PBG Alaskan Knights Close To Reaching Final After Day Of Blunders

GM Anish Giri scored his first win on Tuesday to lead the PBG Alaskan Knights to their sixth win in seven matches as the team is on the brink of securing a spot in Saturday's final of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League. It was a strange day that saw both GMs Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja making incredible blunders.

On the remaining three days of the round-robin phase, anything can happen but currently the Triveni Continental Kings and the Alpine Sg Pipers, who both lost today, still have the best chance to join the Knights. Interestingly, they will play each other in the very last match on Friday.

Day seven starts on Wednesday, October 9, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CEST / 5:30 p.m. IST.

Day 6 Standings

Alpine Sg Pipers 5-14 upGrad Mumba Masters

The upGrad Mumba Masters, with just three points in last place before the round, scored a crushing and much-needed victory against the Alpine Sg Pipers with three black wins versus just one white win for the Pipers. GM Magnus Carlsen blundering helped, of course, but also GM Peter Svidler scoring a win (his first) alongside GM Raunak Sadhwani. The match could have been even more lopsided if GM Harika Dronavalli hadn't repeated moves in a winning position.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave hadn't exactly been lucky in this tournament so far, but in the big game against the world champion, Caissa was finally on his side. Due to a rare and huge oversight on move 31, Carlsen unnecessarily dropped material and was completely lost. He was visibly annoyed during the remainder of the game, and understandably so.

When you've run out of moves... Magnus Carlsen resigns vs. MVL after a huge blunder left him with little hope! https://t.co/WlOM57HNHd #TechMGCL pic.twitter.com/tIwQsS6zJz

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 8, 2024

GM Peter Svidler tends to play 1...e5 when he wants to be solid, and the Kan Sicilian when he wants a game. He went for the latter against GM Richard Rapport, whose 5.Qf3!? seems worth a try if you want to surprise your opponent. The Hungarian's follow-up wasn't good though, and Black was fine out of the opening. A big mistake in the endgame by Rapport helped Svidler to score a good, first win in London:

American Gambits 14-5 Triveni Continental Kings

The American Gambits kept their hopes alive with an important win today against the Triveni Continental Kings, where Firouzja's blunder at least wasn't a decisive game for this match. The Gambits did very well on the women's boards, where two more black wins made the (big) difference.

We have to start with that bizarre and totally unexpected lapse from Firouzja, who was trying to score his sixth win in a row but saw that streak ending abruptly. He had been trying in vain to win a pawn-up rook endgame without making much progress, and carelessly offered a rook trade that led to a lost pawn endgame, despite being a pawn up. Another pawn ending! Just like against Carlsen at Norway Chess four years ago.

Their reaction says it all 😲

Hikaru stops the unstoppable in Stake presents #TechMGCL Season 2🔥#TCKvAG #TechMGCL #TheNextMove | @FIDE_chess | @chesscom | @chesscom_in | @tech_mahindra | @MahindraRise | @trivenickings | @AmericanGambits pic.twitter.com/94NGkjvHWC

— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) October 8, 2024

IM Bibisara Assaubayeva won an incredibly complicated game against GM Alexandra Kosteniuk that would take hours to analyze properly, even with an engine. It should be shown here anyway as it's nice to play through even without notes. What a ride this was for the players!

Bibisara Assaubayeva scores a clutch win with the Black pieces against Alexandra Kosteniuk. @Ellipaehtz scored a key win over Valentina, and despite Jonas' loss against Sindarov, the @AmericanGambits score a massive 14-5 win over the Triveni Continental Kings! #TechMGCL pic.twitter.com/EygLvZTxp7

— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) October 8, 2024

Ganges Grandmasters 5-14 PBG Alaskan Knights

Also in this match, three wins with the black pieces were too much to overcome. After their slip the other day, the PBG Alaskan Knights continued with another crushing win against the Ganges Grandmasters that gave them a six-point lead again.

In a game where both players were looking for their first win in the tournament, it was Dutchman Giri who managed, against a so far luckless GM Viswanathan Anand. From the moment he got control over the a-file, Giri never let go:

"We're back on track!" says Anish Giri after beating Vishy Anand, though he says he's still not sure why teammate Nodirbek Abdusattorov felt it was good they lost yesterday!#TechMGCL pic.twitter.com/vyoROFdE23

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 8, 2024

It's always interesting to see what two pretty entertaining players come up with when facing each other. GM Parham Maghsoodloo vs. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov did not disappoint, with both using "manual castling" and White quickly developing a winning attack.

Here is the game, with annotations by GM Rafael Leitao:

The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2024 consists of a preliminary group stage and a final contested by the two top 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 reports:

• Day 5: Alpine Sg Pipers Inflict 1st Loss Upon PBG Alaskan Knights
• Day 4: Triveni Continental Kings, Alpine Sg Pipers Chase Still Perfect PBG Alaskan Knights
• Day 3: PBG Alaskan Knights Maintain Strong Lead; Ganges Grandmasters Get 1st Win
• Day 2: PBG Alaskan Knights Continue Strong On Global Chess League Day 2
• Day 1: Giri's Alaskan Knights Impress On 2024 Global Chess League Opening Day
• Preview: Global Chess League: All You Need To Know