GCL Day 1: The Alaskan Knights crush the Continental Kings

Lots of exciting games

The first day witnessed several exciting games. The first encounter between Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen ended in a lukewarm draw. They will at least face one more time at this event.

American Gambits - upGrad Mumba Masters: 3-0 (11-6)

Jan-Krzysztof Duda (AG) set the tone for the match when he scored an emphatic victory over Vidit Gujrathi (uMM). IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (AG) and GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre (AG) scored two more crucial victories over GM Koneru Humpy (uMM) and GM Raunak Sadhwani (uMM) respectively. Both Duda and Jonas checkmated their opponents. GM Hikaru Nakamura (AG) defended a difficult position against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (uMM). GM Harika Dronavalli (uMM) scored the sole game win for her team against GM Elisabeth Paehtz (AG).

Duda made an interesting knight sacrifice 18.dxe5!? Although White is not winning immediately, there are some practical chances and this is how Duda loves to play. Vidit accepted the sacrifice offered 18...Qxa4 19.Bxg4 hxg4 20.exd6+ Kf8 only move 21.Qe7+ Kg7 22.Qe5+ Kg8?? 23.d7+- and White checkmated the black king in six more moves. Instead, 22...Kh7 is what Black needed to play to keep the game going.

Master Class Vol.17 - Boris Spassky

In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the 'boAt' Player of the match award for his fantastic play

Nakamura navigated the complex chain exchange of pieces 36.Rxd8+ Qxd8 37.Rc8 Bxf5 38.Rxd8+ and the World no.2 defended quite well. The computer might say the position is balanced but in less time and with no increment, it was certainly not an easy draw.

Hikaru Nakamura (AG) put up a great defence against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (uMM)

Tech Mahindra Global Chess League CEO, Sameer Pathak, made the inaugural move on Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's board in the presence of Bharat Singh Chauhan, the Tournament Director

GM Harika Dronavalli scored the sole win for her team uMM against GM Elisabeth Paehtz (AG)

Raunak needed to defend his knight and keep the f-file locked with 38...g5. Instead, 38...Nd3 is the usual choice when you have a square for a knight like that. However, it turned out to only make things difficult for Black 39.Qh4 Qe7 40.Qh3 Nxb2?? then came the bolt from the blue 41.Rxf7!! What a fantastic move!

No matter how Black captures the rook either with the queen or king, White is winning 42.Rxd5. Jonas went on to make a checkmate threat in another eight moves.

The Keymer Variation - 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3

This video course features the ins-and-outs of the possible setups Black can choose. You’ll learn the key concepts and strategies needed to add this fantastic opening to your repertoire. An easy-to-learn and yet venomous weapon.

GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre (AG) started his GCL campaign exactly the same way he ended the inaugural edition, by winning a game

upGrad Mumba Masters - American Gambits: 0-3 (6-11) | Photo: Official site

Replay uMM - AG games

Ganges Grandmasters - Alpine SG Pipers: 0-3 (6-11)

Richard Rapport (ASGP) and Yifan Hou (ASGP) scored the crucial wins over Parham Maghsoodloo (GG) and R Vaishali (GG) respectively. R Praggnanandhaa (ASGP) missed quite a few opportunities to win against Arjun Erigaisi (GG). IM Nurgyul Salimova (GG) scored the sole win of the match against GM Kateryna Lagno (ASGP).

Although White is losing the h2-pawn, still the game is far from over. 52...Rxh2 53.Kf5 d4 54.Kxf6 d3 55.f4?? d2-+ 55.Ra3 was the way to go for White to stay in the game d2 56.Rd3 and White is not losing. 56.Ra1 h5 57.Kg5 h4 58.Kg4 Ke7 59.f5 Kf6 60.Kf4 Rg2?

61.Ra6+ Kf7 62.Rd6 was a draw instead 62.Ra7+?? Once again Black is in the driver's seat Ke8 63.Ra8+ Kd7 64.Ra7+ Kd6 65.Ra6+ Kd5 66.Ra8 h3 67.Rd8+ now Black needed to move his king up towards the pawn Kc4 to win the game. Instead, 67...Kc6? allowed White to get away with a draw 68.Kf3 and the game ended in a draw in a few moves more.

