GCL: Alpine SG Pipers to take on defending champions Triveni Continental Kings in final

Mumbai, Dec 22 (PTI) Alpine SG Pipers qualified for the final against table toppers Triveni Continental Kings despite losing their last league match 6-11 against PBG Alaskan Knights, in the Global Chess League (GCL) here on Monday.

Alpine SG Pipers’ had their fate in their own hand as they were locked on 15 match points with Ganges Grandmasters and needed to either beat Alaskan Knights, or at least score six game points, to assure themselves for the second spot on the leader board.

Pipers eventually finished with 84 game points against 83 for the Grandmasters.

Alaskan Knights also needed a win to at least qualify for the third-place play-off and they did that in style, as world champion D Gukesh pounced on an error from Fabiano Caruana and Arjun Erigaisi defeated Anish Giri with black pieces to score eight valuable points.

For the Pipers, the three-time women’s world champion Hou Yifan delivered a third win in as many matches, this time beating Kateryna Lagno in just 20 moves.

At that stage, the Pipers looked primed to advance but the two top Indian chess stars delivered when it mattered the most for the team to give the Pipers’ some anxious moments.

With R Praggnanandhaa and Nino Batsiashvili playing out solid draws, Pipers' fate depended on Leon Luke Mendonca managing to draw a game against Daniel Darda on the prodigy board. He ensured that Darda did not have a chance to make any further inroads and signed peace after 42 moves, despite his opponent having a slight advantage at that stage.

Earlier, Ganges Grandmasters had kept their hope of making it to the final alive after beating Fyers American Gambits 12-3 in their last league match.

At the start of the final day, Pipers, Grandmasters and upgrad Mumba Masters were in a three-way battle to seal the second spot and Grandmasters were the first to take the board against American Gambits.

Playing white, Indian legend Viswanathan Anand shared the spoils with Gambits’ Hikaru Nakamura on the icon board. But it was Vincent Keymer on the second board who gave the team a leg up with a win over Vladislav Artemiev in 39 moves, and Player of the Match Raunak Sadhwani defeated World Rapid Champion Volodar Murzin in 42 moves to drive home the advantage.

Stavroula Tsolakidou then defeated Teodora Injac to complete the tally and put the pressure on the other teams. However, that was not enough and they will now face Alaskan Knights for the third place.

In another match, Mumba Masters had a difficult task of beating table toppers Triveni Continental Kings with black.

Though Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Vidit Gujrathi and Bardiya Daneshvar got the better of Marc’Andria Maurizzi to give their team eight valuable points, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave lost to Alireza Firouzja on the icon board. Wesley So was then outplayed by Wei Yi on the second board and Koneru Humpy was defeated by Zhu Jiner as the local favourites went down 10-9. PTI PDS PDS DDV