Firouzja vs Magnus, Anand vs Nepo | Global Chess League Day 8

A very good evening. We are live from Bengaluru. This is the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League. Now today, one last match of the league stage, one final equation to solve. 3 teams, 2 will fight for championship and another podium finish on the line. With me, Grandmaster Harshit Raja and 8 times US Women Champion Grandmaster Irina Krush to crush the day. In commentary, what a day we've set ourselves up for, guys.

Oh, it's so nice to be here, Tanya. It feels like we are on a day which is like the finale before the grand finale, as, uh, we have the Fires American Gambits, the Ganges Grandmasters, and the Alpine APL Pipers fighting for that top 2 spots. Irina, uh, we've already said that in the Global Chess League we can expect the unexpected. Do you expect the Fires American Gambits to somehow sneak their way into the grand finale.

Well, this day is going to be full of suspense as 3 teams fight for those top 2 places, and the 3 teams on— and the 3 teams on the outside are looking to play the spoiler role. So yeah, everything— there's everything to play for tonight— today.

Absolutely, the spoiler role plus a podium finish for the other teams. Let's first rewind and take a look at the format with which the teams have been fighting it out, bringing on the drama in Bengaluru. We've got 36 of the world's top grandmasters in 6 franchises. Each team plays 10 matches. At the end of it, the league finishes with the top 2 playing for championship of the Global Chess League crown. And that's the big one. The teams start with 20 minutes apiece, and after 40th move is only when the 2-second increment is added. And that has given us so many epic time scrambles.

Oh, absolutely. We have seen a lot of people losing on the time, a lot of people trying to flag their opponents, and for sure the other Very unique concept and format about the Global Chess League is that when you play with the black pieces and you win your game, you get four points as opposed to only getting three points when you play with the white pieces. And that for surely gives some sort of a psychological advantage playing with the black pieces.

That's going to be oh that's going to be very important for the Fires American Gambits who are playing black today, and they definitely want to get as many points as possible with those black pieces.

Yeah.

And there we've got our big matchups which will decide the end of the league stage. Who will play for championship tomorrow? Who will fight for a podium finish today? And what's fascinating is that we've got our top 3 leaders playing against the bottom 3 of the board right there. We start the day with Triveni Continental Kings against the Alpine Pipers. We move on next to another blockbuster with the Alaskan Knights taking on the Ganges Grandmasters. And to finish things off, to wrap the ribbon around all of it, The Fires American Gambits, led by Zhabakir Sindarov, at the end of the day will fight to get into the finals against the Czech Momba Masters. Which matchup are you guys most excited about?

Well, I think it depends on how the first 2 matches go, because it's actually possible that the 3rd match will be the most exciting. If the Fires American Gambits realize that they have a path to the top 2 places, that is obviously going to be the most exciting match of the day.

I completely agree. And to break that down, set it for all of you watching, Harshit, let's go through our standings as we are Now we see each of the teams have finished 9 matches. They're left with this final match, which will be played today. 2 teams at the top with 18 match points. FaZe American Gambit just 15 right behind them, breathing down their neck. Game points extremely close. How will you set the stage having seen the fixtures of the day?

Well, to start off the day, we have 2 interesting mindsets coming into the match. We have the Alpine Pipers who have everything to play for, whereas the Triveni Continental Kings have nothing to lose. And I think that's going to be an exciting clash. The first time that they played against each other, It was the Triveni Continental Kings defeating the Alpine Pipers with a score of 10-4, which kind of tells us that Alpine Pipers need to be careful. The Ganges Grandmasters kind of have established themselves at the first position with a 16-1 win yesterday against the Muma Masters. But hey, if they can win with 16-1, they can also lose with a big margin, and that can actually turn the storyline and allow the Fires American Gambits to qualify.

That will give the door open for the Fires American Gambits. So Triveni Continental Kings, they've got Pride to protect in this final match. Try to take down the leaders Magnus Carlsen and company. But not just that, Irina; they have an outside chance to fight for the podium.

Absolutely. I mean, if they win, they can find themselves in a match for third, fourth between the third and fourth ranked teams. And I like how you said, Harshit, that it's not that they have nothing to play for; they have nothing to lose, which is very different, right? Because that means they're going to come into this match. much more relaxed than the Alpine APL Pipers. And I feel like when you have a team— first of all, they've already beaten the Alpine APL Pipers. They have had that feeling before. They know how to do it. So given that there's no pressure on them, I feel like they're a very dangerous team.

Well, let's break this down even further. Let's see what is the path to the Grand Finals and how the teams actually make it there. For the Trevanny Continental Kings, they are one of the 3 teams that have been able to do the mighty task of take down the Pipers in the league. so far. Can they do it again? And there's so much history between these 2 teams. We'll talk about that, but let's talk about what's in front of us right now. For the Ganges Grandmasters and the Alpine Pipers, their fate is in their hands. They win, they qualify to fight for championship. Faiz American Gambits, on the other hand, need things to work for themselves beyond the board.

Well, they definitely have an outside chance, and they're— they don't have their destiny in their own hands, but they are kind of waiting to see what's going to happen between the Alpine Pipers and the Triveni Continental Kings. What they can do is win their match and hope for the best. And, uh, they, they have this luxury of playing the last. It's kind of as if this whole tournament was like, you know, such— like, it has become so exciting as the Fires American Gambits play in the last match, keeping all the excitement, uh, for the last match of the day.

It's a script you could not have written if you tried to do that. The Ganges and the Alpine Pipers go up first in the first 2 matches, so the American Gambits will know exactly what they're fighting for. Now, I'll say it's not— it's in my eyes, Irina, it's a lot more than just an outside chance because the game points that the Fires American Gambits have alongside the Pipers is very closely contested. If they win and the Pipers lose, I would say Gambits are completely in the race for it.

Yeah. And, you know, I think since you said the word script, Tanya, the only way the script makes sense is if the Fires American Gambits have something to play for at the end of the day. Right. So that means that, you know, we're waiting to see which one of these two top two teams will stumble in the in the first two matches.

So what we're saying is that the Firs American Gambits today, apart from thinking about their own game, are very heavily rooting for the Trevini Continental Kings and the PBG Alaskan Knights to do well.

You know, if I was one of the players for the Firs American Gambits, I would not be looking at their games because that would just give me so much pressure and adrenaline. But a very exciting day. that we have coming up, uh, in front of us, Tanya. And, uh, I think we're just a few minutes away potentially for the players walking in. I'm very curious to see, uh, how their mentality is going to be approaching this important match.

Well, it's been awesome to watch the Pipers in action. Everything that we saw yesterday, the team spirit, the camaraderie they bring on, you know, the epic moment where Vidit, uh, got handed the Player of the Match trophy from no one else but Magnus Carlsen. And that just does things to your confidence. So that's going to be our first match for the Triveni Continental Kings as well. You know, everything that's happened, they want to finish the tournament on a high. They've already beaten the Alpine Pipers once. Can they do it for a second time? We've got Arohi ready with the coaches to ask all the big questions.

This is nothing short of déjà vu. We have last year's finalists with us again for the second time this season, and this is a do-or-die game for both of them. They would want those wins. They would want to proceed to playing the number one and number two spot who will go to the finals. Well, we have all the right questions to ask them before this big game. But before that, for the color swap, let me call upon the match official, our chief arbiter, Mr. Girth Bayer. And now it's time to call the coaches of the two teams for the Triveni. Continental Kings, we have Luke Van Weylie and Alpine APL Pipers Praveen Thipse. Let's have the color swap. All right, Alpine. You play white. Is the message simple? It's do or die, get the job done to the players.

Yes, it's do and die. And I think that is where the players' real qualities can be seen. And I hope that we have a star-studded team. So stars— players are stars because they are good at do-and-die situations. So I look forward to win and qualifying to the finals.

You know, we've seen such great moments from the team, be it the last season, be it in the last couple of games, in the last game. We saw Magnus Carlsen give his player of the match to Vidit Gujrathi. When the team gels so well together, does an important game like today make it easy?

I think so, because, well, team spirit is very important. And our players have shown that they gel very well. And yes, they— I mean, everybody helps each other in the preparation as well. And yes, everybody is concerned about other players' games. So they Watch other players' games and take their own extempore decisions, which cannot be made in the pre-game meeting.

All right, all the best to the team. A very important gate awaits you.

Thank you, Luke.

You play with the black. You play for the third place. You also play to pay spoilers for the Alpine APL Pipers. Thoughts?

Well, first of all, you know, we're always happy to play against Alpine with.

with Magnus in that team after all the trash talking and everything, you know. It's just a lovely battle, and actually we hope it's not going to be our last match against Alpine.

How so?

Well, you know, okay, we, uh, of course we're also hoping for the support of American Gambits, you know, because, uh, I mean, uh, as we say, we are in the same boat, you know. Uh, so we like to continue, you know, this tournament by Hopefully still advance for the playing for the 3rd place. Normally speaking, I wouldn't be so happy to play for 3rd place because, you know, we all want to play the final or go big or go home. But for Alpine, I'm making an exception.

All right, then today you don't just play for your team, you also play for the Fires American Gambits who have a chance in case you win against the Alpine APL Pipers. All the best to the team.

Thank you very much.

That is it from the color swap. The Alpine APL Pipers play white while the Triveni Continental Kings play black. We'll be back after a short break.

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And today, the top two teams on the leaderboard will play the bottom two teams. Now, for the Trivani Continental Kings and the PBG Alaskan Knights. While they haven't shown domination over the board, they have everything that it takes to shake up the leaderboard with their result today. They are very potentially going to shape up the finals, and we kick off the day with Magnus Carlsen for the Pipers taking on Alireza Firouzja for the Triveni Continental Kings. And shots have been fired before the first moves have been made. Grandmaster Leok Wanvali for the Kings saying in that interview to Arohi that, you know what, we hope this is not our last fight against the Pipers. Harshit, the only way that happens is if the Kings beat the Pipers, the Pipers are thrown down the race and have to fight for a 3rd match. And Leo Kwanvali is saying, it's not the fight we want, the one for 3rd place, but for the Pipers, we'll make an exception.

