

If both teams are level on Game Points 

0  MP 

The team that scores lesser Game Points than  the opponent 

The Final will be played over best-of-2 matches. There will be a drawing of lots to determine which Team is White in Match 1, this team will then be black in Match 2. The team who wins more matches will be the Champion. In the event of a tie:

• There will be a playoff blitz fixture, which will be a best-of-2 match. The team that was white in Match 1 and black in Match 2 will play white in Match 3 and black in Match 4. The time limit for each game will be all moves in 3 minutes plus 2 seconds. The Team that wins the most matches in the fixture will be the Champion.

• If the Teams remain tied, there shall be a drawing of lots to determine a board from 1 to 6. The player from each Team on this board will then participate in a sudden-death blitz game. The time limit for this game will be 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. The player from the Team who was white in Matches 1 and 3, will play white in this game.

• If the sudden death blitz game is drawn, then the procedure is repeated except that the colour of the player from each team alternates from the colour the team had in the preceding sudden death blitz game.

• If the tie remains unbroken, the above procedure is repeated until a sudden death blitz game has a winner.

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Shahid Ahmed is the senior coordinator and editor of ChessBase India. He enjoys covering chess tournaments and also likes to play in chess events from time to time.
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