GCL Day 3: Firouzja outplays Nakamura and Anand, Alaskan Knights lead

Maghsoodloo and Salimova power Ganges GMs to their first win, Alaskan Knights maintain their sole lead

PBG Alaskan Knight continues to be the most balanced team at the event so far. Anish Giri is holding the fort on the 'icon' board. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov made a massive swindle in a completely lost position against Parham Maghsoodloo. The Women Superstars - GM Zhongyi Tan and IM Alina Kashlinskaya - also scored two important victories. Speaking of women, IM Nurgyul Salimova scored an important win over GM Valentina Gunina. It earned Ganges Grandmasters their first match win of the event so far.

Ganges Grandmasters - PBG Alaskan Knights: 0-3 (8-12)

Nodirbek Abdusattorov v. Arjun Erigaisi ended in a draw first, followed by Anish Giri and Vishy Anand, which also saw the players agreeing to a draw. IM Alina Kashlinskaya scored the first win for her team, PBG Alaskan Knights, over IM Nurgyul Salimova. R Vaishali lost on time against Zhongyi Tan. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov capitalized on his opponent Parham Maghsoodloo's one-move blunder in a completely winning position.

Vishy Anand marched his king to d4 to grab the b5-pawn: 40...Kd4 41.Rc8 Raxb5 42.Rh1 Rb8 43.Rcc1 Ke5 44.Rxh7 Black lost the h7-pawn in an unceremonious way and his advantage soon waned, with the game eventually ending in a draw.

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

England and United Kingdom's youngest Grandmaster - Shreyas Royal - made the ceremonial first move of Match #8 on Anish Giri and Vishy Anand's board

Arjun Erigaisi made an interesting offer of an exchange sacrifice, 20...fxe5, and White decided to accept it 21.Nxf8 Rxf8 22.Rxf8+ Bxf8 23.Bb5 Qg6. Soon the queens got traded and Black got a decisive advantage. However, it was not easy to convert it into a win and the game ended in a draw.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Arjun Erigaisi had an exciting battle

The above pawn ending is winning for Black. However, Maghsoodloo made a grave mistake with 67...c2??. Find out why it was a big mistake and what Black should have done instead. Shakh pounced on his opportunity and won the game after a one-move blunder.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov scored a crucial win and won the boAt Player of the Match award

GM R Vaishali ran out of time in an equal rook endgame against former Women's World Champion Zhongyi Tan

Ganges Grandmasters - PBG Alaskan Knights: 0-3 (3-12) | Photo: Official site

Replay GG - PBS AK games

American Gambits - Triveni Continental Kings: 0-3 (2-14)

The first result was a draw between Yangyi Yu and Teimour Radjabov. Alireza Firouzja outplayed Hikaru Nakamura after the latter made a mistake in the opening. Wei Yi scored the second win for the team against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Alexandra Kosteniuk scored the third win of the match against IM Bibisara Assaubayeva. It ensured the victory for the team.

After dropping the f4-pawn without any consequence, Nakamura made the mistake of exchanging one of his knights with 27.Ne7? Nxe7 28.Rxe7 and he outplayed by Firouzja.

Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja and Chief Arbiter IA Stephane Escafre shared a laugh at the beginning of the game as the Producer on the floor gently whispered - Hikaru start

TV time - especially live television time - is worth its weight in gold. Everyone knows that, so they shared a light moment. However, at the end of the game, Nakamura stormed off after the loss because, well, he is a human after all. A loss always hurts.

Master Class Vol. 12: Viswanathan Anand

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors how to successfully organise your games strategically, and how to keep your opponent permanently under pressure.

American Gambits - Triveni Continental Kings: 0-3 (3-15) | Photo: Official site

Replay AG - TCK games

upGrad Mumba Masters - Alpine SG Pipers: 0-3 (4-12)

Magnus Carlsen was determined to win this, considering how he lost the previous game. Every time he loses a game, he makes a fierce comeback. So when he entered the playing arena, he went straight for a water bottle, ignoring instructions to stand in a team file for the program. Magnus is Magnus. He does not need to follow any queues. He went straight for his chair but once again he was reminded to join his team and he did this time.