And this is the confidence we need to see from the coaches because they believe strongly in the script that we were talking about, how the American Gambits make their way into the grand finale. Well, For that to happen, the Triveni Continental Kings need to pipe the Alpine Pipers once again.

Yeah, I think, I think it shows that Luke Van Welly has not given up on his team, and they're still very ambitious to get out of that sixth place position.

And now this is where the board is. This is how the layout will be. We'll work our way from the bottom. Now the Alpine APL Pipers have lost only three matches. This season so far, one of them has been to the Triveni Continental Kings going down 10 to 4. And Harsha, that was quite a dominating performance by the Kings. They won on two boards and held drew on the other four boards.

Yeah.

What's their strategy today?

I think they're trying to do the same this time. I mean, the last time they played against each other, it was Badi Pranav on the Prodigy board, Pranav Venkatesh there, and Arvind Chidambaram on the Superstar Men's board who delivered. for the Triveni Continental Kings. Vidit, on the other hand, compared to the last time they played, has been in excellent shape. Yesterday delivered a crucial win for the Alpine Pipers against their win against the Fire American Gambits. This is a close one. They need Firouzj Ali Reza somehow, Tanya, somehow to find his first win in the entire tournament.

And Arena, it almost feels like for the Triveni Continental Kings to do it twice this season against the Pipers You're not looking to race against Magnus. You know, you don't want to force things on that board. As we see, it is Magnus Carlsen and company arriving first. I see up front the world number one is seated right there. Anish Giri and Volodar Murzin at the back. Now Murzin has been a very key player in the tournament. Like you said, he's had only one loss. Murzin has lost only one game, everyone watching, and that has been to Pranav. He faces him. In this decisive matchup today, but coming to the TCK strategy, the King strategy, hold up Magnus Carlsen and try to put pressure on the boards you managed to strike last time.

I guess I feel like if I have black in this match, in a match where the Alpine APL Pipers have everything to lose, I'd probably choose maximally aggressive openings if I was black. I mean, I just feel like why not? You know, go for the maximum. Right, play King's Indians, play Sicilians, even against Magnus Carlsen. I just don't feel like there's a lot to lose for the Triveni Continental Kings. That's the strategy I would—

that's a very good point that you made because this time the Triveni Continental Kings are playing with the black pieces, Tanya, and this means that a win with the black pieces will give them 4 important points if they win on one board. That's going to mean that the Alpine Pipers have to win on both boards, and that's not going to be easy. As the Alpine Pipers make their way into the playing hall, Magnus Carlsen waiting for his entire team this time around.

And that's a scene you don't get to see often. He's not waiting for the whole team, he actually waited for Anish to come up front, and there he is discussing some strategy right there. Uh, is there a new bromance brewing in the chess world between Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen post-Global Chess League Season 4?

They obviously want to make sure that both of them are super comfortable before this important match. Imagine Anish Giri getting some tips right before the important match that they have. I mean, this is something that the players can, uh, never buy. This is priceless, this opportunity to play in the same team as Magnus Carlsen.

Yeah, I mean, there's something about the team environment that just brings you closer. I mean, I, I read an interview that Anish gave where he explained his relationship with Magnus, and he said Magnus likes to take a lot of space and I just don't like to give it up, and kind of laning, that friction between them, which I thought was very interesting. But obviously when they're part of the same team, um, they each got to give a little bit of space, right?

And speaking of not losing ground, this team cannot afford to lose any more ground. For Trevanny Continental Kings, while it might not be the fight they wanted, but there is still a podium finish on the line. To fight for that 3rd place will be everything given their performance currently at the बॉटम ऑफ़ द लीडरबोर्ड, देर वी सी अलर्ज़ा फरूज़ा एस ऑलवेज़ वॉकिंग अप फ्रंट, हील बी फेसिंग मैग्नस कार्लसन. फॉर द पाइपर्स, इट्स बीन मैग्नस, विदित, हंपी एंड मर्जिन, हु बीन द बिग स्कोरर्स. फॉर द त्रिवेणी कंटिनेंटल किंग्स, ऑन द अदर साइड, दे बीन रिलायिंग ऑन द बिग पॉइंट Oh, absolutely.

Uh, these 2 players have faced off against each other so many times, especially when it comes to blitz and rapid chess. They've played against each other in Speed Chess Championship, in Bullet Chess Championship, in the Esports World Cup. Most of the times it has been the player on the left, the player from Norway, one of the greatest players to play this game. Magnus Carlsen has had a better score against Firouzja Alireza, but he's not someone, uh, to back down, uh, when it comes to a big fight. No, he's not. I think Firouzja Alireza, as you see his win rate, has a 0% win rate at the Global Chess League this season. That was not the case the last time he played in the Global Chess League arena. I don't think that the win rate is going to showcase what we are going to see next.

Yeah, well, Firouzja was one of the only players to pressure Magnus in this year's Global Chess League. He had the white pieces in their first encounter, and Magnus made an escape in a rook endgame. So that was one of the games where we were actually worried for Magnus's position. So yeah, absolutely everything is unclear going into this matchup.

Yeah, well, what a, what a day we've set ourselves up for. Is this the day that Alireza Firouzja, who's searching for his first win, flips the script? Now the history between the Kings and the Pipers go a long way back. These 2 teams have ruled the league from the start. Trevini winning Season 1 and 2, Alpine Pipers being the defending champions. It's only fitting that today decides who makes it to the finals. Only one thing left to do. Arohi, take it away.

Before the city, there was the game.

64 squares.

2 minds. 1 empty seat. Pull back far enough, and the board has a skyline. The palace holds the file.

The rook.

The spire owns the diagonal. The bishop. Only one piece leaps.

The knight.

Every direction, every distance. The queen. First to Step forward, the pawn, and the seat of power keeps its own square.

The king.

Six franchises take the board, equals until the first move. Every game ends the same way. One seat, one name on it.

Tech Mahindra Global Chess League Season 4 in Galuru starts now.

Take your seats.

Let's talk about the big moments of GCL in the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League. These 2 teams have always stood out. Whenever there are big moments, these 2 teams always have a feature. Today, yet again, they stand against each other, both looking for their own glory in their own ways. Give it up for the 2 teams, the Triveni Continental Kings and Alpine APL Vipers. It's time for the Team introductions. Let's start with the Alpine APL Pipers. Five times world chess champion Magnus Carlsen. Five times Dutch chess champion Anish Giri. Former Gashimo Memorial champion Vidit Gujrati. Arjuna Awardi Divya Deshmukh. Two times women's world rapid champion Hampi Koneeru, former world rapid champion Volodar Murzin, and their coach, the first Indian to get a GM nom Praveen Deep Singh. Let's introduce the Triveni Continental Kings, starting with the two times. Grand Chess Tour champion Alireza Firouzja. World Cup runner-up Wei Yi. Prague Chess Festival champion Arvind Chidambaram. Former Grand Prix winner Xu Jin'er. Former Women's World Cup winner Alexandra Kosteniuk. World Junior Champion Pranav.

Hey!

And their coach, 5 times Duchess Champion Luke Van Veen. That's the first clash of the day, the Kings and the Pipers. It's now time for the handshakes. As we begin with the first game of the day, let me call upon for the first move our tournament director, Mr. Bharat Singh, our chief arbiter, Gert Bayer, and our guest for today, Mr. Ranjan Mohanty, IRS. Will be making the first move on the icon board, featuring Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja. And now for the first move on the. Superstar board, may I please call Miss Anna Isaac, Director, Sorkia.

Season 3 of the Global Chess League. It was the Alpine Pipers against the Triveni Continental Kings, and winning 2 back-to-back matches, they were the champions. of Season 3. And today, the fate of the Pipers— will they fight one more time— is against the exact same team, Harshit. And during that handshake, during that team introduction, you could feel the tension.

You could feel the tension as the players made their way into the playing hall. We do have handshakes and kickoff on the Superstar Women's Board between Divya Deshmukh and Zhu Jiner. Both players haven't found their best form in this tournament, but this is the game, this is the moment Both of them need to rise to the occasion. Well, this is the occasion, Tanya. This is the finale before the grand finale.

Absolutely, Harshit. Will we have plot twist on this board? A very different storyline on the other women's superstar board as this one starts with the Scotch. Now, Konearu Humpy and Aleksandra Kostyuniuk have been the output machines for these 2 teams. Kostyuniuk with 19 game points, Konearu Humpy with 18 game points to the Pipers. They have been the performers of the league. And very well, the pressure board of this match. Everyone watching, eyes on the women superstars.

Absolutely. Koneiro Hampi has, you know, been used to facing the pressure for this team, has always done well for the Alpine APL Pipers. This time, the Alpine APL Pipers might be banking on her to do well, and the question is if she's going to be able to deliver.

And Alexandra Kostyniuk has momentum on her side for the King. She's had 2 back-to-back wins. This one starts with the Ragozin opening, and we see the first imbalance already on the board. Hampi has traded her bishop for her opponent's knight.

Yes, and I think, uh, in doing so, the advantage that she has gotten is that the black pieces on a8, b8, and c8 have not been developed yet. So I think Hampi will be banking on getting some quick development and potentially, uh, the Carlsbad structure once she captures the pawn on d5 and plays put pressure there. Let's quickly go to the board of Vidit Gujarati and Arvind Chidambaram as they are waiting for, uh, liftoff on this board. The last time they played against each other, Arvind Chidambaram did defeat Vidit Gujarati, and knowing Vidit and his competitiveness, he wants to equalize their head-to-head right here, right now.

Arvind Chidambaram has been a big scorer for the Kings. He's taking on Vidit, who yesterday had a 96-mover win after a dramatic takedown. And was awarded by Magnus Carlsen himself as the player of the match. Can he once again decide the fate of the Pipers, playing against a player he's lost earlier in the league? And it starts with the knight opening. We see Vidit first take out the knight on the right side and then go on to capture the center. Arvind, meanwhile, Harshit, is playing noncommittally on the center of the board. He's focusing on one side. He wants to get the bishop out, fianchetto it next.

This is definitely a more aggressive approach chosen by Arvind Chidambaram. He's going for some sort of a King's Indian opening, goes for the move bishop to g7. I have to mention this, Tanya, that in an interview that Divya gave, she mentioned that Magnus Carlsen was helping, uh, and suggesting some opening lines. I'm curious to know if he has also been helping some of the superstar men's board, because I'm sure Magnus's experience, uh, is going to come, uh, and a lot of benefit for these players.

