Tech Mahindra GCL Day 1: Vishy Anand ensures a smooth sailing for Ganges Grandmasters

Grischuk props up upGrad Mumba Masters

Match #1: Triveni Continental Kings - upGrad Mumba Masters: 0-3

Alexander Grischuk saved the match for upGrad Mumba Masters. He scored the sole win for the team over Yangyi Yu (TCK). The first result of the day was Wei Yi (TCK) scoring a win over Vidit Gujrathi (uMM). uMM's Koneru Humpy and Javokhir Sindarov made massive saves against TCK's Kateryna Lagno and Jonas Buhl Bjerre, TCK's Levon Aronian and Nana Dzagnidze drew against uMM's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Harika Dronavalli respectively. Dzagnidze (TCK) had a small window of opportunity but it was not easy to find with less time on the clock.

Black was already pressing and had a firm control of the position. White needed to go 31.Bxg6 to reduce the intensity of the attack. Instead, 31.Nef5 made things worse for White after Qf4 32.Ne2 Qxh2+ 33.Qxh2 Bxh2 34.Kxh2 Bxf5 35.Bxf5 Rxf5 soon Black gained one more pawn and went on to convert his advantage into a win. 

Wei Yi (TCK) is not the one who likes to be on the receiving end of an attack. Instead, he prefers to launch an attack of his own when the opportunity presents itself. That is exactly how he reacted against 32...g5 with an exciting 33.Rxc6! Black's knight at h3 is already trapped, so it is more than an exchange sacrifice for White. 33...Qxc6 34.Bxf5 Rc7 35.Kxh3 Qa4 36.hxg5 Rc4 37.f4! White sacrifices his d4-bishop to launch a fatal attack on Vidit's (uMM) king. 37...Rxd4 38.Qxh5 Rd2 39.Qh7+ Kf8 40.Qh6+ Ke7 41.Qf6+ Kf8 42.g6 and Black resigned as checkmate threat is unstoppable.

Kateryna Lagno (TCK) had a great opportunity to win against Koneru Humpy (uMM). She just needed to play 41.Bf6! Rxe6 42.Bxg7 and White gains the d4-pawn in the next move. Instead, 41.e7 allowed Black to save the game: Kf7. White got some more small opportunities but they were not that easy to spot. Humpy scored a crucial 1 point with this draw.

Alexander Grischuk was certainly the 'MVP' of uMM | Photo: Jio Cinema live stream

Triveni Continental Kings - upGrad Mumba Masters: 0-3 (7-8) | Photo: Official site

Replay TCK vs uMM games

uMM celebrates their first win in the opening match of the event

Match #2: Chingari Gulf Titans - Ganges Grandmasters:

The first two results of the match were two quiet draws between Richard Rapport (CGT) and Leinier Dominguez Perez (CGT) against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (GG) and Daniil Dubov (GG) respectively. The former world champions, Vishy Anand and Yifan Hou scored the wins for Ganges Grandmasters against Chingari Gulf Titans' Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Alexandra Kosteniuk respectively.

Vishy Anand (GG) found a very nice move 34.Qg1! getting ready to launch an attack towards the black king. His opponent, Duda (CGT) made a few questionable choices 34...Kg6 35.Qg3 Qxa2 36.g5 fxg5 37.Qxe5 Qa6 38.f4 gxf4 39.Nd5 Bxd5 40.Rg1+ and Black resigned as checkmate is unstoppable.

41...Kg7? was a minute mistake by Alexandra Kosteniuk (CGT). Yifan Hou (GG) seized her opportunity. Try to find out what it was.

Chingari Gulf Titans - Ganges Grandmasters: 0-3 (4-10) | Photo: Official site

Replay CGT vs GG games

World no.1 Magnus Carlsen has already made his intentions known

Magnus Carlsen takes a tour of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League tournament hall | Video: ChessBase India

Team SG Alpine Warriors Photoshoot and Meet | Video: ChessBase India

Standings after Day 1

Ganges Grandmasters and upGrad Mumba Masters scored the victories on the first day | Photo: Official site

Day 2 matches

Match #3: SG Alpine Warriors vs Balan Alaskan Knights from 2 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST.

Match #4: Triveni Continental Kings vs Chingari Gulf Titans from 3:20 p.m. local time, 4:50 p.m. IST.

Match #5: Ganges Grandmasters vs SG Alpine Warriors from 5:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST.

Match #6: upGrad Mumba Masters vs Balan Alaskan Knights from 6:50 p.m. local time, 8:20 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)

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

Chess-results

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

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