upGrad Mumba Masters, American Gambits and Ganges Grandmasters virtually eliminated

The top two spots in the double round-robin at the Global Chess League will make it to the finals. Only three teams remain in the fight: the PBG Alaskan Knights, the Triveni Continental Kings and the Alpine SG Warriors - the latter two are going to face each other on the final day of the all-play-all stage. The Alaskan Knights still need to win one more match to secure their place in the finals. The remaining three teams - upGrad Mumba Masters, American Gambits and Ganges Grandmasters - have no mathematical chance left to finish in the top two.

upGrad Mumba Masters - PBG Alaskan Knights: 3-0 (10-9)

GM Harika Dronavalli drew with IM Alina Kashlinskaya. Vidit Gujrathi hung a rook and overlooked a simple threat by Nodirbek Abdusattorov's queen. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Anish Giri in a back-and-forth rook and few pawns endgame, where Giri missed a couple of chances to save the game. It was certainly not easy to defend, especially in low time. Peter Svidler lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Koneru Humpy defeated the Women's World Championship Challenger, Zhongyi Tan. Raunak Sadhwani ended Nihal Sarin's unbeaten run at this event.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Magnus Carlsen on the previous day. So it goes without saying that his confidence level is sky-high. In a complex rook and few pawns endgame, Anish Giri made an incorrect decision by capturing more pawns: 49...Kxb4?? instead of attempting to create a passed pawn of his own on the queenside. 50.Rxe4++- Kc5 51.f4 Kd5 52.Re7 b5 53.h5? gxh5 54.f5 Rc4 55.g6

Black's last chance to save the game was 55...Rg4+ 56.Kh3 Kd6, but instead there followed 55...b4?? 56.g7+- Rg4+ 57.Kf3 b3 58.f6 b2 59.Re1 b1Q+ 60.Rxb1 Ke6 61.Rb8 and White won.

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.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won two consecutive games in must-win situations

Vidit Gujrathi had a momentary blind spot and hung a rook when it was attacked directly by Nodirbek Abdusattorov's queen

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is tactically defending the d4-pawn as his opponent, Peter Svidler, has a back rank weakness. 38.g3? was a minute inaccuracy d3 39.Kg2 Kg7 40.Rb2 f5 41.Rdd2 Kf6 42.Rb1 g5 and Black gradually improved his position until White succumbed.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov bounced back with a win after yesterday's loss

Koneru Humpy scored a welcome victory over Zhongyi Tan

Raunak got a good position early in the middlegame. He liked his moves 17.b4 and 19.b4. What gave him a substantial advantage was 23.f4, and then it became just a matter of time before Black's position crumbled.

Someone had to end the streak, so I thought why not me? Raunak Sadhwani | Video: ChessBase India

Raunak Sadhwani ended Nihal Sarin's unbeaten run at this event

upGrad Mumba Masters - PBG Alaskan Knights: 3-0 (10-9) | Photo: Official site

Replay uMM - PBG AK games

Ganges Grandmasters - Triveni Continental Kings: 0-3 (9-12)

Alireza Firouzja scored the first win of the match, against Vishy Anand, after the maestro blundered in an already difficult position. Arjun Erigaisi scored his first win of the event, against Wei Yi. R Vaishali lost her substantial advantage early in the middlegame and went on to lose the game. Teimour Radjabov scored his first win of the event against Parham Maghsoodloo. For the first time at this edition, all six games ended decisively.

Vishy Anand blundered in a difficult endgame: 26.Nf2?? Rxe1+ 27.Bxe1 Qe2 28.Nh3 Bf8 29.Qd2 Qf1+ 30.Ng1 Bc5 and Black won.

Vishy Anand suffered his fifth loss of the event

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.

Wei Yi made one small mistake in the major piece endgame with 52...Qc7?. Arjun Erigaisi seized his advantage 53.g3 R8e6 54.Kg2 Rd6 55.Rc1 Re7 56.Qf5 Qd8 57.Rcb1 Qd7 58.h6+ Kg8 59.Qxd7 Rdxd7 60.a6 bxa6 61.Rxc6 as Black lost one pawn too many and went on to lose the game.

Arjun Erigaisi scored his first win of the event against Wei Yi

Maghsoodloo had an advantage for a while. However, 39.Nf6+? turned things in Black's favor Bxf6 40.Rd7 Ne2+! 41.Kh3 Nxf4 42.Kh2 Qe5 43.Qxb7 Qxg5 44.Kg3 Be5 45.Kf3 Ne6+ 46.Ke4 Qxg4+ 47.Kd5 Qf3+ and Black won.

Teimour Radjabov scored his first win in a fantastic way against Parham Maghsoodloo

R Vaishali got a huge advantage early in the middlegame; however, she could not seize it and then went on to lose against Alexandra Kosteniuk

IM Nurgyul Salimova sacrificed her piece with 11.0-0. It has been played a few times before. 11...exf3 12.Nc4 Qd8 13.Qxf3 Bg7 14.Rfd1 Bd7 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Rb7 0-0 18.Rdxd7 and White eventually won the game.

IM Nurgyul Salimova scored a scorching win over GM Valentina Gunina

Ganges Grandmasters - Triveni Continental Kings: 0-3 (9-12) | Photo: Official site

Replay GG- TCK games

American Gambits - Alpine SG Pipers: 0-3 (6-11)

The first result was a draw between Yangyi Yu and Richard Rapport. Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen had a relatively quiet draw. R Praggnanandhaa scored a huge win over Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Bibisara Assaubayeva drew with Yifan Hou. Elisabeth Paehtz won against Kateryna Lagno.

Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen had a balanced draw

Improve your pieces - a winning system you need to know

In this course, we will learn how to identify passively placed pieces in any given situation and how to improve their health by bringing them into active squares.

R Praggnanandhaa made his intentions clear early in the game when he went 9...g5. At the right moment, he played a very nice move: 21...Nf3+! 22.Nxf3 gxf3 23.Kf2 Ne5. Black focused all his pieces on the kingside and went on to win the game nicely.

R Praggnanandhaa played excellent chess to beat World Cup 2021 winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda

American Gambits - Alpine SG Pipers: 0-3 (6-11) | Photo: Alpine SG Pipers

Replay AG - ASGP games

The Magnus Carlsen moment felt like 'The Creation of Adam' - Michal Walusza | Video: ChessBase India

upGrad Mumba Masters beat PBG Alaskan Knights | Video: ChessBase India

This is why Hikaru Nakamura is loved so much by fans | Video: ChessBase India

Standings after Day 7

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1 - 9

In this Video-Course we deal with different dynamic decisions involving pawns. The aim of this Course is to arm club/tournament players with fresh ideas which they can use in their own practice.

PBG Alaskan Knights, Triveni Continental Kings and Alpine SG Pipers are in the race to the finals | Photo: Official site

Day 7 matches

American Gambits vs upGrad Mumba Masters from 1 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST.

Alpine SG Pipers vs Ganges Grandmasters from 3:30 p.m. local time, 8:45 p.m. IST.

Triveni Continental Kings vs PBG Alaskan Knights from 5 p.m. local time, 9:30 p.m. IST.

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

Tournament Regulations

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

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