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In a surprising turn of events, Mumba Masters defeated tournament leaders PBG Alaskan Knights, denying them direct qualification to the finals of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League in London on Wednesday.
Triveni Continental Kings and Alpine Sg Pipers moved closer to securing their spots at the top with wins over Ganges Grandmasters and American Gambits, respectively, after Mumba Masters delivered a shocking 10-9 defeat to tournament leaders PBG Alaskan Knights.
Mumba Masters got better positions early on but it was the PBG Alaskan Knights who took the lead first: after a draw between Dronavalli and Kashlinskaya.
Mumba's Vidit Gujrathi lost on time against Abdusattorov and Peter Svidler fell to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. But Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's critical win over Anish Giri on the icon board kept Mumba in the match.
It came down to the final two boards, where Mumba's Koneru Humpy and Sadhwani converted their advantages under time pressure, sealing the upset.
As Sarin resigned, the crowd at Friends House applauded Mumba's resilience. With this victory, Mumba remain in contention for the finals, while PBG must wait for another opportunity to qualify.
"It feels great. I'm glad I could help the team. We had nothing to lose, wanting to play a good match and it worked," Mumba's prodigy Raunak Sadhwani said after the match.
In another duel between the leaders and those struggling at the bottom – season one winners Triveni Continental Kings were playing against Ganges Grandmasters. Triveni secured a crucial victory against Ganges Grandmasters 12-9, tightening their grip on a spot in the finals.
At the start of the match things were looking great for Ganges: Anand came out of the opening much better in his game against Firouzja, and things were looking promising on other boards.
However, as the match progressed – things went south: Anand blundered and lost, Maghsoodloo lost from a completely winning position against Radjabov and Vaishali also misplayed a better position against Kosteniuk – handing critical victories to Triveni to bag the match.
With this defeat Ganges Grandmasters, led by former world champion Viswanathan Anand, are out of the race for the finals.
Praggnanandhaa secures crucial win for Pipers
In their previous match, the Pipers narrowly won 9-7 playing as White. This time, with the American Gambits having the first-move advantage, they pressed hard on all boards.
The Gambits got off to a good start with Elisabeth Paehtz securing a significantly better position against Kateryna Lagno.
Shortly after, teammate Bibisara Assaubayeva gained an advantage over Hou Yifan. On board three, however, the Pipers caught a break when Yu Yangyi accepted a draw from Richard Rapport, despite being in a better position -- a risky decision that proved to be perilous for the Gambits.
Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen were in a drawn position. When Carlsen offered a rook exchange to settle the game, both players looked around to assess how their teammates were faring.
Nakamura accepted to exchange the rooks, though he opted to continue playing due to his knight being stronger than Carlsen's bishop in the pawn endgame. Despite this, the game ended in a draw.
On the superstar board, Sg Pipers' Praggnanandhaa had a dominant position against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, which he eventually converted into a win, swinging the match in the Pipers' favour.
Although Paehtz secured her win, the Gambits lost on the prodigy board, and Assaubayeva let her advantage slip, settling for a draw against Hou.
The match ended 11-6 in favour of the Alpine Sg Pipers.
The games continue on Thursday, with two more rounds left before the knockout finals.