Exactly. And with it now goes into the first think. Let's take a quick look at the Anish Giri-Wei Yi matchup before we go on to our icon board. And this starts slow as well. The English Opening has been the opening of choice. As this brews up to be an interesting middle game, we will move to our icon board.

Let's go.

Both players right now developing, but it's all eyes on the iconic clash. It is the prince versus the king. Magnus Carlsen arrives with 18 game points and one victory away from the finals. For Alireza Firouzja, he's yet to win an individual game. He's searching for his first win in season 4. The last time these 2 played, it ended in a draw. This is once again Harshit, the battle royale of the global chess league.

This is the title match of the day for sure. Starting it off, Magnus Carlsen with the white pieces. Both of the icon players are Nicely observing what is happening on the other boards, because Magnus Carlsen is someone who can make the decision of the first move based on what's happening on the other boards. Very flexible when it comes to his opening, but this time he is not messing around. Plays the move d4 very very quickly, and Firouzja Alireza is going for the King's Indian Defense. This is going to be the most exciting match of the day, Tanya.

Well, it's called Trivani Continental Kings. Why not play the King's Indian Defense? And now, having seen Alireza Firouzja. Across formats, this is the one opening he plays every time he wants a takedown on the board. But it's not the King's Indian Defense. A plot twist, guys, it's actually the Grunfeld.

The pawn generally was supposed to go to d6, but Firouzja is like, no, no, no, I'm going to push the pawn to d5. And this is the same opening that Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, his teammate, had chosen against Firouzja. But this time it is Firouzja playing the Grunfeld Opening with the black pieces.

And Harshit, we've got Jay there saying, not gonna lie, but GCL Season 4 is pretty good. Best of all the 4 seasons.

Wow.

You know, we can feel the tension, we can feel the drama. It's a packed house inside the arena. The fan zone is buzzing. I could not agree more with that.

Absolutely. We saw when the players were coming in, all, all the spectators were roaring and cheering for the teams that, uh, they're rooting for. This time, uh, we see that Firouzja Alireza playing a completely different approach, uh, going for the Grunfeld opening, develops his bishop to g7. So just to quickly explain the concept of this opening is that white gets a strong center.

Mm-hmm.

As you can see, these 3 pawns in the— on the center of the board. What black wants to argue is that he wants to play the move pawn to c5 at some point, bring the knight to c6, and put pressure on these centralized pawns. If white can maintain these central pawns, he's going to have an advantage.

Alireza Firouzja looking for that central pressure. And chat, we want you to get involved. This is the final match of the league stage. Sending those chats, we will try to feature you on the show as well. This is going to be a showstopper of a match. We've got some showstopper positions going on. I want us to just quickly bring up the bird's-eye view before we deep dive into each of them, just to show the chaos that's brewing across.

There's a lot of chaos, especially on the men's superstar second board, as We wait to get the bird's-eye view of both the players. There is also one board that we haven't yet looked at. Tanya, maybe we could go to that board, which is the board of Badi Pranav. But before we go there, we do have the bird's-eye view. And look at the development that we see on board number 2 of Anish Giri and Wei Yi. A lot of exchanges, a complete mess on the board already. But Anish Giri seems to be well prepared with 19 minutes on his clock.

What a wild position that is. The bar says it's absolutely balanced. Now, those of you who might be new to chess, I'm just going to quickly break that down. You see the evaluation bar on the left corner of each board. The color you see that's higher is the one that's better. The higher the color, the more the advantage. And right now we see most of the bars in the balance on that top row, but the top center board is insane action going on. I think that's where we're going to go next. Bottom row, we already see bottom center there, Hampi Konearu for the Alpine Pipers with an advantage. In this position, she plants her bishop to the center of the board.

Good move.

And the pawn that's been attacked is not easy to defend. But Harshit, I say we go to Anish Giri versus Wei Yi.

Let's do that. Do let's go to board number two between Anish Giri and Wei Yi as we have so many moves. And trust me, for everyone watching, the evaluation bar doesn't narrate the correct story. In reality, there is so much pressure on the board as White just. Slices the queen to c5. And the point now, Tanya, is that you cannot capture my rook on h1. You cannot capture the rook on h1 because your queen on g5 is going to be undefended. And that is the reason why Wei Yi places his queen to e3.

And what a tricky move this is, because if White was to trade the queens, the knight jumps in. There are forks in the air as well with both rooks hanging. It's going to be trouble time. For Anish Giri, I just want us to backtrack. I haven't seen an opening like this. Actually, moves are coming fast and quick. We see the trades. It feels like Anish is in preparation. He's got 19 minutes on the clock. Wei Yi has been spending time on the clock. Has Anish got Wei Yi in some sort of prep here?

Well, all eyes are on this board as we see how the spectators are keenly observing what's happening inside the playing hall. Guys, welcome. To the semi-final. I mean, in some ways it is the finale before the grand finale. I'm hoping all of you are enjoying there. Let's just quickly take a look, Tanya, what happened in this opening. And I guess we can start from the get-go where, uh, White got this isolated pawn to play against. The d5 pawn is what we call the isolated pawn. Very important to control the square in front of the isolated pawn. As we see Anish Giri placing his knight there, bishop comes into c5. Challenging that square that I was talking about. Knight drops back to b3, bishop goes back to b6.

And we see 3 attackers on that d5 pawn taking that opportunity. Knight takes pawn happened on the board. White has an extra pawn, but black is playing for piece activity. Hits that knight, forcing it to retreat right now. The queen develops further. We see Anish bringing his bishop out, and boom! This was his idea where he gives up his bishop. Tactics everywhere. LPDO— loose pieces drop off. That bishop on g5 is undefended, and after giving this check, the queen captures the bishop. We see more trades on the board happen. Anish slides his queen up, stopping Wei Yi from getting into castling, and Wei Yi does the same, hits the rook. Anish pinning that bishop, and eventually we saw the queens come off the board. A flurry of moves here, and we're already in an endgame in this one. How are we evaluating this once the dust has settled?

First of all, this is not something that the players are playing or have seen for the first time in their life. I'm sure Anish Giri and Wei Yi as well, to some extent, has analyzed this position because of the way and speed with which they navigated through a complex position. Right now, as the dust has settled, Tanya, I have a feeling that White does have a teeny tiny teeny bit of an advantage as he plays against an isolated pawn here. Also does have a majority of 2 versus 1 to play for on the queenside, so a small edge For Anish Giri here, but nothing too dramatic.

For Anish and Wei Yi, their last encounter did end in a draw, and very likely this game might fizzle out. You know, it started as a banger with so much chaos on the board, with both players navigating those complications. And right now, the question to be answered is the pawn at the center.

Yes, this is a question for Wei Yi to answer. How will he defend the pawn on d5? Well, talking about pawn, there is a pawn sacrifice on board number 3 between Vidit Gujarati And Arvind Chidambaram here, as we see, Arvind Chidambaram played this g6, Bishop g7 fianchetto setup, captured the pawn on d4. And now, Tanya, here it would feel like White is attacking the c6 knight twice, and you'd expect Arvind to play a move like Bishop to d7 to protect it, or perhaps capture the knight on d4. But Arvind says that, hey, I am not going to defend my pawn on c6. c6 and play for initiative. And this move has led Vidit Gujarati into a more than 4-minute thought here. Drops back with his knight to c2. I'm sure Arvind feels good that, uh, you know, Vidit had to spend 4 minutes to come up with this move.

Wow. And let's remind everyone that the last time these 2 teams played, Triveni Continental Kings took down the Pipers just last week, 10-4 victory. And this was one of their big scorers. Right here, Arvind Chidambaram beat Vidit in that clash. Now, not taking that earlier bait that you highlighted, it would have allowed Black— and let's pick up our analysis board to just show the dangers that existed after pawn takes knight, bishop takes pawn. And what Vidit did not want was the Black rook to slide over, stopping development in White's camp, making sure the White bishop isn't able to get out of the way and playing for compensation. Instead, Vidit takes a more cautious approach. He wants to keep things blocked and secured. He comes back with his knight, but still feels a very healthy position now for white.

Definitely. I think the strategy of Arvind is to leverage on the fact that he won his last game and kind of take more risks. He knows that Vidit potentially does not want to enter a very complicated position, is trying to go into a more aggressive approach here, brings out his bishop to e6, attacking the pawn on c4. But I like Vidit's position. It's very solid, and I think this is a good way To play with the white pieces.

Well, you just simply defend that pawn if you're with it, Gujarati. A pawn's best friend is the pawn next to it. We're expecting the B pawn to move forward, but there's chaos on the other board. I want to go straight to our women's superstar board.

Let's go there.

Divya Deshmukh versus Zhu Jin. Both players struggling in the league so far. How will they flip the script this time for their teams? Harshit, we see that Divya has an extra pawn currently. It's five pawns.

Yeah, and she's actually, uh, I mean, Black can actually, uh, regain the material imbalance here by taking the bishop on e3, but she needs to calculate that she can allow White to win an exchange, the rook on c8, and simply drop back with the bishop to c5. Well, we've heard that whenever the bishop is 2 squares away from the knight, the knight gets completely blocked there. And here, White is just threatening to take the bishop. Yeah, and Black is going to win material after capturing the knight back on c8. Can Zhu Jin'er find bishop takes e3? If she can, she has a small, small advantage. If not, Divya Deshmukh is in the driver's seat.

Wow!

And the reason is, the other way which is very tempting to capture that pawn, which is going on in Zhu Jin'er's head right now, is to capture the knight, which feels safer.

It does.

You pick up the bishop.

It does.

You pick up the pawn. But the problem is, Divya can play this till eternity and enjoy every moment of it. And look at that, Zhu Jin'er, because of that a-pawn that she did not want to allow, goes for the right one. And she finds the right approach. Divya doesn't get greedy. That would have gotten her into big trouble. And here we are, material balance restored. Divya wants both rooks on the second rank. One has already landed, the other one ready to enter the party and start attacking the kingside. Divya pushing, Rujina even pushing here to get that initiative.

