In Monday’s matches of the Global Chess League (GCL), the defending champions, Alpine APL Pipers, managed to retain their position at the top of the standings despite a split in their results. The Pipers faced a setback in their first match of the day, losing 7-9 to PBG Alaskan Knights. However, they quickly rebounded with a decisive 15-3 victory over FYERS American Gambits, allowing them to climb back to the top of the leaderboard. Meanwhile, CheQ Mumba Masters and PBG Alaskan Knights continued their resurgence on day three of the tournament.
Magnus Carlsen’s win was not enough for the Pipers to avoid their first loss in the competition as both Vidit and Humpy, who had won their earlier two games, went down against PBG Alaskan Knights.
In the other match of the day, Mumba Masters registered a dominant 12-3 win over Ganges Grandmasters to move up to second spot. Vidit was clinical in dismantling Daniil Dubov despite being under time pressure while Humpy defeated Sara Khadem in 29 moves. Carrisa Yip began Mumba Masters’ march with a win over Stavroula Tsolakidou and then Player of the Match M Pranesh kept his cool during the last-minute scramble to force the experienced Levon Aronian to resign after 65 moves.
There was pressure in the second game but I am happy that I could win,” said Player of the Match Vidit after the win. Vidit Gujrathi and Koneru Humpy were once again the stars of the team as they registered their third win in four matches. On the prodigy board, Volodar Murzin outplayed Marc’andria Maurizzi to make it three wins for the team. “In the morning game it was equal but I got a time pressure. Bardiya Daneshvar then secured three more game points for his team as Leon Luke Mendonca ran out of time on the prodigy board to take the Mumba Masters at the top of the leader-board till the next game between FYERS American Gambits and Alpine APL Pipers.
