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The Alpine APL Pipers were the only team to preserve a perfect match record after the second day of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League in Bengaluru. Magnus Carlsen's side defeated the Ganges Grandmasters 11-6, despite Ian Nepomniachtchi missing a clear opportunity to beat Carlsen after reaching a dominant position with two extra pawns. Humpy Koneru and Vidit Gujrathi scored the decisive wins for the Pipers.
The PBG Alaskan Knights, meanwhile, collected their first victory by beating the CheQ Mumba Masters 11-6. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov scored the Masters' only win, against his 15-year-old protégé Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, but victories for Arjun Erigaisi, Nino Batsiashvili and Abhimanyu Mishra gave Viswanathan Anand's team the match points.
The FYERS American Gambits suffered their first setback after their two wins on Saturday, losing 9-7 to the Ganges Grandmasters. Polina Shuvalova registered her third victory in as many games, while Nepomniachtchi benefited from a costly error by Javokhir Sindarov, who let a winning position slip and eventually lost on time. A draw would have been enough for the Gambits to win the match.
The day's final encounter saw the CheQ Mumba Masters edge the Triveni Continental Kings 10-9, leaving the two-time champions without a match point after three outings. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Alireza Firouzja on the icon board, while Harika Dronavalli also won for Mumbai. After eight matches, the American Gambits, Ganges Grandmasters and Alpine APL Pipers are level on match points, although the Pipers have played two matches and the remaining two co-leaders have played three matches each.
Ian Nepomniachtchi first failed to convert a winning advantage against Magnus Carlsen and then defeated Javokhir Sindarov in what was an eventful day for the two-time Candidates' winner | Photos: Global Chess League
Current standings
| Ganges Grandmasters | 6-11 | Alpine APL Pipers |
| Ian Nepomniachtchi | 1-1 | Magnus Carlsen |
| Levon Aronian | 1-1 | Anish Giri |
| Leinier Dominguez | 0-4 | Vidit Gujrathi |
| Polina Shuvalova | 3-0 | Divya Deshmukh |
| Stavroula Tsolakidou | 0-4 | Humpy Koneru |
| Leon Luke Mendonca | 1-1 | Volodar Murzin |
The clash between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen, who faced off in the 2021 match for the World Championship, saw Nepo getting a clearly superior position in the late middlegame - which turned into a winning advantage in a pure rook endgame. Until a single mistake allowed Carlsen to escape with a draw.
Despite having two extra pawns unopposed - which are connected - White cannot win after faltering with 60.Kxe4?, as demonstrated by Carlsen in the game. Instead 60.Rd4, 60.Rd5 or 60.Rd8 are all winning, as shown in the tablebases (no other move is winning, though!).
A much more painful blunder was played by the Grandmasters' Leinier Dominguez on board three - his 38.Nf6?? simply gave up his queen on g3.
38...Qxg3 and White resigned, since the f2-pawn is pinned along the dark-squared diagonal.
| PBG Alaskan Knights | 11-6 | CheQ Mumba Masters |
| Viswanathan Anand | 1-1 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
| Arjun Erigaisi | 3-0 | Pranesh M |
| Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | 0-4 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov |
| Kateryna Lagno | 1-1 | Harika Dronavalli |
| Nino Batsiashvili | 3-0 | Carissa Yip |
| Abhimanyu Mishra | 3-0 | Bardiya Daneshvar |
The Alaskan Knights won this match comfortably, with three individual victories by Arjun Erigaisi, Nino Batsiashvili and Abhimanyu Mishra. The one victory by the Mumba Masters featured a battle of coach against pupil - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (aged 41) defeated Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (aged 15) with the black pieces.
Erdogmus correctly gave up a piece with 32.Bxg4 here, and obtained a clear advantage after Mamedyarov erred by capturing the bishop with 32...hxg4? (32...Qg5 is the only move that keeps the balance).
However, the Turkish prodigy made a number of mistakes while trying to make the most of his initiative on the kingside and found himself in an inferior position later on.
Black is already for choice here, but 58.Kf4? made matters worse for Erdogmus. Better was to transfer the rook to the other available open file with 58.Rd1 to continue looking for counterplay while a piece down. Mamedyarov went on to obtain an 82-move victory.
| Ganges Grandmasters | 9-7 | FYERS American Gambits |
| Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3-0 | Javokhir Sindarov |
| Levon Aronian | 0-4 | Nihal Sarin |
| Leinier Dominguez | 1-1 | Daniil Dubov |
| Polina Shuvalova | 3-0 | Bibisara Assaubayeva |
| Stavroula Tsolakidou | 1-1 | Sara Khadem |
| Leon Luke Mendonca | 1-1 | Marc'Andria Maurizzi |
After the huge missed chance against Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi managed to defeat the upcoming challenger for the world crown in classical chess, Javokhir Sindarov.
In the following position, Sindarov had a clear advantage with his two connected passers on the queenside, but his 36...b2? turned out to be too hasty.
Nepo found the refutation: 37.Nf6+ Kf8 38.Bxb2 Rxb2 39.Nxe8 Kxe8, and an equal rook endgame was reached. Instead, Sindarov would have kept his advantage in the diagrammed position with 36...Rec8 or even 36...Rd8.
Sindarov went on to lose the game on time in what was objectively a drawn position.
The Uzbek GM ran out of time after Nepo's 62.h4. In fact, Black should not go for 62...Rxh4??, since White wins after 63.Rxa2, as the f7-pawn will be captured next. However, keeping the status quo with 62...Kc6 is enough for a draw.
Nepo's ability to play quickly is surely an advantage in these rapid events.
| CheQ Mumbai Masters | 10-9 | Triveni Continental Kings |
| Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 3-0 | Alireza Firouzja |
| Pranesh M | 1-1 | Wei Yi |
| Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 3-0 | Aravindh Chithambaram |
| Harika Dronavalli | 3-0 | Zhu Jiner |
| Carissa Yip | 0-4 | Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| Bardiya Daneshvar | 0-4 | Pranav Venkatesh |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov scored a second consecutive win by defeating Aravindh Chithambaram in this match. The Azerbaijani star got to play a good-looking final move.
35.Bg6+! was followed by Aravindh's resignation. White will give checkmate either via 35...hxg6 36.Qxg6# or 35...Kh6 36.Bf7 Qf6 37.Rxf6#
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