On the second day of the Global Chess League’s second season, the leading tournament, PBG Alaskan Knights won over Alpine SG Pipers on Sunday. Knights were pitted against the third-placed, hard-fighting Pipers.
For some reason, maybe inspired by Magnus Carlsen, the Pipers opted to play with Black despite having won the coin toss. Captain Pravin Thipsay had wanted to take White.
The biggest upset of this game happened on the board between Anish Giri and Carlsen. Giri’s blunder with a piece handed the match over to the champion in just 22 moves. Therefore, it marked the shortest game of the league so far, which came to an end within just 20 minutes.
On the superstars’ board, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew with Richard Rapport. Meanwhile, Abdusattorov delivered a crushing victory over Praggnanandhaa in a rook endgame to give the PBG Alaskan Knights their first win of the match. Things continued to go from bad to worse for the Pulsars as Tan Zhongyi beat the top-rated woman player and former world champion Hou Yifan.
On the women’s board, Polina Kashlinskaya and Kateryna Lagno drew, making it 8-6 to the Alaskan Knights. The final board produced its share of drama, too, where PBG ‘s Nihal Sarin was winning against Daniel Dardha but found himself under extreme time pressure. With three seconds remaining on his clock, Sarin invoked the rules to claim a draw. If Sarin had not drawn, if Dardha had won on time, the Alaskan Knights would have lost the match.
In the end, the PBG Alaskan Knights won the match 9-7 and also extended their winning streak to five rounds.
The other match of the day saw Triveni Continental Kings beat Mumba Masters. Reigning champions Triveni played as White and took an early lead in the match. Triveni’s star player Alireza Firouzja defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, while Wei Yi secured a win over Vidit Gujrathi. Gunina won on the women’s board against Harika Dronavalli. The rest of the games were drawn as Triveni won the match 12-3.
This victory also took Triveni to second place in the standings with 9 match points and 55 game points.
ANI