Yeah, I'm a bit scared for Divya's position right now, Tanya. If Rujina manages to invade and put both of her rooks on the 7th rank, that's gonna mean trouble, not just for Divya. And you know, the, the thing about team matches, Tanya, is that if there is pressure on one board, if there is an evaluation swing on one board, all of the other boards start feeling the tension in this kind of an event. What does Divya do here?

Good question. And Harshit, there is an evaluation swing on the Hampi versus Kostya board. We were calling this the pressure board of this matchup given the incredible performances These two women superstars have had. Look at what we have in front of us right now. Even though the material is in balance, it's six pawns to six pawns. Right now, white is attacking a queen, is ready to step up that e pawn up the board, gets so much of real estate at the center of the board right now, and starts looking really good for Humpty once that pawn goes up.

करे तो करे क्या यहाँ पे क्वेश्चन ही क्योंकि अगर वो ड्रॉप्स बैक विथ द क्वीन ऑन द एफ लाइन तो आने तो क्या होने वाला है कि जो रुक एफ वन का है इट्स गोइंग टू इंडायरेक्टली अटैक द क्वीन ऑन एफ F7 का पॉन भी बहुत टेंडर है, काफी डिफिकल्ट पोजीशन कोस्टेनियो की। And that's why she slides the queen over to the other side, doesn't want to be on the eyeline of the rook, and this allows white gives that time to start pushing in the center. Let's go, let's go, Conero here. As we see, it's a full house there in Bangalore for the Global Chess League.

It's sold out here on our final day currently. It's the grand final coming up tomorrow. Everyone watching, try to get your tickets. I'm not even sure if they are still available.

You know what I would do, Tanya?

I would just not leave the playing hall.

उधर ही रहूँगा। हमें पूरी रात क्योंकि कल होने वाला है ग्रैंड फिनाले, right now?

क्योंकि अगर तुम गए तो फ्रंटलो की सीट नहीं मिलने वाली। नहीं मिलेगी। So better to just spend the night there today, wait for the grand final tomorrow. But right now this match very potentially will decide who those grand finalists are.

Absolutely. Conero Hampi has an edge here as we explained. Has this beautiful bishop on d5 eyeing the pawn on f7, the rook on f1 waiting to get the opportunity to join. The attack there as Koneiro Hampi's advantage increases. Magnus Carlsen on the icon board also seems to be having some sort of an edge against Firouzja Alireza here.

Speaking of real estate at the center of the board, look at Magnus's pawn structure there. That d pawn has gone one step forward. The queen and bishop battery is ready to get rid of Alireza's most important piece, the bishop on g7. Once white lands with bishop to eighth Many beautiful ideas in the position. Harshit, can we backtrack and see how Magnus made this possible?

Yes, let's, let's do it, Tanya. We left the position somewhere here where White played the move Bishop to e3, just, uh, strengthening the White center here as Black decided to challenge it with c5. Queen comes into d2, Queen to a5, putting more pressure towards these central pawns. White brings the rook out to c1, protecting the pawn on c3. Short castles, knight comes into f3. Rook to d8, another nice move by Firouzja, pinning here on the d-file. Bishop to e2, a calm and collected move by Magnus, developing. And after bishop to g4, he's like, okay, now there is way too much pressure on my d4 pawn. And guess what? You spend all of these moves putting pressure on the d4 pawn, I'm just gonna move it.

It's a double-edged sword, you know. Pawn moves cannot be taken back, and they come with their own set of consequences. Yes, that pawn looks beautiful. Yes, you get more space in the center. But you've also unlocked Alireza's bishop at the other side of the board. And Alireza says, first I'll get rid of your knight, and then I will start developing my own pieces. I'm expecting him to take out his knight next, get the rook to the c-file, start advancing the pawns on the queenside. Knight a6, rook c8, b5 ideas to gain some counterplay on the left flank.

Yeah, you have highlighted all of these ideas, but the question first is which piece Or pawn do you recapture back on f3 with?

Wow, so you're actually considering pawn takes bishop, Harshad Raja?

Why not? Why not to capture towards the center, keep our bishop on e2, which is doing kind of a nice job towards, uh, controlling some squares on the queenside? And the advantage of capturing on f3 is that you can keep the important pawn on f2 protecting your king and use the pawn on f3 at some point to advance and potentially create some sort of an attack with our central pawns.

And now traditionally you never want to double up those pawns, but the fact that Magnus isn't rushing with his decision, he's definitely weighing the pros and cons of capturing towards the center, controlling more squares. That pawn can eventually go up the board as well. What's the drawback? Magnus Carlsen's king will have to stay in the center. There's no safety to be found on the right side.

Well, if you capture back on f3 with the g-pawn, which he does— amazing! This was In fact, the best move according to our machine here. And I think in some lines, Tanya, the idea for White will be potentially to push the pawn on c4, because if you go into the endgame, I think White is just going to have a tremendously strong pawn avalanche here. And things are looking good in the first half for Magnus Carlsen.

Harshit, what Magnus is saying is that I am playing against an icon who is clearly struggling in the league this season. Alireza Firouzja You haven't won a single game. I am not passing the pressure. I'm not passing the ball to my other teammates. I want a fight on the icon board. Only then do you take such a decision.

And we've seen Magnus Carlsen do that because in his match against Vishy Anand, he specifically mentioned that, you know, my opponent is struggling and I wanted to make the most of it. He is trying to make the most out of this position right now. But can you— can we quickly go to the board of Vidit Gujarati and Arvind Chidambaram? Because it Feels as if there is a small edge perhaps for Arvind here as he managed to exchange the light-squared bishops and plans to put another piece on b7. Well, that's going to be the queen putting some pressure towards the king and eyeing for the d5 break.

So for the Alpine Pipers, the Aikon board, they've got an edge in that, right? In this board, it's the Triveni Continental Kings with just a little something to play for. And I'm going to break down one more point adding to your light-square play that you're highlighting for the queen. In the Sicilian, if Black is able to break with d5 or b5, target that c4 pawn, very often you get more than enough counterplay. And it feels once the queen gets to that spot that you've said, both these breaks will be available, available to Arvind Chidambaram. And meanwhile, you know, Vidit, he hasn't made that much progress in the position.

Yeah, but I loved how you explained that, you know, for Black it's crucial to get one of these breaks. For white, it's going to be very important to try and stop those breaks. If Vidit can somehow get the queen to potentially put some pressure on this diagonal, I don't know, maybe something like rook to c2. Tanya trying to go for this sneaky, sneaky move, queen to a1, putting pressure towards this diagonal.

Oh, that's a fantastic plan. I want to highlight one problem piece that Vidit has here, that knight on a4. That knight is as useless As the letter K in knight right now. It's just at the edge of the board.

Very nicely put there, Tanya. The knight on a4 doesn't have a lot to do there, but I'm sure it can reroute itself, uh, back to c3 towards d5.

It has to at some point.

Potentially. By the way, there is one board, Tanya, that we haven't had a look at yet, and that is the Prodigy board. And in fact, this board does, uh, remain quite important for the overall match. The last time when these teams played against each other, it Was Buddy Pranav striking against Volodar Morzin? The only time Morzin lost in this entire global chess league. Can Buddy do it again?

And look at how closely contested it is on the board and on the clocks as well. Both clocks level, a highly tensed middle game with not a single minor piece trade. कुछ नहीं trade हुआ है सिवाय एक pawn के के अलावा. Everything is on the board, and both players half the amount of time left. Black is pushing on the left side. White का एक pawn a6 पे land कर चुका है, and while it looks like a big asset, it can often be a liability.

That is true. If a lot of pieces get exchanged, that could be a liability. But Morzin is making sure that it is an asset for his position as he leans forward on his chair, completely focused and zoned in to win this match and make the Alpine Pipers through to the grand finale.

That is one aggressive knight jump, and it's not going to stop there. For Morzin, he has to reply to that knight coming further onto the board on b7, hitting that rook. Some big ideas here. This is a fun battle, and both these players have been big performers, both over 15 game points for their team. Pranav did beat Morzin in their previous encounter. If he does it today, it's the day to do it. Harshit, the Triveni Continental Kings are fighting for that 3rd place finish spot.

They are fighting, and I think it's not going to be easy For the Alpine Pipers to take them down, he goes back with his knight to b8. And as you said, the pawn on a6 could potentially be a liability. Well, Pranav is trying to hit that pawn on a6, but we have some evaluation swings because the board of Koneiro Humpy and Alexandra Kostyniuk that we thought gave an advantage to the Alpine APL Pipers—not so anymore.

We'll go to that, but I want everyone watching to keep a close eye on this board. This one very likely to be decisive. Look at this last move. It aims at capturing the knight and destroying the pawn formation in front of the black king. So looking for a kingside attack here. Visually, it looks like white's pieces are beautiful. The knight on one side, the knight on the other side, the bishop super active. But there are structural weaknesses that you have to take care of. An extremely tense middle game.

Very tense.

And very likely the prodigy board, the youngest board, will have the biggest consequences in this match.

As soon as you said it, rook comes into e6, and this is a small mistake trying to protect the knight on f6 as well as put pressure on the pawn on a6. But here white has a very powerful move, and that is to reroute our knight towards an outpost, and that outpost is the d5 square, and Murzin finds it.

What a player! What speed to find a retreating move, a knight that looks so stunning, to come back to find it to another square. Let's highlight that. He wants to pick up that knight on f6, plant the knight on d5. Beautiful retreat, and I think this is going to baffle, uh, Pranav just a little bit. You know, he thought he's just going to pick up that pawn at the edge of the board. Let's bring up our analysis board and show what's the problem with that.

Not so easily, says Murzin, as he gives up the pawn on a6 as bait. Well, if Black captures the pawn on a6 with the rook, we can simply chop off the defender of the d5 square, the knight on f6. And once you capture back on f6, well, with the rook or the pawn, the knight is going to jump into d5, hitting the queen on c7, hitting the rook on f6. And this is bad news for Badi Pranav.

And Morzin looks away.

He knows he's done the hard job of finding the knight retreat. Now he's checking out the games of his teammates right now. Pranav under pressure. Should we go back to our icon board and get a check-in? Alireza Firouzja was feeling the fire that Magnus Carlsen was bringing on. And that hasn't stopped. Complete control of the center by White, and now the h-pawn on the flank starts taking over.

