PBG Alaskan Knights Continue Strong On Global Chess League Day 2

The PBG Alaskan Knights celebrated a dream start to the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League's second season by winning their first three matches in the round-robin stage. Two were scheduled on Friday when the Knights defeated both the American Gambits (14-2) and the upGrad Mumba Masters (8-5).

Those two teams now share second place with the Triveni Continental Kings and the Alpine Sg Pipers, all four holding three points for a single-match win. The Ganges Grandmasters are still looking for their first victory.

Day 3 starts on Saturday, October 5, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CEST / 5:30 p.m. IST.

Day 2 Standings

On a lovely, sunny day in London, the Global Chess League continued with its second day of play—this time with four matches instead of three. The PBG Alaskan Knights, led by GM Anish Giri, must have had a great vibe during their team dinner as the only squad on nine points and now a clear favorite for at least reaching the final.

Perhaps even more than on Thursday, the effects of the 20-minute no-increment time control were clearly visible. On social media, a division could be seen between the fans who love the spectacle of wild time-trouble phases, and the critics who feel that the many mistakes and the banging on the clock have little to do with chess. I am suspecting that, despite the fact that he got flagged in a completely won position on Friday, GM Magnus Carlsen is still in favor of the format (more about that later).

Ganges Grandmasters 5-14 upGrad Mumba Masters

Although we had to miss him at the Olympiad, where he had FIDE-related duties (such as stepping in for Arkady Dvorkovich during the General Assembly when the FIDE president was rumored to be meeting with Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs), GM Viswanathan Anand is back where we prefer to see him: at the chessboard. He lost his game to GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave as part of his team's second loss.

The early phase of this top board game, between the two "icon" players, saw the players traveling along different openings. While MVL didn't mind a Najdorf, Anand seemed to suggest that you can answer it in Italian style (3.Bc4), and then several moves later it really looked like a Breyer Ruy Lopez! Anand didn't react in the strongest possible way to a pawn sacrifice and, after missing a small tactic, he was quickly in trouble:

Anand: "Part of me wants to get back and play a lot more, but I also like it like this. So, even though I'm not playing, as long as I'm around chess tournaments I have a lot of fun... but there are a few events which I'm tempted to play in, and this is one of them."#TechMGCL pic.twitter.com/aq5EFkrVbd

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 4, 2024

The board below also saw an interesting opening, dubbed the Dubov Italian as the Russian GM first popularized it a few years ago. The line was GM Arjun Erigaisi's choice against his Olympic teammate GM Vidit Gujrathi, who seemed fully ready for it. First he was better; then Arjun missed a chance, after which a sharp fight ended in a draw.

American Gambits 2-14 PBG Alaskan Knights

Also in their second match, the PBG Alaskan Knights reached a very high score, which was not fully representative of the course of the games. Board three should have ended in a draw, and board four should have been a win for the American Gambits.  

In a key game in this match, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva was outplaying former Women's World Champion GM Tan Zhongyi, but a single blunder turned the tables as Black's rook suddenly got trapped:

Alpine Sg Pipers 4-17 Triveni Continental Kings

Carlsen's Alpine Sg Pipers couldn't add another win, and especially in this match the clock played a very big role. The world number-one flagged despite being a queen up, and also on the next board nobody expected to see four board points going to the Triveni Continental Kings.

In heavy mutual time trouble (fewer than 10 seconds for each player), Carlsen was trying to win a drawn endgame and almost succeeded. With just a little bit more time, GM Alireza Firouzja refrained from repeating moves, but allowing his opponent to queen the pawn couldn't have been the intention. Not taking that queen a few moves later, however, was very smart.

Here is the game, with annotations by GM Dejan Bojkov:

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞 🤯#TechMGCL #TheNextMove #TCKvSG

| @FIDE_chess @trivenickings @chesscom @chesscom_in pic.twitter.com/a3g3qYFbUN

— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) October 4, 2024

How GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu played is a clear case of not having enough experience with a no-increment time control. Playing with a queen against a rook and bishop, it was pretty clear that GM Wei Yi had a fortress, but Praggnanandhaa kept on trying with five seconds on the clock, with four, with three.... I am not sure whether he offered a draw somewhere, but if Wei declined, Praggnanandhaa could have stopped the clock and asked the arbiter to see if his opponent would be playing for a win. Even after flagging, the arbiter can still declare the game a draw—but only if such a claim has been made.

Note that it wasn't all flagging and blundering: GM Richard Rapport won a nice, sacrificial game against GM Teimour Radjabov:

PBG Alaskan Knights 8-5 upGrad Mumba Masters

When the second round was completed, one match from the third round was played as well, with two teams of players going for their second round of the day. This clash was the closest fight we've seen so far, with a single win for GM Nihal Sarin against his compatriot GM Raunak Sadhwani deciding everything.

Nihal's 20th move was lovely. It didn't actually win material, really, but in the remaining position, his bishop and pawns were clearly stronger as Black also was dealing with a weaker king.

The wildest time-trouble finale was seen in this match as well, between GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vidit. The latter ended with a rook and king vs. a king, one of the most basic checkmate-endgames you can imagine. The problem was that the Indian GM had just six seconds to finish off his opponent, and that wasn't enough—partly because some of his moves weren't exactly the optimal choices, but basically no time at all to think. He can hardly be blamed for that.

GM @viditchess Gujrathi fights back from a close-to-lost position and creates a completely winning position against Abdusattorov - but he falls short on time! Checkmating with a Rook also takes some time, and the game ends in draw - timeout vs Insufficient material. #TechMGCL pic.twitter.com/chUShajCsq

— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) October 4, 2024

Full game increment-free chess definitely has a place in online chess,but once on the board it becomes an embarrassing mess. It’s beyond me,why something good that has been tried (1 sec increment after move 60) is not implemented everywhere. It keeps the fun and keeps some class.

— Levon Aronian (@LevAronian) October 4, 2024

The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2024 consists of a preliminary group stage and a final contested by the top two teams. In each match, members of the same team play with the same color. All games have a 20-minute time control without increment.

Previous report:

• Day 1: Giri's Alaskan Knights Impress On 2024 Global Chess League Opening Day
• Preview: Global Chess League: All You Need To Know