GCL: Continental Kings storm into third straight title clash

Hou Yifan hadn’t exactly set the Arabian Sea — just a stone’s throw away from her hotel — on fire during the first half of the Global Chess League. She just won one of her six games, drew two and lost three.

Since then, she has won three games on the trot, two of them on Sunday, in front of another full house at the Royal Opera House. Her splendid show, with black pieces in both games, has brightened the chances of her team Alpine SG Pipers making it to the final. The match against upGrad Mumba Masters pitted Hou against her old rival Koneru Humpy, whom she had beaten for her second World title back in 2011. Then she came across Bibisara Assaubayeva, who has been a solid performer for Fyers American Gambits. The former World rapid and blitz champion hadn’t lost a single game, but she was outwitted by the mastery of Hou’s end-game.

The two match victories have taken the SG Pipers to the second spot on the table. They now have 15 match points and 78 game points, but are behind the Triveni Continental Kings. The two-time defending champion, in fact, made it to the final yet again, with a match to spare, after its 14-5 victory against Ganges Grandmasters. It has 21 match points and 92 game points.

Three teams are going into the last day of league on 12 match points – Mumba Masters (83 game points), Ganges Grandmasters (71) and Alaskan Knights (62).

The results: upGrad Mumba Masters lost to PBG Alaskan Knights 8-10 (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave bt D. Gukesh,;Wesley So drew with Arjun Erigaisi, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov lost to Leinier Dominguez; Koneru Humpy drew with Kateryna Lagno; D. Harika lost to Sarasadat Khademalsharieh; Bardiya Daneshvar bt Daniel Dardha)

Fyers American Gambits lost to Alpine SG Pipers 7-8 (Hikaru Nakamura drew with Fabiano Caruana; Vladislav Artmiev drew with Anish Giri; Richard Rapport drew with R. Praggnanandhaa; Bibisara Assaubayeva lost to Hou Yifan; Teodora Injac drew with Nino Batsiashvili; Volodar Murzin bt Leon Mendonca).

Ganges Grandmasters lost to Triveni Continental Kings 5-14 (Viswanathan Anand lost to Alireza Firouzja; Vincent Keymer drew with Wei Yi; Jovakhir Sindarov bt Vidit Gujrathi; Polina Shuvalova lost to Zhu Jiner; Stavroula Tsolakidou lost to Alexandra Kosteniuk; Raunak Sadhwani drew with MarcAndria Maurizzi).

upGrad Mumba Masters lost to Alpine SG Pipers 7-8 (Vachier-Lagrave drew with Caruana; So drew with Giri; Mamedyarov drew with Praggnanandhaa; Humpy lost to Hou; Harika drew with Batsiashvili; Daneshvar bt Mendonca).

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