Yeah, and Firouzja did try to add some wood into the fire with this move pawn to c4, and his idea was that, hey, I'm giving up a pawn on c4, but Magnus is like, you know what, I'm not even going to bother taking that pawn on c4 and continue with an attack towards your king. Goes for the move pawn to h4, an aggressive move here but very typical in these kind of positions to attack these triangular pawns on h7, g6, and f7. Black goes for the move pawn to e6, taking advantage of the fact the rook on d8 eyes the queen on d2. And now Magnus Carlsen takes the pawn on c4.

And I want to just break down why Alireza has just given up this pawn right now. As the knight comes out, taking advantage of the fact that you can't immediately capture it, there's a pin on the queen. The queen is being x-rayed by the black rook currently. That knight is also headed towards the center of the board. But by giving up that c-pawn, Firouzja is saying, I want to line up my rook on that c-file. Yeah, the c3 pawn is the tender spot in Magnus Carlsen's position. My queen is placed perfectly for that. My bishop on the other side is eyeballing that pawn. Magnus, I'm coming for a big pawn in your position.

Yeah, I mean, Firouzja definitely has big plans, but you know, there is one person who loves to spoil these big plans, and that is Magnus Carlsen.

Everyone has a plan until Magnus Carlsen shows up.

Yep, exactly, Tanya. He has captured a pawn. He is going— he's going to retreat with his bishop back to b3, but no, he goes for a move that I was not expecting at all. That was not on my cards. He goes for the move pawn to f4, and the idea is clear. Well, it's clear he wants to stop this knight from advancing into e5, but perhaps this move allows black to get enough time to bring in his rook To see it and attack the pawn on c3.

Big moment for Firouzja. And even if the bar gives an advantage to the white pieces, to Magnus Carlsen, this is far from over. This story is only going to get more complicated. Down a pawn is Alireza, but Magnus Carlsen's king in the center. c3, that pawn a big target, and he goes for the other pawns as well. He's hitting the bishop with this last move. Firouzja is— that bishop needs to find a good square, staying connected to the central pawn. I actually don't see a good bishop retreat. The d5 pawn under pressure, the e4 pawn under pressure. How is Magnus keeping the position together?

Bishop को नहीं हिला सकते तानिया। We have to keep our bishop on c4, which is kind of protecting everything there. The pawn on d5 as well as keep making sure that the queen doesn't have access to the e4 square. Only move. खेलना ही पड़ेगा queen only move. खेलना ही पड़ेगा Magnus को यहाँ पे to protect the bishop on c4. And I am—

Magnus has to find this queen move to stay connected to the bishop, to hold on to his center. I think he's reaching for his queen. He hesitates, he pulls back, but he will—

he should play it, right? I mean, what else, Magnus?

Process of elimination. If you retreat the bishop, you lose one of your key pawns in the center of the board.

And Magnus Carlsen, you know, Alireza has seen it further.

That queen slides over, Alireza's knight will now jump from the side of the board Hit that bishop again, asking the same questions.

Yeah, I think this is a good practical try by Firouzja, and this is the reason why Magnus Carlsen is taking his time on this decision. The tension is palpitating inside the playing hall, Tanya. Every single game, every single move has so much weight on its shoulder in order to decide who will reach the grand finale.

Icons, consequences, survival, redemption— everything on the line in this one. What an evening in Bengaluru, watching these, these players fight it out. For the Pipers, their fate in their hands. If they win the match, they lock in the spot to fight for championship. Triveni Continental Kings, no claim to the throne this time, but can shatter the Pipers' dreams.

Yeah, and right now Magnus Carlsen tries to make sure he doesn't lose the important e4 pawn, which would shatter his control of the center. Played yet, not played yet. Magnus is thinking here. By the way, on the Superstar Women's Board, Divya— I'm not gonna go there just yet, but it's down to 3 minutes.

We will check in with that. But a big question right now, Magnus is thinking, he's burning the clock. This is the first time that Firouzja does not have a big clock deficit against Magnus, and that is good news for the Triveni Continental Kings. The clock has been Firouzja's biggest problem. The 17th piece is where he's been losing out on. And right now completely level. Magnus has spotted the move Queen to e2, make no mistake about that. Yeah, he's looking ahead, he's calculating what happens when Firouzja's knight joins the attack.

Yeah, and I don't think it's easy to evaluate this, Tanya. It's not as easy as the engine makes it look because after Knight to a5, you have to drop back with your bishop to d3. I mean, that's the only move. And once Black captures the pawn on d5, it's really not easy To capture back with the pawn on d5, because as you can see, the evaluation actually swings in Black's favor. With this game, by the way, seems to have some sort of a big swing in evaluation as Arvind Chidambaram found this break pawn to d5 because of this cute little sequence of c takes d5, knight to b4, not recapturing back on d5 immediately, but with this intermediate move knight to b4. hitting the queen on c2.

Wow, as we wait for Magnus Carlsen's decision there, decision needs to be taken by Vidit Gujarati. Also, everyone watching, look at the evaluation bars at our bottom of the screen right now. We see that on this board, bottom center right there, quite a bit of advantage to Arvind Shridhamram. You know, for the Triveni Continental Kings, this is a board they're looking at. Everywhere else, we do see it to be quite level and in the fight. The Pipers are feeling the pressure.

Yeah, and Vidit is down to 3 minutes 10 seconds. Look at his expressions there. Oof, this is a big match for Vidit Gujarati. He needs to save this game, Tanya. You cannot afford to lose 4 game points.

Absolutely cannot. And Harshit, not at this stage, not at this point. But the clock is what I'm worried about, not so much the position. The queen is hit right now for Vidit. He needs to move the queen to a better square. What Arvind wants to do next, he does it, and you could see the speed with which he's panicking a little bit. He does hit the knight, and now Black will simply capture the center pawn, have a great piece placement on that d-line, the 2 rooks preemptively placed to fight for that open file. Looks like he's about to win the battle of the center file, Arvind Chidambaram.

By the way, essential for Arvind Chidambaram to capture the pawn on d5, but only with the knight on f6. And the reason this is essential, Tanya, is because the bishop on g7 eyes the white bishop on b2. And don't forget the big threat. The big threat in this position is a disco check. You remove the knight from d5 with the check, hit the white queen on d2. Can he find it? He does!

Wow, Arvind in absolute scintillating form currently. And we've got our first result coming in. Hampi and Kosteniuk, the 2 star performers, end their game peacefully. We didn't miss out much. The game was in the balance. You know, Hampi with her 18 game points, Costinuiu with 19 game points. One can understand why this game fizzled out into a draw.

Well, we can, but I kind of felt that Koneiro Hampi had an advantage right out of the opening as we kind of broke down her advantage there. I think this is a good result for the Triveni Continental Kings. Currently, it is bad news for the Alpine Pipers, Tanya, because Vidit has just played the move knight to g4 and There are a few moves that give black a huge advantage. Well, not just on the board, but as you mentioned, on the clock. With just 2 minutes and 18 moves to make, this is an uphill task for Vidit Gujarati.

And you have to be careful walking uphill. You might just fall down if you're Vidit right now. Look at the way his 2 knights are on either side of the board but not really going anywhere. 2 minutes on the clock. Pressure on the board. Pressure on the clock. We'll come back to this. Let's check in quickly. With our icon board before we circle back, because this is fire.

And Tanya is— Firouzja Alireza finally showing why he is playing on the icon board here, because we left it here where White played the move pawn to f4. Well, look at Firouzja, goes for the move queen to a4. Queen to e2 was not found by Magnus, a big surprise for us, as he plays the move queen to d3. And after knight to a5, bishop to b5, and queen to a3, Feels as if Firouzja has managed to, you know, kind of get some control and compensation in this position as the rook on d8 eyes, uh, the queen on d3. The black queen here putting some pressure on the rook on c1. a6 is a big threat in this position, Tanya. Pawn to a6, and where does the white bishop on b5 go?

It's running out of places to hide. Magnus Carlsen is up a pawn, but the immediate problems in the position more than compensate for that. You have pressure at the center. The black rook beautifully placed, a huge threat that you're highlighting. The other black rook ready to come in on the c-line. c3, a weakness we've been talking about for a while now, under pressure. And Magnus again behind on the clock, and that is a story we have not seen happen. Magnus has always had the edge on the clock early on, and this is just the opening stage. We barely reached the middle game right now. Huge questions ahead. Alireza Firouzja, what a redemption story this will be. What a redemption arc this will be if he takes down the world number one at this stage.

Yeah, and don't forget, for everyone watching, the Triveni Continental Kings are playing potentially for the third place here. If they win this match, they have outside chances— well, real chances to play for the third place match. As we should quickly take our attention to the superstar men's board of Anish Giri and Wei Yi as it Feels as if this game potentially might be heading towards the draw. It's not over yet.

Forget the balance. Look at the clock. You've got fifty seconds. Tick tock goes the clock for Wei Yi right now. He's also down a pawn in the position. He's down a clear pawn, and that B pawn starts looking incredibly scary. And there we have it. It's red on the clock, red on the board right now. Who is stopping that B pawn from moving forward?

Wei ice cold under this pressure hasn't given any expressions yet. You Definitely want to bring your rook behind your opponent's passed pawn. Your rook to b2 is a very important move for Wei Yi to find in this position, as Magnus Carlsen made a big mistake. It feels like we will jump back to that, but just a moment here.

Even then, this isn't going to be easy for Wei Yi. He needs two more moves to get those extra two seconds. Anish Giri putting big pressure. Is Wei Yi going to find a way back into this game for the Trivani Continental Kings? Absolutely essential to hold. A difficult endgame.

Anish Giri is utilizing his time advantage. Do you want to go quickly to the Aikson board? As Anish Giri is thinking, their queen back to d1 played by Magnus Carlsen. And we have this very beautiful camera angle, Tanya, of both the boards. One of Magnus Carlsen on your left and the other board of Anish Giri and Wei Yi on your right. Bishop takes c3. Firouzja takes the pawn on c3 with the bishop. There was a better move, e takes d5, but he wanted to regain back the material deficit. Takes the pawn on c3 with the check. King to f1.

