World Champion D Gukesh avenged his loss against Alireza Firouzja in the reverse fixture, but defending champions Triveni Continental Kings did enough to beat PBG Alaskan Knights 10-9 to stay on top of the leaderboard after match day 6, while Mumba Masters kept up the pressure on the leaders with 11-6 win over Ganges Grandmasters in the Global Chess League (GCL) on Friday.
With the third edition of the GCL entering the second leg of the group stage, Triveni Continental Kings had an opportunity to extend their lead over Mumba Masters as they were to play two matches in a day. But the champions first suffered a reversal against Alpine SG Pipers after their icon player Alireza Firouzja went down against Fabiano Caruana and the team needed a win against Alaskan Knights to keep their nose ahead of Mumba Masters, who had taken the top spot for a brief period after their win over Ganges Grandmasters.
The Continental Kings opened up a six-point advantage with Alexandra Kosteniuk beating Sara Khadem and Wei Yi getting the better of Arjun Erigaisi. However, Kateryna Lagno scored four points for the Knights with a win over Zhu Jiner to bring the team back in the match.
Gukesh, who had lost to Alireza in the first half of the tournament, played a solid game with black and made the most of his time advantage to inflict a second loss on the 22-year-old in a day in a rook-pawn endgame. But Gukesh’s victory wasn’t enough for Knights to seal their third successive win as Vidit Gujarathi finally found that winning momentum as he defeated Leinier Dominguez in 39 moves to ensure that his team stayed on top with 15 match points.
Vidit, who was named the Player of the Match, said, “It’s a relief. It feels like you are climbing a mountain and you get an oxygen cylinder. Today, I was very upset after the first game and I am really happy that my win counted for the team.” Earlier, GM Wesley So, Player of the Match Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Koneru Humpy won their respective games to help Mumba Masters get the better of Ganges Grandmasters.
On the icon board, Viswanathan Anand managed to build pressure on Maxime Vachier-Lagrave but could not convert with black pieces. In the day’s other match, PBG Alaskan Knights had defeated Fyers American Gambits 9-7 thanks to Arjun Erigaisi beating Vladislav Artemiev and Sara Khadem turning the tables on Teodora Injac.