Hou Yifan's two victories propelled Alpine SG Pipers to second in the Global Chess League, while defending champions Triveni Continental Kings secured their third straight final berth. Mumba Masters' chances for the final took a major hit.
Three-time women's world champion Hou Yifan won both her games with black pieces to help Alpine SG Pipers register two victories on the penultimate day of the league stage and jump to second spot on Match day in the Global Chess League (GCL), a joint initiative of Tech Mahindra and FIDE, according to a release. Defending champions Triveni Continental Kings sealed their third consecutive final berth with a 14-5 win over Ganges Grandmasters to reach 21 match points with seven wins from nine matches. With Alpine SG Pipers beating upGrad Mumba Masters and Fyers American Gambits by an identical 8-7 score-line with black to reach 15 match points.
Mumba Masters' Setback
First edition finalists Mumba Masters hopes of making the finals, however, suffered a major setback as they lost both their matches on Sunday. The home favourites, who were outplayed by 16-1 by American Gambits on Saturday, had to beat PBG Alaskan Knights in the last game of the day on Sunday to regain the second spot as they were on 12 points with two matches to play. However, they went down 8-10 despite Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beating world champion D Gukesh on the icon board. However, Player of the Match Leinier Dominguez defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on third board and then Sara Khadem upset D Harika by forcing the Indian to resign after 65 moves. With the second final spot up for grabs, Mumba Masters will have to beat Continental Kings and hope that PBG Alaskan Knights could stop the winning run of Alpine SG Pipers. Ganges Grandmasters also have an outside chance to make the cut, but for that to happen, they will have to register a huge win over American Gambits and hope that the other contenders lose.
Hou Yifan's Crucial Wins
When action began on Sunday, the Pipers were in fifth spot and needed to win both their matches to entertain any hope of making it to the final. And Hou Yifan delivered for the team when it mattered the most. Yifan first defeated Koneru Humpy of Mumba Masters and then inflicted the tournament's first loss on Bibisara Assaubayeva of American Gambits to win the Player of the Match award in both matches.
Against Bibisara, the Chinese GM spent almost six minutes before blitzing to a pawn-king endgame, which proved enough for her team. Explaining her thought process before those moves, Yifan said, "I felt like it was a very critical moment when games goes to a critical endgame. That's why I thought I will take time and think it through. I had nine minutes and that was enough to calculate." In both the matches, Alpine SG Pipers lost the game on the prodigy board but Yifan's advantage of winning with black proved critical since a win with black pieces gives a team four game points while a win with white is only worth three game points. All the other boards in both the matches ended in a draw.
Kings Secure Final Berth
Sandwiched between two Alpine SG Pipers match, defending champions Triveni Continental Kings dented Ganges Grandmasters hopes of reaching the top two after beating them 14-5 and also emphatically seal the final spot. On the icon board, Player of the Match Alireza Firouzja put behind the two losses he suffered on Saturday to beat Viswanathan Anand in 48 moves with a fantastic queen sacrifice with black pieces. Continental Kings women's superstars Zhu Jiner and Alexandra Kosteniuk also won with black pieces to put the result beyond doubt. Only 2025 World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov was the bright spot for Ganges Grandmasters as he defeated Vidit Gujarathi in 53 moves in a rook-knight ending. (ANI)
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