This is complete chaos what's going on on that board. It's all about the clock. Magnus's king has made a move, which means he'll never castle in the position. We see a trade in the center. Alireza Firouzja trying to open up lines, pathways towards that white king. He's missing his light-squared bishop. If only that could have been in the game, Magnus's king would have had the end to his story. But right now, with all of Alireza's pieces on the left side, maybe Magnus's king is feeling safer than it looks.

Yeah, once the white king goes to g2 and potentially brings out the queen to f3, he can have a very safe king there. And I don't think Magnus Carlsen is thinking about his own king safety. He's thinking about how to make his opponent's king Feel a little unsafe as he plans to move pawn to h5 at the right time.

I'm going to say that is one of the ugliest pawn formations I've seen on the chessboard for Magnus Carlsen. Each pawn separated, doubled pawns on the board, weaknesses all around, and he's also lost that extra pawn advantage.

Well, he has, but he has these 2 bishops working for him. He has the bishop pair as well as the concept of putting the pawn to h5 and pressure towards the black king. The rook on h1 Seems quite passive, but as soon as White makes the move pawn to h5, the rook is going to find a great utility from, uh, from its home.

h5, and we live is what the rook is going to be saying once that move lands. Now on the right side of our screen, we've got Vidit Gujarati against Arvind, but Arvind has completely let go of his clock advantage, and that is a shocker to me so early on when it didn't feel like a critical decision. He's been thinking for the last 5 minutes. Arvind, make a move!

He needs to move. Position hasn't improved for Vidit yet, but his situation has improved here as Arvind dips below 2 minutes on the clock, plays the move pawn to h5, which is a huge mistake.

And that's what happens. That's called nerves. That's called the clock pressure. He trades the bishop right now. The king steps forward, but Vidit has 2 minutes to find the right continuation currently, and anything can happen on that board. And we go back on the right side. We will stick with the icon board on our left side of the screen. Everyone watching, we've got Magnus Alireza on the camera right at top there. A position that could go either way. One for three results for Vidit Gujrathi and Arvind Chidambaram. There is absolute chaos, and for Wei versus Anish Giri, it's the clock thirty seconds still up upon, and the bar says it's draw. But from a human perspective, the position looks anything but a draw.

Absolutely. We actually have 3 boards on our screen right now, Tanya. I love it. We have the camera of Vidit versus Arvind as we change it to Anish versus Wei. Look at the excite— look at the intensity of Anish Giri. He knows he has a chance. Well, the position objectively is a draw, but with just 20 seconds for your opponent, he's for sure trying to win this game.

And what Wei has to do is keep his rook close, eyeing that b-pawn that has gone up the board, making sure that Anish's rook stays tied down to defending it. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen on the left side of our screen needs to defend his rook right now, Harshit, which has been put under pressure currently. And not very easy moves to find as Magnus gets below 3 minutes.

And it feels as if Vidit Gujarati is winning. Vidit Gujarati is winning his game. What is happening here? From completely losing to better. Oh, back. Okay, back. Oh my God, there are so many evaluation swings on this game. Well, we expected nothing less, Tanya. This is the Blockbuster start to the finale before the finale.

This is the chaos that's expected when the best in the world go head to head with everything on the line for these two teams. For Trivani Continental Kings, a podium finish, a shot at that if they take down the Pipers. For Pipers, a spot into the grand finals. And look at that move that Arvind has just found. He sacrifices his knight. The idea is on the right side of our screens. The rooks will get traded off. The black queen is ready to jump into the attack. And there we see a result on the Divya Yu Jina board, and that one has ended peacefully in a draw. The women superstar boards wrapping it up with two draws.

The score two to two. Two to two is the score. We have four more games remaining. The last time these two played against each other, there were four draws and two decisive results. We can right now just update you everyone about the current situation. Let's go full screen on the Vidit board.

Yes, let's go.

Let's go full screen on the Vidit board. Look at that bar. It's made a massive swing right now. Vidit Gujarati under big big pressure currently as the queen has come in. He's up a piece, but he's feeling the danger on the black king. The knight joins the party. That's a big move. Huge move right there. He picks up the knight, checkmating attack potentially on that white king. Will he find the knockout? The king is trying to run up the board. The black knight needs to reroute itself. Will it panics? Eleven seconds on the clock.

This is over, Tanya. This is over. He's losing the pawn on F three and the king on G five has no shelter. King to G seven. Oof! What a move there by Arvind Chidambaram.

It's a checkmate in four if he finds it. He does it first. Now there's a mate in one. He's got to finish this off and that is it. It is handshakes. Arvind Chidambaram checkmates with it Gujarati's king and takes the first win for the Delhi Continental Kings. The score now two to six.

This is exactly what the Alpine Pipers were trying to avoid, but it happens. Let's quickly go to Anish Giri and Wei's board.

And as we've got this one up, Harshit, this looks like it's going to end in a draw. I want our double board view. Let's dive in straight to the Magnus versus Alireza. We see now the pawns are equal. Everything is heading towards the draw.

This game is heading towards the draw, which means Magnus Carlsen on board number 1 on the Icon board, if can go on that board. This is going to be a very important match for Magnus Carlsen to win.

And Arvind Chidambaram, for a second time in this tournament, takes down Vidit. And it's huge pressure now on the Pipers, which means huge pressure on the world number 1 to get it done on the Icon board. But Harshit, both players under a minute. This has become a complete time scramble. Vidit versus Anish versus Wei Yi about to end in a draw.

Yeah, that game is going to end in a draw, Tanya. For Magnus Carlsen, for the first time ever, he's in a must-win situation. If he doesn't win his game, the Alpine Pipers are going to go down.

And we're going to see handshakes on the Anish versus Wei Yi board. There it is. The black king will stop the white pawn. That's game over. Let's go full screen on Magnus versus Alireza. Both players completely locked in right now. And this is what we have. Magnus under 30 seconds. His rook has gone up the board, but it's Magnus Carlsen who's down a pawn. 2 passers on the left flank for Alireza Firouzja. Harshit, if anyone can push for a win, it's the black side.

It's Firouzja. It is. It definitely seems like that as he finds the best move in the position, rook to b8, just protecting the pawn on b6. But this does lose the pawn on a7. Does Magnus Carlsen take it? No, he goes the move rook to d1, and this just gives up the pawn on d5. And look at Firouzja there. He just chops the pawn on d5, and he's an entire two pawns up.

Harshad, we have only two games remaining. It is this board and the prodigy board. For the Pipers, they need to win on both boards.

But they're losing.

Magnus Carlsen is doing well.

Magnus Carlsen might be losing his first game of the season against Alireza Firouzja in the match that matters the most. Look at Magnus as he steps up. Twelve seconds. He falls back with the bishop. Look at the two pawns that Alireza has on the other side of the board.

He reroutes the knight. He's so good at this. He's so good at maneuvering his pieces with just few seconds on the clock. Knight to h4 check.

This is Alireza Firouzja in his element. This is him in his element. Watch this happen. Watch it happen. He picks up another pawn. He's up 3 pawns in the position.

The pieces are just flying on the board. The pawns are marching up the board for Firouzja. He's up 3 pawns. Magnus Carlsen is completely losing.

And look at the speed with which Firouzja has accumulated those 17 seconds. Magnus Carlsen gives up. He resigns.

Danya, what a takedown!

Win the match! This is over! The Alpine Pipers are not through just yet. Alireza Firouzja getting his first win of the Global Chess League Season 4, and it's against the world number one.

And what a win it was! What a win it was for Firouzja Alireza, taking down Magnus Carlsen. Oof! And this means that the Alpine APL Pipers are going to lose this match. There is one more Board remaining between Murzin and Pranav. Murzin actually is doing it for the Alpine APL Pipers, but look at him, he looks at the score, shakes his head, and you could see a small boost in confidence for buddy Pranav as he tries to defend this position for the Triveni Continental Kings. Ah, 11-3 is the current score. The match is sealed for the Triveni Continental Kings. They did it once, they did it again.

This And it is revenge for everything that happened in the finals of Season 3 for the Triveni Continental Kings. Leoq Vanwalli said it at the start, they want another fight with the Pipers this time. They want to make it to that 3rd place match and want Pipers right there opposite them. They've done their job, 3-11. Doesn't matter what happens on this board, but for the Pipers it absolutely does. Game points will be essential now.

And look at the dugout of the Alpine APL Pipers, all of them just really unhappy with their performance. Anish Giri sitting by himself behind. Generally, you see so much excitement and, you know, positivity in this team, but this was a tough pill to swallow for the Alpine APL Pipers.

Everyone questioned Firouzja's form. Everyone wondered where is his first win going to come from. He responds in the strongest way possible, taking down the GOAT of chess in the match where it mattered to the Alpine Pipers the most.

Yeah, that was a big win. You know, these are the kind of moments that show your class, show what you are capable of. Well, Firouzja just showed that he's capable of beating every single player in the world, including Magnus Carlsen.

And that's the Firouzja we love to watch. Him in his elements, him with 3 seconds on the clock, getting it done. Can Pranav try to save this one with 3 seconds on the clock is the question against Mirzan. Now, white completely winning in this game. But with three seconds, anything can happen. You take those pawns off the board.

Oh, he just blundered.

And that's it. Rook will attack the bishop. We had a glitch there. And I just want to point out, if the pawns didn't exist, the game is a draw.

Yeah, and just two seconds on the clock. About to lose on the clock there. Somehow manages to make a move. With just one second on the clock there, should be winning for white. But with three seconds on the clock, it's hard to rely on the objective evaluation of the position.

And potentially the fires, if they do match up the pipers on match points, game points will count. So there is pressure on Volodar Murzin. To get those three points for his team right now. Four seconds currently. Make a move, and resignation. Signs. Murzin gets an extra three points even though the team goes down. The Pipers lose the match. Murzin still keeps the hopes alive right there. But this moment belongs to this team and this man in front—the Trevini Continental Kings—with an iconic, iconic clash.

And look at Magnus. He just leave. He just wants to leave. He's so unhappy with himself. One man who's very happy with himself is that man Firouzja Alireza there as he gets his personal congratulations from the team manager.

