GCL Day 8: Tenacious Giri outplays Firouzja, Alaskan Knights reach finals

by Shahid Ahmed
10/11/2024 – PBG Alaskan Knights defeated Triveni Continental Kings to become the first finalists of Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2024. They will face the winner of Alpine SG Pipers and TCK, who will face off in the last match of the double round-robin stage - i.e. now a virtual Semifinal. Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Zhongyi Tan and Alina Kashlinskaya scored the victories to ensure their team's place in the finals. Round 10 starts tomorrow with Ganges Grandmasters v. upGrad Mumba Masters from 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. | Photos: Shahid Ahmed

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Alpine SG Pipers and Triveni Continental Kings to play virtual semifinal

PBG Alaskan Knights scored a much-needed win over Triveni Continental Kings. Apart from Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov also played fantastic chess to beat Wei Yi. Zhongyi Tan won a time scramble against Alexandra Kosteniuk. IM Alina Kashlinskaya completely decimated GM Valentina Gunina. Only Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Nihal Sarin suffered losses. However, they will have one last match against American Gambits tomorrow before they play the finals on Saturday.

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

Hikaru Nakamura scored the first win of the match by hunting Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's king. Harika Dronavalli drew with Elisabeth Paehtz. Peter Svidler shared the point with Yangyi Yu. Vidit Gujrathi lost on time from a winning position against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Raunak Sadhwani scored the sole win for his team, upGrad Mumba Masters, against Jonas Buhl Bjerre.

Hikaru Nakamura mentioned in the post-game interview that this was the best game he played in this tournament. He found some really good moves like 22...Nc5+ instead of d5. 23.Bxc5 dxc5 24.Ne4 Ke7 25.Rhd1 and 25...Ra8! was the best move he found in the game, he revealed, sacrificing his c5-pawn.

The world no.2 believes that 28.b4? was the critical mistake made by his opponent. 28...Rd8 29.Ke4?? is losing for White as 29....Re2 dropped the e3-knight and it became just a matter of time before Black won the game.

Nakamura's masterclass in the Accelerated Dragon - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Hikaru Nakamura, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

"I just don't see any world where Gukesh doesn't win" - Hikaru Nakamura | Video: ChessBase India

World no.2 Hikaru Nakamura denied a hat-trick to World Blitz 2021 champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Vidit Gujrathi got a substantial advantage against Jan-Krzysztof Duda when he went 31...e4? 32.Qxf5. However, in time trouble, Vidit fumbled big time. His decisive advantage turned to equal, and then he went on to lose on time in a position that was nonetheless lost.

Vidit Gujrathi suffered a painful loss against Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Jonas Buhl Bjerre played ambitiously against Raunak Sadhwani. First he sacrificed an exchange - 8...Rxh4 9.gxh4 Ng4 10.d3 Bd6 11.e3 Qxh4+ 12.Kd2 - and then he decided to sacrifice his knight with Nxe3 13.Qe1 Qh3. Instead, computers suggest trading the queens wth Qxe1+ 14.Rxe1 Nf5 to keep things in balance. The lack of developed/active pieces played a crucial role in Black's attack fizzling out.

Raunak Sadhwani scored a hat-trick when he defeated Jonas Buhl Bjerre

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

Replay uMM-AG games

Alpine SG Pipers - Ganges Grandmasters: 3-0 (13-5)

Richard Rapport struck first against Parham Maghsoodloo. He scored a beautiful win, sacrificing his bishop first and then his rook. Arjun Erigaisi drew with R Praggnanandhaa. Magnus Carlsen defeated Vishy Anand. Yifan Hou and Kateryna Lagno scored wins over R Vaishali and IM Nurgyul Salimova respectively. Volodar Murzin scored the sole win for Ganges Grandmasters in their losing effort against Alpine SG Pipers.

Magnus Carlsen made a few pawn sacrifices in his game against Vishy Anand. The best one has to be the final one: 38.g6!, a move which gave White the decisive advantage. 38...fxg6 39.Rg1 Ra3 40.Rxg6+ and White won in the next few moves as the threat of checkmate became inevitable.

He saw it 10 moves before anyone else did - Magnus Carlsen vs Vishy Anand, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Magnus Carlsen capitalized on Vishy Anand's passive defence

The game between R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi had an explosive start. However, it petered out to a draw.

The best friends R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi threw a lot of punches at the beginning, although it all ended peacefully

Richard Rapport made a beautiful bishop sacrifice: 18.Bxe6! fxe6 19.Nxe6 Qb6 20.a5 Qc6 21.c3 Rc8 22.d4 cxd4 23.cxd4 Qc4 24.Qf5 Nf8 25.Qh5+ Neg6 26.Rxf8+! Bxf8 27.Qxg6+ Kd7 28.d5 and White checkmated in the next five moves.

Richard Rapport scored a beautiful win over Parham Maghsoodloo

Alpine SG Pipers - Ganges Grandmasters: 3-0 (13-5) | Photo: Official site

Replay ASGP - GG games

PBG Alaskan Knights - Triveni Continental Kings: 3-0 (12-8)

Nodirbek Abdusattorov scored the first win for his team against Wei Yi. Anish Giri defeated Alireza Firouzja convincingly. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov lost to Teimour Radjabov. IM Alina Kashlinskaya won against GM Valentina Gunina. Zhongyi Tan won on time against Alexandra Kosteniuk in a time scramble. Nihal Sarin also suffered a loss against Javokhir Sindarov.

