GCL | Alpine SG Pipers reaches summit clash despite loss in final league game

The drama you get to see in the Global Chess League is unmatched in the game. And there was indeed plenty of it on the last day of the league phase on Monday.

At the end of it all, Alpine SG Pipers made it to the final, pipping Ganges Grandmasters by just one point. SG Pipers was beaten by PBG Alaskan Knights in the last match, 6-11 at a packed Royal Opera House, but those six points were just about enough.

SG Pipers and Ganges Grandmasters finished with 15 match points each, but the former scored 84 group points. That was one more than Ganges (83).

So, in the final of the third season on Tuesday, SG Pipers will meet the defending champion Triveni Continental Kings, which had already qualified with a round to spare. The champion side ended the league phase with another victory – 10-9 against upGrad Mumba Masters.

With that win, Continental Kings finished with 24 match points and 102 game points. SG Pipers will have to come up with something special to stop the Continental Kings.

In the playoff for the third place Ganges Grandmasters will play Alaskan Knights, whose win against SG Pipers proved crucial, pushing upGrad Mumba Masters to the fifth place (12 match points, 92 game points). Fyers American Gambits ended at the bottom of the table with nine match points and 76 game points.

The results (final round): Alpine SG Pipers lost to PBG Alaskan Knights 6-11 (Fabiano Caruna lost to D. Gukesh; Anish Giri lost to Arjun Erigaisi; R. Praggnanandhaa drew with Leinier Dominguez; Hou Yifan bt Kateryna Lagno; Nino Batsiashvili drew with Sarasadat Khademalsharieh; Leon Mendonca drew with Daniel Dardha).

Ganges Grandmasters bt Fyers American Gambits 12-3 (VIswanathan Anand drew with Hikaru Nakamura; Vincent Keymer bt Vladislav Artemiev; Javokhir Sindarov drew with Richard Rapport; Polina Shuvalova drew with Bibisara Assaubayeva; Stavroula Tsolakidou bt Teodora Injac; Raunak Sadhwani bt Volodar Murzin).

Triveni Continental Kings bt upGrad Mumba Masters 10-9 (Firouzja Alireza bt Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; Wei Yi bt Wesley So; Vidit Gujrathi lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov; Zhu Jiner bt Koneru Humpy; MarcAndria Maurizzi lost to Bardiya Daneshvar).

(The writer is in Mumbai at the invitation of Tech Mahindra).