Two big wins by the kings in that match: Arvind Chidambaram taking down Vidit Gujrathi, Alireza Firouzja with an iconic takedown of Magnus Carlsen getting it done. It's heartbreaking because such a strong team, one that has ruled Global Chess League, they have been in all three.

And I was waiting to see this exact moment, uh, Tanya, where Firouzja Alireza has a smile on his face. Well, he has so many reasons to be happy. What a takedown for Firouzja Alireza here.

It's been the first time in the league so far that we've seen Firouzja with a smile on his face. That smile was being missed by all. It's too little too late to fight for championship, but potentially a podium. Still in sight.

Absolutely, and this completely opens up the tournament as the Fires American Gambits have an outside chance. But before that, let's go straight to Arohi for the match summary.

The game between the Alpine APL Pipers and the Triveni Continental Kings just concluded, and we have the results for the game. The Triveni Continental Kings win with a score of 11-6. Let's call upon the chief arbiter, Mr. Gurj Bhaiya and the coaches of the 2 teams, Luke Van Veenly for the Kings, Praveen Deepse for the Pipers, to sign the result. That is it from a thrilling encounter right here. Two more matches to go. As of now, back to the casters.

Thank you.

And what a thrilling matchup that was at the end. Trevany Continental Kings win on 2 boards, and that is what they needed. But the iconic win by Alireza Firouzja against Magnus Carlsen is going to be spoken about for many, many days to come right now. What a comeback by the Kings, and that means the door is open now for the Fire's American Gambits to make their move, try to get to the finals. And there we see the players of the Pipers, they are shine— they are signing the autographs, but the day is not over for them. Sagar, Divya right there, the rest of the team know that the job isn't done. They have to wait and watch what happens next.

Yeah, what a day we've had, and Alpine APL Pipers have to now wait until the end of the day to know whether they will be in the finals or not. This is absolutely epic drama that we have here. It feels like we are not going to have like any certainty, Tanya, in this tournament.

Expect the unexpected here at the Global Chess League. Few would have predicted the end to the match as we saw it. And as the Global Chess League heads towards that finish line, joining us is Mr. Piyush Dubey, who is here. Piyush, I have to say that the big moments that we've had at the Global Chess League, what we just witnessed How are you feeling right now?

Truly a pleasure. As they say on the public radio, long-time listener, first-time caller. So good to be here. And thank you so much for making the league so exciting throughout and making it easier for amateurs like me to follow the matches all the time. So truly a pleasure. Yes, the excitement continues. And even on the second last day, we are not clear what will happen tomorrow. That's the idea of the league. I'm truly excited about this day and of course what happens tomorrow.

And Piyush, as the chairman of the board of GCL and also, you know, you play such an important role in Tech Mahindra, you are the chief marketing officer. How do you find this league that has gone? How are you happy with it?

Truly, as in, this is like a dream come true, Sagar and Tanya. I started getting engaged with the league sometime in 2024 when the London event was happening. I know you have been part of the entire journey, but I saw it in London and that's when I got interested in the league. I appreciate the opportunity to build something new. And here we have a canvas. It's a pure white canvas. And all of us at TechM have always felt that Chess has a great opportunity to become more commercial, and that's what we see. And of course, as you have seen, year after year, league keeps getting bigger. And every time when we come to this stage, I am always thinking only one question: what can we do next year to make it bigger and better? And somehow, thanks to wonderful partners like you and the fans, it somehow happens. So that's the hope once again.

You know, Piyush, it feels like it's not going to be an easy question to answer, especially with all the changes that we've seen this year in Bengaluru that you and your team have managed to pull off. You know, the fans are loving it. We see a packed arena right there. There you go. Yeah, and it's been a pleasure for the chess community overall to witness the league. What is the future? What is the vision? And what does come next for the Global Chess League?

So one of the things, Tanya, That we always felt the question that we wanted to answer: Can chess be a team sport? And what we saw yesterday on two occasions, even though it was the the player of the match was given to a particular player and two of them decided to share it, that's a team spirit, right? So while the while the record of the GCL still remains Magnus Carlsen as a player of the match in there, but the spirit that we saw and. The photo op of Vidit collecting his trophy from the GOAT himself, as in, that's the thing, right? And so that's what we are hoping, that as the future of Global Chess League, we continue to see that spirit and make the game more of a team sport and a spectator sport, which I have to thank both of you and everybody on this box.

You know, one thing that I definitely feel is that chess is Chess players are becoming more friendly with each other because of this league. I see that. I've never seen them smiling so much. I've never seen them being with each other so much. And that, I think, is a huge credit to the league. As we are seeing some of the highlights here of the very important match, Piyush, I don't kind of feel like we are seeing one team dominate this event. Like Alpine APL Pipers were ahead, suddenly Triveni Continental Keepers who were far behind just came and beat them, right? Insane.

It is insane. And that's what we were also— I was, I was talking to one of the FIDE officials yesterday and, uh, they said, who came up with this format? Like, how did you even think of that? The whole idea of black winning and getting 4 points and the scramble in the end is so unique. And of course, I know both of you have been part of this journey and Vishnathan Anand has always supported it. So I think, I think I, I definitely feel that with the league, uh, we are at a point now with the Global Chess League that we can say that we are transforming the way the sport is experienced all over the world.

Wow. And I think that point scoring system is exactly what came to play today. Arvind Chidambaram getting the first black win in, getting that 4-pointer, the premium, a very unique scoring system in the world of Chess. It was handshakes by Vidit Gujarati, and then it was all eyes on our Icon Board where Alireza Firouzja suddenly showed exactly why he is the speed demon that he's known for, taking down Magnus Carlsen, accumulating time on the clock until Magnus was forced to resign. Getting the first win was Firouzja against the GOAT, and then the Prodigy Board saw the end with Mirzin winning the game but losing the match. Worthy Alpine Pipers, Triveni Continental Kings get a big, big win, and the day is just getting started. You know, Peyush, I have to ask you this question. From being a sport that's played inside closed rooms to having a packed arena, a house full, sold-out tickets every day, what changed? How did you make that happen?

I think a lot of it goes to the fact that we have the headphones that people can understand this, and of course The commentary that we see from Sagar, from you, from Harshit, from Kitty. I think even for me, I was there in London, Tanya, and I was sitting like a fish out of water. I play chess, or rather, I know how to play chess. But to see 6 boards where players like Magnus Carlsen and Alireza are following, and then to be able to follow 5 more boards at the same point in time was difficult. And that's the change, I think, that we have been able to bring, especially for me. And I really like it when you move to a particular board and you'll say, let's see how we got here from where we left you earlier, right? And those are some of the best moments. I'll show you things. Right. And then I'm like, okay, let me quickly understand what's going on here. So I think that kind of take everyone along approach that we have and the fan zone where once again this— where we see the trigger right now behind us who is dancing and all the action that happens. I think that changes the way the sport is experienced. And that is one of the reasons why I think the response that we see from the fans and also the players' response is possibly one of the best that I see. I have seen many other tournaments, but the way that they are experiencing the game and the way that they are liking talking to their fans, I think changes the entire thing. I'm— when we started, uh, Tanya, I, uh, of course I traveled, uh, far to be here, and the first 2 days I was thinking it's, uh, it's going to be a long 9 days. And now as we reach here, I'm like, oh, it's already coming to an end. Like, we have to— exactly, I have to wait for one more year to do this again.

It's gone too fast, the Global Chess League. But today is not going to go fast enough for the Alpine Pipers after their loss to the Trevini Continental Kings. And it's time to reveal The player of the match, and I think there's only one name on everyone's mind. Arohi, take it away.

The most successful team in the history of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League— well, they don't call them just like that. The Triveni Continental Kings have done it once again and have proved why they deserve to be in this league and on the top. Give it up for the winning team, the Triveni Continental Kings! A huge congratulations firstly to the entire team. Arvind, I want to start with you because if the tide shifted, it was from your game. That game wasn't an easy one. You had a time advantage that slipped somewhere. And under pressure, under time pressure, how did you pull this off?

Actually, yeah, it was a very interesting game, to be honest.

You know, I'm pretty sure I missed something better. But, you know, like, I could not, like, find the, you know, like, decisive attack. Like, when he played knight g4, you know, it was kind of, like, double-edged, you know.

I had to make some only moves to win the game.

I think I did not manage to find the best move, but you know, I was happy that I managed to like find this knight f4 trick and you know, and like checkmate his king.

It wasn't easy because like he was on the defending side and I was on the attacking, so it was not easy for him.

Well, the game did shift from your win because after that you had a couple of wins from Alireza Firouzja's board. which everyone was waiting for because he was playing against the world number 1. We'll get to that. But thank you so much for talking to us, Alexandra. How special is this win? You, you played Alpine APL Pipers last year. The team played against them in the finals. This year you beat them twice in the 2 games that you played against them. How special is today's win?

Well, I don't think we really focus on who we play. We rather focus on how we play because It's clear that it's been a struggle for us this year, but it's very nice to finish on a win, especially in a very difficult tournament. Because if everything goes well, if you keep on winning, then it's easy. But real champions, I think, are determined by the way you proceed in very hard situations. And I'm very proud of the teams that we managed, you know, to end this qualification stage on a— with a win.

You were in the dugout of that team. A lot of things were happening on stage then. Tell us about how proud you were of the team and what was going on in your mind when you were looking at the team play so well today.

I, as I mentioned before at the start of the event, I was very excited to be playing once again for Triveni Continental Kings. It's my 3rd season with the team and that's what makes It's very special for me because, well, I love the team and I cannot imagine myself playing for another team, which will be— would be extremely difficult. But so, yeah, I'm happy and I'm glad that I performed like well and the team once again ended with a win.

You know, Alexandra, we love having you in the same colors for the last three seasons, and thank you so much for being here. Congratulations on today's win. Thank you. Now let us move on to the Player of the Match Award, which is to be given away by our guest today. Calling upon Mr. Mahalingam Manikandan, DGM Toyota Kirlos Carmotes. And the Player of the Match Award goes to Ali Reza Veruja. Alireza Firouzja, you really did bring out that fire today on the board, taking down the world number 1 for the first time in this tournament. You were the first player to do it. It wouldn't have been easy. Tell us how you did that.

