Pivotal Pawns Win 2021 Chess Super League
The Pivotal Pawns won the first edition of the Chess Super League on Sunday. The Kingslayers were beaten in one single armageddon game after both teams had won one match with the same 3.5-2.5 score. GM Zhansaya Abdumalik became the star for the Pawns as she defeated GM Nana Dzagnidze.
The games of the Chess Super League can be found here as part of our live events platform.
Before the start of the final, a chess expression was shared by the commentators: "After the game, king and pawn go to the same box." This reflected well the equality between the Kings and Pawns, the two teams that played for the first Chess Super League title.
Match 1: Kingslayers vs. Pivotal Pawns 3.5-2.5
| Bo. | Fed | 1 | Kingslayers | Rtg | - | Fed | 2 | Pivotal Pawns | Rtg | 3½:2½ |
| 1/1 | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. (w) | 2620 | - | GM | Ding Liren (b) | 2799 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 1/2 | GM | Giri, Anish (b) | 2774 | - | GM | Gupta Abhijeet (w) | 2628 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 1/3 | IM | Soumya, Swaminathan (w) | 2351 | - | GM | Abdumalik Zhansaya (b) | 2507 | 0 - 1 | ||
| 1/4 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana (b) | 2524 | - | IM | Kulkarni Bhakti (w) | 2388 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 1/5 | GM | Gukesh, D (w) | 2640 | - | GM | Arjun Kalyan (b) | 2537 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 1/6 | WIM | Arpita, Mukherjee (b) | 2229 | - | WIM | Savitha Shri B (w) | 2281 | ½ - ½ |
Two swaps occurred in the first match. The Kingslayers moved their first board (GM Anish Giri) to the second, and the third board (Dzagnidze) to the fourth. You could say that there was little effect because the score over the top four boards was 2-2.
It was GM Gukesh D. who scored a quick and important win vs. GM Arjun Kalyan:
Match 2: Pivotal Pawns vs. Kingslayers 3.5-2.5
| Bo. | Fed | 2 | Pivotal Pawns | Rtg | - | Fed | 1 | Kingslayers | Rtg | 3½:2½ |
| 1/1 | GM | Ding Liren (w) | 2799 | - | GM | Giri, Anish (b) | 2774 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 1/2 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet (b) | 2628 | - | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. (w) | 2620 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 1/3 | GM | Abdumalik Zhansaya (w) | 2507 | - | IM | Soumya, Swaminathan (b) | 2351 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 1/4 | IM | Kulkarni Bhakti (b) | 2388 | - | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana (w) | 2524 | 0 - 1 | ||
| 1/5 | GM | Arjun Kalyan (w) | 2537 | - | GM | Gukesh, D (b) | 2640 | 0 - 1 | ||
| 1/6 | WIM | Savitha Shri B (b) | 2281 | - | WIM | Arpita, Mukherjee (w) | 2229 | 1 - 0 |
The Pivotal Pawns hit back in the second match, where a win was needed. The score, by the way, didn't matter; even if they had won 6-0, there would have been an armageddon to decide.
GM Ding Liren won a good game against Giri on the top board. The Dutchman played a theoretical pawn sacrifice in the Catalan but never saw it back:
The rules stipulated that a single armageddon game would now be played, from one of the categories chosen by drawing of the lot. Samay Raina picked the paper that said International Grandmaster Female, which resulted in an all-decisive clash between Abdumalik and Dzagnidze.
In the opening, Abdumalik must have surprised Dzagnidze a little, who had already lost her one-minute advantage on the clock by move 10. To make matters worse, she erred on move 11 and was on the defense from that moment on.
All games day 7
The Chess Super League will continue with the playoff 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).
Previous posts:
- Chess Super League Playoffs: Kingslayers, Pivotal Pawns To Clash In Sunday's Final
- Chess Super League R5: Krazy Knights, Quintessential Queens Knocked Out
- Chess Super League R4: Draw Drama
- Chess Super League R3: 3-Way Tie For 1st Place
- Chess Super League R2: Brutal Bishops Take Slim Lead
- Chess Super League Gets Underway With Sparkling Indian Vibe
- Chess Super League To Start October 11 On Chess.com
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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