Ganges Grandmasters advance to GCL final after dramatic finish

Ganges Grandmasters advanced to the Global Chess League final despite losing to PBG Alaskan Knights in Bengaluru. Alpine APL Pipers must wait for the final league result, while FYERS American Knights can pip them with a strong win

Hyderabad: Ganges Grandmasters advanced to the finals of the Global Chess League (GCL), a joint initiative of Tech Mahindra and FIDE, in Bengaluru on Saturday despite losing to PBG Alaskan Knights, while Alpine APL Pipers will have to wait for the final league match to know their fate after the defending champions went down to Triveni Continental Kings.

Both Alpine APL Pipers and Ganges Grandmasters went into their final round-robin matches with 18 match points, and a win against teams at the bottom of the standings would have been enough for them to ensure a place in the final.

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However, two-time champions Triveni Continental Kings threw the race for the final wide open as they became the first team in Season 4 to win both their matches against the Pipers, winning 11-6 in the first match of the day. Their loss meant that Ganges Grandmasters needed to score just one game point against PBG Alaskan Knights with the black pieces to advance to the final on a better game-point score.

That target was achieved after Ian Nepomniachtchi drew against Viswanathan Anand on the icon board and Stavroula Tsolakidou defeated Nino Batsiashvili to put the Grandmasters ahead.

But Player of the Match Abhimanyu Mishra got the better of Luke Leon Mendonca in 32 moves on the prodigy board, while Grandmasters’ Leinier Dominguez Perez lost on time in a time scramble after knocking off a few pieces while trying to play quickly.

Earlier, Alpine APL Pipers looked on course in the opening minutes of the match before Aravindh Chithambaram began tightening the noose around Vidit Gujrathi’s white king. Despite a time scramble in the endgame, Aravindh managed to convert the position and won the match in 36 moves.

But it was Alireza Firouzja who ultimately put the brakes on the Pipers’ march as the Frenchman forced world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen to resign after 49 moves. This was Carlsen’s first loss in the competition and Firouzja’s first win, keeping alive his team’s hopes of at least making it to the third-place playoff.

Volodar Murzin’s win over Pranav V on the prodigy board meant that the Pipers at least scored six points and kept their chances of making it to the final alive.

“It was a good game and after a sharp opening I found some good moves and when we went through time trouble, I managed to put pressure and win the game. As a team, we played very well today and made it difficult for them to win (the title) for the second time,” said Firouzja.

FYERS American Knights can pip the Pipers for the final spot if they beat CheQ Mumba Masters in the final league game and score at least nine game points.