R Praggnanandhaa missed plenty of opportunities to beat the World no.3 - Arjun Erigaisi

Richard Rapport (ASGP) opted for a surprise in the Semi-Slav with 4...Qb6 against Parham Maghsoodloo (GG).

71.Bxc2 Rxc2 72.Rxc2 Bxe5 73.Rg2 Nf6 and there is still a game. However, White made a simple one move blunder with 71.Rb8?? Rxg3+ 72.Kxg3 Bxe5+ - Black gained a piece and went on to win the game.

Parham Maghsoodloo did everything in the game and it eventually cost him

GM Kateryna Lagno (ASGP) made a simple tactical error. Her opponent, IM Nurgyul Salimova (GG), had no trouble capitalizing on her opportunity 35.Nxf6 Kxf6 36.Rh6+ Kg7 37.Rg6+ Kf7 38.Rxd6+- and White converted her advantage into a win smoothly.

Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

IM Nurgyul Salimova's (GG) sole win could not save her team from losing to Alpine SG Pipers

Ganges Grandmasters - Alpine SG Pipers: 0-3 (6-11) | Photo: Official site

Replay GG - ASGP games

PBG Alaskan Knights - Triveni Continental Kings: 3-0 (15-3)

Anish Giri (PBGAK) was winning against Alireza Firouzja (TCK) after the latter made an incorrect tactic which almost cost him the game. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Nihal Sarin scored the crucial victories over Wei Yi, Teimour Radjabov and Javokhir Sindarov respectively to ensure PBG Alaskan Knights score a huge win 15-3.

36.Rh1? Rxf3+! 37.Ke2 Qxh1 38.Qxe5+ Kf8 39.gxf3 fxg4 40.Qxc7 gxf3+ and Black ideally should have won the game. However, no increment made things that much difficult for Black. Eventually, he sacrificed his e-pawn incorrectly and White escaped with a draw.

Alireza Firouzja and Anish Giri had a fantastic battle

Black focused five out of six pieces on the kingside. 27...Nxg2! worked well as White does not have any proper response to it. 28.d5? Bxd5 29.Qxd5 Nxg3 30.Rg1 Nf4 31.Qxb7 Nf1+ 32.Kh1 Qf5 Black won the game with a beautiful finish.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov defeated Wei Yi with the black pieces in a beautiful manner

Nihal Sarin showed fantastic positional play to outwit his opponent and beat him for the first time at GCL. Their last two encounters at the inaugural edition ended in draws.

Nihal Sarin (PBGAK) scored a fine victory over Javokhir Sindarov (TCK)

PBG Alaskan Knights - Triveni Continental Kings: 15-3 | Photo: Official site

Replay PBG AK - TCK games

Video Gallery

Revealing Modern Grandmaster Secrets Vol. 1 & 2

This isn’t just another chess tutorial—it’s your all-access pass to the strategies, insights, and techniques that define modern grandmaster play.

The first match of the Global Chess League | Behind The Scenes - American Gambits vs Mumba Masters | Video: ChessBase India

Hikaru's American Gambits beat Mumba Masters | Video: ChessBase India

It's Vishy vs Magnus, Arjun vs Pragg | Alpine Sg Pipers vs Ganges Grandmasters | Video: ChessBase India

The most intense match of the day - Arjun Erigaisi vs Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa | Video: ChessBase India

Anish Giri making sure the reels are published | Video: ChessBase India

Standings after Day 1

PBG Alaskan Knights, American Gambits and Alpine SG Pipers scored the victories on the first day | Photo: Official site

Day 2 matches

Match #4: upGrad Mumba Masters vs Ganges Grandmasters from 1 p.m. local time

Match #5: PBG Alaskan Knights vs American Gambits from 2:15 p.m. local time

Match #6: Triveni Continental Kings vs Alpine SG Pipers from 3:30 p.m. local time

Match #7: upGrad Mumba Masters vs PBG Alaskan Knights from 4:45 p.m. local time

Scoring System for Game Points (GP)

Scoring System for Match Points (MP)

• 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.

Links

Tech Mahindra Global Chess League: Official site, facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube and linkedin

Tech Mahindra: Official site, facebook, twitter, youtube and linkedin