LONDON: Day two at the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League Season 2 featured a highly anticipated duel between league favorites, the Alpine Sg Pipers, and reigning champions, the Triveni Continental Kings. The Pipers, playing with the white pieces, entered the match with three points after defeating the Ganges Grandmasters on day one. Triveni, meanwhile, were looking to bounce back from a crushing 15-3 loss to the Alaskan Knights in their opening round.
This match also brought one of the most eagerly awaited face-offs of the league: world number one, Magnus Carlsen, versus Alireza Firouzja—the player Carlsen has described as the most likely to eventually take his place at the top of the rankings.
The early stages of the match were evenly balanced. About 20 minutes in—halfway through the time control (as each player had 20 minutes for their moves)—computer evaluations showed equality across the boards.
The first to break through was Richard Rapport of the Pipers, who launched a vicious attack on Teimour Radjabov, leaving him with no escape. Soon after, former Women’s World Champions Hou Yifan and Alexandra Kosteniuk agreed to a draw, putting the score at 4:1 in favor of the Pipers. With the result standing at 4 – 1 for the Pipers, the other four boards went down to the wire.
After testing his opponent in the middlegame, Magnus Carlsen managed to find a weakness in Alireza Firouzja’s position, to gain the upper hand. But Firouzja wasn’t giving up – his position was lost but he had one advantage – more time on the clock. With no time increment, the pressure shifted to Carlsen. Could he convert a winning position before his time ran out? Despite his efforts, Carlsen ultimately lost on time, a rare occurrence for the Norwegian. This critical victory gave Triveni four points and the lead in the match.
Pragnanandhaa then fell to Wei Yi on board two, further strengthening Triveni’s command of the match. Shortly after, the Pipers crumbled on the remaining boards, handing Triveni a stunning 17-4 victory—the most decisive result of the season so far.
Anish Giri holds Hikaru Nakamura to a draw
Earlier in the day, PBG Alaskan Knights took on the American Gambits. Both teams had a good start to the season, winning their initial matches.
The coin toss determined that Alaskan Knights would play with white pieces.
On board one – icon players Anish Giri (Alaskan Knights) and Hikaru Nakamura (American Gambits) drew their game despite a lot of options on the board to consider. Afterwards, the two class GMs were seen passionately discussing the moves and what each was thinking during the match. When asked if they are happy with the outcome, both confirmed but Nakamura noted it was Giri’s choice to go for a draw. As the match progressed, this turned out to be a good call for Giri as his teammates secured four victories (on the youngsters board, the women’s boards and one of the superstar boards) and one more draw, for a convincing score of 14:2.
After this round, PBG Alaskan Knights emerged as the sole leaders of the tournament, with six match points, while the American Gambits remained on three. While the American Gambits finished their games for the day, one more match awaits the Alaskan Knights, and based on their strong performances in the first two rounds, the signs are promising.
