Tech Mahindra GCL Day 2: Nihal Sarin shines, ensures Alaskan Knights' hat-trick, Firouzja flags Magnus
PBG Alaskan Knights won both of their games on the second day of Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2024. First they defeated American Gambits 3-0 (14-2). Then they won against upGrad Mumba Masters 3-0 (8-5). Nihal Sarin was undoubtedly the star player of the day as he not only won both game but also scored a crucial victory ensuring a hat-tric k, both for himself and the team. Magnus Carlsen lost a winning game against Alireza Firouzja as the latter flagged him. Some might call it 'dirty flagging'. The world no.7 just executed the rules to his advantage and won. The event is made for television broadcast and that certainly makes for good tv moment. But does that make Firouzja stronger rapid player than Carlsen? Well, for that just look at the World no.1's resume of World Rapid title wins. Tomorrow is the second of three days when four matches will be played, starting with Ganges Grandmasters and PBG Alaskan Knights from 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
Magnus and Pragg lose on time, Vidit misses a win against Abdusattorov
The second day witnessed relatively lesser interesting games. However, it featured one of the most exciting moments of the tournament so far - Firouzja flaggin Magnus Carlsen. A similar thing happened with R Praggnanandhaa against Wei Yi and Vidit missed a win against Abdusattorov. That win would have earned him the match as he was playing with the black pieces.
Match #4: upGrad Mumba Masters - Ganges Grandmasters: 3-0 (14-5)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (uMM) scored the first decisive victory on the Icon board against Vishy Anand (GG). Vidit Gujrathi (uMM) missed a win in the knight endgame against Arjun Erigaisi (GG). Koneru Humpy and Raunak Sadhwani scored emphatic victories over R Vaishali and Volodar Murzin respectively, to ensure their team upGrad Mumba Masters dominating victory over Ganges Grandmasters.
Anand - Vachier-Lagrave
29.Nd2? dropped a pawn via one move tactic Nxd5 30.exd5 Bxg5. White kept fighting, until he eventually blundered a knight.
Arjun - Vidit
Where should White move his king? No increment and less time on the clock, caused him to blunder 57.Kd2?? Nb6-+ now Black is winning 58.a5 Nc4+ 59.Kd3 Nxa5 60.c4 Nb3 61.Nc3 h5 62.Ke3 h4 63.Nd5 g4 64.Nf4 h3?? White got back in the game by sacrificing his knight 65.Nxh3! Black's winning chances just evaporated.
Parham - Svidler
18...Ne3? is not the correct tactic. Parham found the correct continuation by initiating a chain exchange which ended up giving him the decisive advantage. Find out what it is.
Vaishali - Humpy
Vaishali walked her queen into a trap 31.Qg6?? Rf6 32.Qg4 Nd4 33.Qh5 Nxf3+ 34.Bxf3 Rxf3 35.Bc1 R3f5 36.Qg6 R8f6 and Black won.
Volodar - Raunak
Unlike the previous day's Nd3 against Jonas, this time Raunak executed a similar idea 23...Ne3! and it worked. 24.Bxe3 dxe3 25.Qxe3 Qxe3 26.Rxe3 Rxg2 27.f6 Rxb2 28.fxe7 Re8 and Black went on to win the game comfortably.
Replay uMM - GG games
Match #5: PBG Alaskan Knights - American Gambits: 3-0 (14-2)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alina Kashlinskaya, Zhongyi and Nihal Sarin scored the wins to ensure their team, PBG Alaskan Knights won their second consecutive match by a huge game point margin.
Mamedyarov - Yangyi
In a relatively balanced rook and same color bishop endgame, Yangyi blundered 41...Kg4?? 42.c7 Rc2+ 43.Kf1 Kf3 44.Ke1 Ke3 45.Kd1 Kd3 46.Bxd4 Rxc7 47.Bb6+ and White won.
Nihal - Jonas
Jonas' all-out attack by sacrificing his bishop on f4 did not pan out the way he wanted. Nihal gobbled it up 38.gxf4 exf4 39.Bc1 Re5 40.Nd5 g3 41.Rxg3+ utilizing the pin and White won.
Replay PBG AK - AG games
Match #6: Alpine SG Pipers - Triveni Continental Kings: 4-17
Magnus Carlsen (ASGP) got flagged by Alireza Firouzja (TCK) which he would have won if there was increment. Firouzja took advantage of the time control and won the game. Wei Yi, Valentina Gunina and Javokhir Sindarov scored wins over R Praggnanandhaa, Kateryna Lagno and Daniel Dardha respectively.
Carlsen - Firouzja
26.Rd4?? was the first big mistake by Firouzja which gave his opponent the upper hand 27.Ba6+- Firouzja kept fighting and eventually managed to get back in the game in a double bishop vs double knight endgame.
Both players were down to their last ten seconds in the above position and it was a scramble. Firouzja blundered and Carlsen once again got a winning position. However, promoting a queen cost him some valuable seconds and he ran out of time.
Praggnanandhaa - Wei
If we remove the b7-pawn and black bishop, it is a theoretical draw. However, adding those two pieces in the mix, throws a massive wrench in Black's defense plans. Wei Yi needed to find computer-like precision to defend this, similarly Praggnanandhaa also like needed a machine-like accuracy to win the game. 100...Bb8? created an opportunity for White to win the game. Find out the winning plan. Eventually, Wei won on time.
Rapport - Radjabov
If you allow Richard Rapport to get creative, he will take every opportunity he gets. 20...h5?? invited trouble 21.Rxh5! gxh5 22.exf6+ Nxf6 23.Qg5+ Kh7 24.Qxf6 Rg8 25.Ne4 Rg7 26.Nfg5+ Kg8 27.Nxe6 and White won.
Replay TCK - ASGP games
Match #7: upGrad Mumba Masters - PBG Alaskan Knights: 8-5
Nihal Sarin scored the sole victory of the match against Raunak Sadhwani. It turned out to be crucial for PBG Alaskan Knights' third consecutive win. Vidit Gujrathi drew a winning game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov as the former ran out of time.
Abdusattorov - Vidit
58.Kf2 would have been a comfortable draw for White as Black would have been forced to drop a pawn. 58.Kg4?? created winning chances for Black Kf6-+ The game eventually ended in a draw as Vidit could not find the best way to deliver checkmate with a rook in an extremely low time.
Nihal - Raunak
Nihal Sarin made a very interesting exchange sacrifice 20.Rxc7!? Qxc7 21.Qxf6+ Qg7 22.Qxe6 White is not winning immediately but it is a good practical decision especially when there is no increment. He went on to win the game which helped the team to win the match.
Video Gallery
Standings after Day 2
Day 2 matches
Match #8: Ganges Grandmasters vs PBG Alaskan Knights from 1 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST.
Match #9: American Gambits vs Triveni Continental Kings from 2:15 p.m. local time, 6:45 p.m. IST.
Match #10: upGrad Mumba Masters vs Alpine SG Pipers from 3:30 p.m. local time, 8 p.m. IST.
Match #11: Triveni Continental Kings vs Ganges Grandmasters from 4:45 p.m. local time, 9:15 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
Tech Mahindra Global Chess League: Official site, facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube and linkedin
Tech Mahindra: Official site, facebook, twitter, youtube and linkedin