The first result was a draw between Harika Dronavalli and Kateryna Lagno. Vidit Gujrathi drew with R Praggnanandhaa, followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen sharing the point. Richard Rapport scored the first and crucial win for the team, against Peter Svidler. Koneru Humpy drew with Yifan Hou. Raunak lost to Daniel Dardha, which meant the Alpine SG Pipers had won the match.

Magnus Carlsen will have to wait one more day to score a win and remove the taste of his loss from Friday

Koneru Humpy drew well in time trouble in an endgame which she should not lose otherwise against Yifan Hou

Richard Rapport and Daniel Dardha scored the key victories for their team, Alpine SG Pipers

upGrad Mumba Masters - Alpine SG Pipers: 0-3 (4-12) | Photo: Alpine SG Pipers

Replay uMM - ASGP games

Triveni Continental Kings - Ganges Grandmasters: 0-3 (8-10)

Alireza Firouzja set the tone for the match by striking first against Vishy Anand. It means he defeated Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Vishy Anand in three consecutive games. Wei Yi and Arjun Erigaisi ended in a draw. R Vaishali lost her fourth game in-a-row. Parham Maghsoodloo scored a clutch win over Teimour Radjabov. IM Nurgyul Salimova scored an important win over GM Valentina Gunina to clinch the match for her team.

Alireza Firouzja started the game with 1.Nc3 and by the 17^th move he had his pawns on g5 and h5, making his intentions very clear that he is playing for only one result. His confidence was definitely at an all-time high as he came from defeating the World no.1 and 2 in two successive games. Anand tried to put up resistance, but it was just not enough - and eventually he succumbed.

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

Alireza Firouzja played 1.Nc3 and went on to beat Vishy Anand with an ambitious attack

Wei Yi is a dynamic and all-rounder. So sacrificing a queen is in his wheelhouse: 28.bxc6! Rxf5 29.cxd7+ Kc7 30.Ne6+ Kb6 31.Nxd8 Qxd8 32.f4 Kc6 It was not easy for White to seize his advantage, and eventually it fizzled out, as the game ended in a draw.

Wei Yi and Arjun Erigaisi had an interesting battle

Parham Maghsoodloo and Nurgyul Salimova scored key victories to ensure Ganges Grandmasters score their first team win

Triveni Continental Kings - Ganges Grandmasters: 0-3 (8-10) | Photo: Ganges Grandmasters

Interviews with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alireza Firouzja, Shreyas Royal and Nurgyul Salimova will be published soon. Stay tuned.

Video Gallery

I need to take a bath after this game - Anish Giri - PBG Alaskan Knights simply unstoppable | Video: ChessBase India

Alireza Firouzja takes down Hikaru Nakamura - Triveni Continental Kings beat the American Gambits | Video: ChessBase India

Magnus Carlsen is happy as Alpine SG Pipers, his team, beat upGrad Mumba Masters | Video: ChessBase India

Vishy Anand team rejoice as Ganges Grandmasters beat Triveni Continental | Video: ChessBase India

Standings after Day 3

Attack like a Super Grandmaster

In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

PBG Alaskan Knights maintains their perfect score 12/12, Triveni Continental Kings and Alpine SG Pipers are at 6/12 and 6/9 each | Photo: Official site

Day 3 matches

Match #12: American Gambits vs Ganges Grandmasters from 1 p.m. local time

Match #13: Alpine SG Pipers vs PBG Alaskan Knights from 2:15 p.m. local time

Match #14: upGrad Mumba Masters vs Triveni Continental Kings from 3:30 p.m. local time

Match #15: Alpine SG Pipers vs American Gambits 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

Chess-results

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

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