Anish Giri made a nice practical exchange sacrifice with 38.Rxe5 Kxe5. He explained it very nicely in the post-game interview that the motif was there for quite some time. Black gave up his a-pawn to stop White's passed c-pawn. Giri played spectacularly to create chances and eventually went on to win the game.

Anish Giri calls the arbiter against Alireza Firouzja, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

"I knew that I'd have to still try to hang in there" - Anish Giri after winning against Firouzja | Video: ChessBase India

Anish Giri was determined to score a win and he was successful

Nodirbek Abdusattorov scored a fine victory over Wei Yi

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov blundered in the final moments and lost to Teimour Radjabov

Zhongyi Tan won a time scramble in the rook ending with an extra knight against Alexandra Kosteniuk in a battle of the former women's world champions

IM Alina Kashlinskaya scored an emphatic victory over GM Valentina Gunina

White needed to follow through correctly in a sharp position: 29.Rxf6 Rxg2+ 30.Kf1 Rcd2 which is a computer line which is extremely difficult to spot. Nihal played 29.Kh1? Rxb2-+ and it was over for White as he did not have enough compensation for the lost piece.

Nihal Sarin suffered his second consecutive loss at the event

PBG Alaskan Knights - Triveni Continental Kings: 3-0 (12-8)

Replay PBG AK - TCK games

From a chess player to a chess team owner - Prachura P P | Video: ChessBase India

American Gambits beat upGrad Mumba Masters | Video: ChessBase India

Anand Mahindra meets Vishy Anand | Video: ChessBase India

SG Alpine Pipers beat Ganges Grandmasters | Video: ChessBase India

Standings after Day 8

Global Chess League 2024

PBG Alaskan Knights has advanced to the finals | Photo: Official site

Day 9 matches

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

American Gambits vs PBG Alaskan Knights from 3:30 p.m. local time, 8:45 p.m. IST

Alpine SG Pipers vs Triveni Continental Kings from 5 p.m. local time, 9:30 p.m. IST

Scoring System for Game Points (GP)

4 GP (3+1) 

A player wins the Game with Black Pieces 

3 GP 

A player wins the Game with White Pieces 

1 GP 

Draw 

0 GP 

Defeat 

Scoring System for Match Points (MP)

3  MP 

The team that scores more Game Points 

1  MP 

If both teams are level on Game Points 

0  MP 

The team that scores lesser Game Points than  the opponent 

  • 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

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Topics: Anish Giri, Global Chess League 2024, Magnus Carlsen
Shahid Ahmed is the senior coordinator and editor of ChessBase India. He enjoys covering chess tournaments and also likes to play in chess events from time to time.
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See also

GCL Day 7: It's a three-way race

10/10/2024 – The upGrad Mumba Masters started the seventh day of the Global Chess League with a win over the leaders, PBG Alaskan Knights. It was the closest match of the event so far, as the final score was 10-9. Ganges Grandmasters lost to Triveni Continental Kings later in the day, while R Praggnanandhaa and Daniel Dardha powered the Alpine SG Pipers to a win over the American Gambits. The Alaskan Knights, the Continental Kings and the SG Pipers are the only three teams that will battle it out for the top two spots in the finals. Thursday's action starts with American Gambits v. upGrad Mumba Masters from 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. | Photos: Shahid Ahmed
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GCL Day 5: Alpine SG Pipers end PBG Alaskan Knights' unbeaten streak

10/7/2024 – Alireza Firouzja is in the form of his life, as he defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave for the second time in consecutive days. Alexandra Kosteniuk scored the only other win for the team, which helped Triveni Continental Kings register their fourth win of the event. Anish Giri made a nice queen sacrifice to build a fortress and draw with Magnus Carlsen. Yifan Hou and Kateryna Lagno scored the wins for SG Alpine Pipers. Nihal Sarin's sole win for Balan Alaskan Knights was not enough to win the match. Ganges Grandmasters scored their second match win of the event. The sixth day will start with Alpine SG Pipers vs upGrad Mumba Masters from 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. | Photos: Shahid Ahmed
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Video

60m English Anti-Bayonet

King’s Indian fans who choose the Mar del Plata attack (7...Nc6) against White’s classical system (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0) usually aim for a complex position with mutual attacks on open wings, requiring long-term strategic planning and tactical sharpness in critical moments. Computers often do not know how to handle the arising complex strategic positions, which suits players who like to think on their own instead of memorizing long variations. However, the fashionable Bayonet Attack (9.b4) interferes with Black’s ideas. After Black’s main move 9...Nh5 the positions opens, the lines get forced and computer analysis is important again. But this DVD offers an antidote against White’s Bayonet Attack, namely 9...a5! This move leads to sound positions with very few concrete lines, in which the focus is on strategy not on tactics. Objectively chances are equal but if Black knows what to do things might quickly become dangerous for White.