Chess Super League Gets Underway With Sparkling Indian Vibe
The brand new Chess Super League got underway on Monday with its first round, covered live with a sparkling Indian vibe. The teams Brutal Bishops, Krazy Knights, and Pivotal Pawns started with wins.
The games of the Chess Super League can be found here as part of our live events platform.
The contagious positivity and enthusiasm of commentators IM Sagar Shah and Samay Raina, who were bringing their thoughts to the live audience for the first time from an actual studio, ensured a highly entertaining start of the very first Chess Super League. Would any other chess duo get away with an unscheduled phone call live on air (with Raftaar, team owner of the Brutal Bishops)?
Six teams (with six players each) compete this week in a single round-robin followed by a knockout phase on Saturday and Sunday. All squads happen to have their own musical songs, resonating names, and dedicated team logos, adding to the experience.
The teams form an interesting mix of ages and nationalities. There are six top grandmasters (male and female), six top players from India (male and female), and six top Indian juniors (boys and girls). Each round sees three team matches played after each other for maximum exposure and coverage.
Krazy Knights vs. Quintessential Queens: 4-2
| Bo. | Fed | 1 | Krazy Knights | Rtg | 4 : 2 | Fed | 6 | Quintessential Queens | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2736 | 1 - 0 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2586 | ||
| 1.2 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2640 | 0 - 1 | GM | Karjakin, Sergey | 2743 | ||
| 1.3 | GM | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2536 | 1 - 0 | GM | Hou, Yifan | 2658 | ||
| 1.4 | WGM | Gomes, Mary Ann | 2354 | 1 - 0 | IM | Tania, Sachdev | 2392 | ||
| 1.5 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2585 | 1 - 0 | GM | Iniyan, P | 2529 | ||
| 1.6 | WIM | Mrudul, Dehankar | 2256 | 0 - 1 | WIM | Priyanka, K | 2218 |
The event started with a bang as no draws occurred in the opening round between Krazy Knights, led by GM Hikaru Nakamura, vs. Quintessential Queens, who placed their top ace GM Sergey Karjakin on board two. This is possible for the swapping rule, where teams are allowed to swap boards one and two (international and Indian player) and boards three and four (international and Indian women players). Both top GMs won their game.
A key game in this match was played between two former women's world champions and it was GM Mariya Muzychuk who scored an upset victory over GM Hou Yifan.
"Usually when you play ...e5 [allowing] Nf5, then you should have something concrete," Muzychuk explained her opening advantage. "It looks like Black has weakened her queenside and therefore my position was very prospective." The 2015 women's world champion got to decide the game with a pretty bishop sacrifice:
Pivotal Pawns vs. Ruthless Rooks: 3.5-2.5
| Bo. | Fed | 2 | Ruthless Rooks | Rtg | 2½ - 3½ | Fed | 5 | Pivotal Pawns | Rtg |
| 2.1 | GM | Radjabov, Teimour | 2763 | ½ - ½ | GM | Ding, Liren | 2799 | ||
| 2.2 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | 2630 | 0 - 1 | GM | Gupta, Abhijeet | 2628 | ||
| 2.3 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2533 | 1 - 0 | IM | Kulkarni, Bhakti | 2388 | ||
| 2.4 | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | 2511 | 0 - 1 | GM | Abdumalik, Zhansaya | 2507 | ||
| 2.5 | IM | Raja, Harshit | 2494 | 0 - 1 | GM | Arjun, Kalyan | 2537 | ||
| 2.6 | WFM | Salonika, Saina | 2206 | 1 - 0 | WIM | Savitha, Shri B | 2281 |
For the second match, the top boards weren't swapped. Therefore, top GMs Teimour Radjabov and Ding Liren played each other and drew. Pivotal Pawns decided to swap their boards three and four and this helped them as Gibraltar Grand Prix winner GM Zhansaya Abdumalik defeated Indian GM Harika Dronavalli, who did miss a chance:
Brutal Bishops vs. Kingslayers: 4.5-1.5
| Bo. | Fed | 3 | Kingslayers | Rtg | 1½ - 4½ | FED | 4 | Brutal Bishops | Rtg |
| 3.1 | GM | Giri, Anish | 2774 | ½ - ½ | GM | Wang, Hao | 2744 | ||
| 3.2 | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | 2620 | 0 - 1 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2726 | ||
| 3.3 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | 2524 | 0 - 1 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2518 | ||
| 3.4 | IM | Soumya, Swaminathan | 2351 | 0 - 1 | IM | Karavade, Eesha | 2345 | ||
| 3.5 | GM | Gukesh, D | 2640 | ½ - ½ | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | 2555 | ||
| 3.6 | WIM | Arpita, Mukherjee | 2229 | ½ - ½ | WFM | Tarini, Goyal | 2164 |
The Brutal Bishops scored the biggest win of the day vs. the Kingslayers, in what was the third and final match of this first round. Also here, the top guns drew their game: GM Anish Giri and GM Wang Hao, who luckily not completely retired from chess altogether.
GM Vidit Gujrathi scored a nice win against his compatriot GM S.P. Sethuraman, creating play on both sides of the board.
Afterward, Vidit said he had checked the other boards and wrongly assumed he was in a must-win situation for his team: "So I tried to push it even more, not to settle for a draw."
All games day 1
The Chess Super League will continue with rounds 2-5 on Tuesday-Friday, followed by playoffs and finals on Saturday and Sunday. The games are played with a time control of 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment. The total prize fund of the event is Rs.40 lakh (U.S. $54,000).
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