Giri's PBG Alaskan Knights To Face Firouzja's Triveni Continental Kings In Saturday's Final

Not GM Magnus Carlsen's Alpine Sg Pipers but GM Alireza Firouzja's Triveni Continental Kings secured the second spot in Saturday's Final of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League. The Kings will be playing for glory against the PBG Alaskan Knights, who qualified yesterday.

The final day starts on Saturday, October 12, at 9:30 a.m. ET / 15:30 CEST / 7:00 p.m. IST.

Final Round-Robin Stage Standings

Ganges Grandmasters 12-4 upGrad Mumba Masters

Even with a big win the Ganges Grandmasters couldn't avoid finishing in last place, due to their low number of board points. It was still a nice way of finishing an otherwise disappointing tournament, with two games won by the black pieces (and both as a result of flagging the opponent).

All six games were quite level for a long time, and four ended in a draw. GM Viswanathan Anand finished his tournament without a win, but did draw GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave comfortably to end on a good note.

The first decisive game was decided in favor of GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, who won her first game in the tournament. She dropped a piece but kept fighting and eventually flagged GM Humpy Koneru while having just a second left herself.

It was all about the clock, but in her last match of the #TechMGCL Vaishali finally picks up a win! https://t.co/NB31cYsyyz pic.twitter.com/TMbzAkqdEW

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 11, 2024

GM Peter Svidler lost on time as well, against GM Parham Maghsoodloo, but in this case it was more justified. Maghsoodloo had been completely winning earlier in the endgame, and was still a healthy pawn up in the knight endgame.

American Gambits 5-14 PBG Alaskan Knights

With the PBG Alaskan Knights already in the final and the American Gambits out of contention, everyone could play freely in this matchup. The Knights can enter the final with confidence, knowing that they won no fewer than eight of their matches in the round-robin phase, including today's.

White or Black, it doesn't really matter for the Knights, it seems. Today they collected three wins with the black pieces to take this match convincingly. The game shown from this match was their only loss, though, as it was quite the game.

Alpine Sg Pipers 7-9 Triveni Continental Kings

Carlsen did manage to take revenge for his unfortunate loss on time against Firouzja last week, but his hopes of winning the tournament are gone. His black win was countered by two white wins on the lower boards, with GM Javokhir Sindarov becoming the match winner on the prodigy board. 

Firouzja vs. Carlsen was an incredible game. First, the world number-one outplayed the younger "icon" nicely, showing his knowledge of many typical Hedgehog ideas. However, Carlsen then spoiled the win and was even briefly losing, in a wildly complicated middlegame with heavy pieces, and eventual won on time in an equal position. A true rollercoaster, which has been annotated by GM Dejan Bojkov below:

Revenge is a dish best served in another wild time scramble — Carlsen messed up the position on the board, but beats Firouzja on the clock! https://t.co/VPwe67u705#TechMGCL pic.twitter.com/yIHrKamNAJ

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 11, 2024

Carlsen could only watch and hope for the rest of the team to do well, and saw, with everyone else, draws appearing on the next three boards. A loss for the Pipers on the second women's board (where GM Valentina Gunina once again showed how dangerous she is in rapid play) wasn't terrible yet because of the four points for a black win. 

It all came down to the prodigy board, where Sindarov managed to win a promising endgame with rooks and opposite-colored bishops. At some point, GM Daniel Dardha had to give up a rook for White's last pawn and the endgame R+B vs. B came on the board. It took a while, but Sindarov eventually won it.

That reaction from Magnus says it all 🤯

Only on Stake presents #TechMGCL Season 2 will you find such sizzling thrillers, with everything on the line 📽 #TechMGCL #TheNextMove #SGvTCK | @tech_mahindra | @MahindraRise | @chesscom | @chesscom_in | @FIDE_chess | @trivenickings |… pic.twitter.com/kPoHskLe6p

— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) October 11, 2024

It wasn't all about chess in London, with some of the world's leading players, including Carlsen and GM Hikaru Nakamura, having an enjoyable evening before the final day of the round-robin. They joined a poker party hosted by London-based IM Ali Mortazavi, where one of the other guests was a certain Nobel prize winner.

Apparently it had been planned in advance, because Demis Hassabis had mentioned it to The Times: "Magnus will be there, and some world poker champions. It'll be crazy. That is my kind of celebration."

Some random dudes turned up to a poker and chess night at my house. One of them was even mumbling something about a Nobel prize… #chess #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/oWlqmLrhZG

— Ali Mortazavi (@AAMortazavi) October 11, 2024

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 8: PBG Alaskan Knights Secure Spot In Global Chess League Final
• Day 7: 3 Teams Left In Fight For 2 Spots Global Chess League Final
• Day 6: PBG Alaskan Knights Close To Reaching Final After Day Of Blunders
• 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