Yeah, I think it was a good game. It was a very sharp opening. After, I found a couple of good moves and it was making life difficult for him. And then, yeah, and then I had the upper hand and we went to time trouble and And I also managed to put more pressure, add the pressure, and finally I managed to get the win.

You know, since the opening ceremony that, that we have had, uh, the Triveni Continental Kings and the Alpine APL Pipers share a special bond. Do you think that pushed you to do better today?

Yeah, I mean, they won one time, we won 2 times, so Yeah, it's a rivalry going on, and yeah, we were— I think we played very well today and made their life difficult to win second time.

Definitely you did, and this win means a lot for all of the chess lovers because now the tournament is yet open even on the last day. Congratulations on this exceptional win.

I'd like to add one more thing. We have this special, um, um, tiger which, yeah, supports us, and I'm going to throw it now to the crowd, and whoever catches it might become a grandmaster. Does it sound good? Okay, so you're ready? I had to turn around like this. Ready?

Okay, we have a future grandmaster. Before, before you Throw this one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we have some cheers for the Triveni Continental Kings? Casters back to you.

One, two, three. Woo!

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Warming is that.

We should have gone out and tried to catch it. Yeah, that's our only way to become grandmasters.

That's the one thing that we missed catching that Triveni Continental Kings mascot. And look at that, we got a fan here with Vishy's book Mind Masters. Their chess fever is fully on, Piyush, in Bengaluru. That is correct, Tanya.

In fact, I was hoping exactly the same, Sagar, because the commentator box is open on top and I hope I'll be able to catch the tiger and, and, and get it. Uh, but yeah, uh, truly we saw the moments once again. Yeah, I one thing, Sagar and Tanya. I see that we made this innovation sometime between the between this season when the players who won came all on the stage here in the fan zone. Initially, we were not too sure, but I can see how players are enjoying it a lot more now, right? And we see yesterday we saw Magnus take the mic and talk about the win. Today we again saw Alexandra. And imagine someone playing for the same team for the 3rd time and says that I cannot even imagine playing for some other team. So that's the spirit. So once again, we saw that today.

I think team loyalties are building. There's also a lot of very interesting things happening in terms of team camaraderie and so on. I have a question on this to you. But before we go there, we need to do the move of the match, the AMD move of the match. So if we can just bring on this and Tanya Piyush, the move of the match goes to Arvind Chidambaram for an insane move that he played here. I was sitting there in the audience and I just couldn't understand how Arvind found the next move. It's black to play with its last move was pawn to e4 and the stunning move was knight f4. check, and the knight can be taken in 2 different ways, but both of them lose because after rook takes, rook takes, rook takes, and knight takes, the queen swoops in, and along with this knight, it's a mating attack, which is so amazing that Arvind managed to spot it with just 1 minute on his clock.

Arvind Sudharamaram took 34 seconds to find this brilliancy on the board. And it was the decisive move that got him the big win against a player who's been a huge scoring machine for the Pipers, Vidit Gujarati. Knight to f4, finding it with 34 seconds means instinct, intuitiveness, and calculation at absolute pro speed right there. The AMD move of the match and fully deserving. So pretty much getting Triveni Continental Kings that big 4-pointer, which leaves us with the standings as they are going into our second match of the day right now. This is where we are. It's again all about finishing top 2 to make it to the grand finals tomorrow.

And I think for the Triveni Continental Kings, there's something more because there is also going to be a match for the 3rd place that will happen, and they have reached the 4th place, which means that if the Czech Mumba Masters lose the match with less than 7 game points, then actually it's the Triveni Continental Kings who reach 4th place, which will be a huge thing for them.

And you know what Leo Kvanvalli said before the start of this? He said to the Pipers that we hope this is not our final clash this season. The only scenario that happens is the Kings take down the Pipers, the Pipers fight for 3rd as well, and they get their rematch in that one.

Wow.

So shots were fired before the game started. Right now, Fire's American Gambits have been gifted an open door into the finals by the Kings. Right now, Fires American Gambits' fate is in their own hands. They need to win the match, go up to 18 match points. They need to score more than 8 game points in the next match, overtake the Pipers on GP, and then suddenly they are putting one foot in— actually both feet in— to that grand final tomorrow. This day we could not have asked for more.

Well, the Czech Mumba Masters will try to stop that, Tanya, because they will be facing the Fires American Gambits. But before that We have another match coming up. The PBG Alaskan Knights led by Vishy Anand taking on the Ganges Grandmasters led by Jan Nepomniachtchi.

And I think I want to come back to Piyush on this. You know, one of the striking features of the Global Chess League has been the mix of the team. We saw the loyalty there that Alexandra Kosteniuk was feeling wearing her pink jersey all four seasons. You know, you've got icons on the board, Piyush. You've got the prodigies. You've got the men, the women superstar. How important Or how meaningful is that strategy going into Global Chess League for you?

I think that really is is the whole idea that creates that camaraderie, Tanya and Sagar. Because to have in the next game, for example, where we will see Vishwanathan Anand, who himself is a goat in all rights, and Abhimanyu playing together, and and he asked Khan AirDog was. Exactly. The youngest player in the league this season. He's 15. Correct. And that's a kind of camaraderie. And so the structure to have the grandmasters, to have the superstar men, women, and prodigies all in the same team, and that also adds to the uncertainty of what will happen. And we see results like this. Sagar, I remember the first day before we started, you spoke with Magnus. About what he's looking forward to, and I think today today it went all the other way. That is correct, and it's not even over yet. So who knows what more will come up? So yeah, those are the kind of things, and it is only because of the team structures that results like these and excitement like this is possible.

I love that you bring that up because this league season, while Firouzja has struggled and actually found his first win today against Magnus, after listening to probably what Magnus said, he's gone one and a half out of two against. Magnus Carlsen. You know, I know we have to go into a break, but before we do that, I just have one more question with you, Piyush. Looking ahead, looking at 3 years from now, what does success look like to you for the Global Chess League?

So, uh, we started in Dubai, then we went to, uh, London, Mumbai, and now Bangalore. So, uh, one thing, if, if I have to look at 2 ways, uh, to define that success, Tanya, one is, uh, how the fan engagement becomes bigger. Uh, how do we make chess more popular? Chess is a game that actually connects the entire world. The part of the world where I come from, football means something else than what it means in India or in Europe. But chess, whether it is Uzbekistan or Azerbaijan or USA or India, it's the same rules. And so we believe that the sky is the limit here. I think we don't have— we haven't reached the ceiling. So one is, how do we get more people to get interested in chess? And the second is for the Global Chess League. How does it become more global? Of course, it is as global as it gets. India is global for anyone who is in Uzbekistan or in Georgia. It's not a local tournament for somebody who is in Poland. So it indeed is global, and there are global players. But idea is to take it to different locations. And so we are. Gaurav was here yesterday, and Gaurav and I and the entire team is thinking. About how do we create more formats for Global Chess League, uh, so we don't have to wait for one entire year. And maybe we can bring you back sometime sooner. So not just one event, there could be multiple events, multiple events, which is like a mini league, uh, kind of thing. So one of the ideas, uh, and please save me from Gaurav if I'm spilling the beans here right now, but one of the ideas we are thinking is to have the GCL with the legends. And have the same teams with some legends. The other thing that we are also considering is how to play with influencers within each team. We have an influencer in Triveni. We have one of their prodigies or superstar women.

Does that mean that maybe we get a chance to play with Magnus and Firouzja in the same team?

If that may— I know you have that chance all the time, but let me say yes, why not?

So much to look forward to at the Global Chess League, but right now the first thing at hand is our next big matchup. The PPG Alaskan Knights taking on the Ganges Grandmasters is coming up next. Piyush, thank you so much for everything that you do in the chess world, for Global Chess League taking it to where it is today, where it's headed. It's been a pleasure talking to you.

Truly a pleasure. Thank you so much for the opportunity, and congratulations on such a wonderful way to explain the game.

Thank you so much. Well, we're going to go into a short break. We'll be right back with all For all the action, you stay tuned with us.

Thank you.

जब एक इंडियन के हाथ में पावर आता है, दस हजार रन का माइलस्टोन पार हो जाता है। सोचो, जब हर इंडियन के हाथ में पावर आएगा, इंडिया कितने और माइलस्टोन पार करेगा? इसलिए योनो देता है, हर इंडियन के हाथ में पावर। The all new योनो, power to every Indian.

मानिकचंद ऑक्सीरिच प्राउडली इंडियन कुछ लोग इतनी तेजी से बढ़ते हैं कि पता नहीं चलता। जैसे कि एपीएल बोलो स्टील पाइप्स एयरपोर्ट से लेकर आपके घर तक कुछ ऐसे ही स्टील की ताकत को एपीएल अपोलो बनाता है, देश की बढ़ती ताकत। एपीएल अपोलो, देश की बढ़ती ताकत। चीफ गेस्ट्स हैं वराय?

सैल्यूट। सैल्यूट करो, सैल्यूट करो। सलूट हटाओ, ये पीलाओ। किप्पी खाओ ना जो मस्ती की बीटी जगाओ रे। किप्पी का बाइट लेके टेस्ट का ब्लास्ट है रे। इतने से मन न भरे। दिल का है थोड़ा और मिले। Long non-sticky full of veggies. Formality हटाओ, ये पी खाओ। आशीष। आपके क्रेडिट कार्ड की ड्यूडेट?

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पर हम भी जिद्दी हैं। तीस से ज़्यादा क्वालिटी चेक्स, विटामिन ए और विटामिन डी से युक्त और खाना भी बने स्वादिष्ट। खाने में समझौता नहीं, अच्छा खाना शुरुआत से ही। Independence। जब एक इंडियन के हाथ में पावर आता है, highest centuries का रिकॉर्ड टूट जाता है। जब हर इंडियन के हाथ में पावर आएगा, सोचो इंडिया और कितने रिकॉर्ड तोड़ेगा?

इसलिए योनो देता है, हर इंडियन के हाथ में पावर। The all new योनो, power to every Indian। Welcome back everyone. We had an insane first match today with the Alpine APL Pipers going down to the Triveni Continental Kings. With me is Harshit Bhai. हर्षित भाई, it seems like there's a huge news that we have to announce. Yeah. Because the Alpine APL Pipers lost by in this way.

Yeah, they lost. They only scored four points and because of that the Ganges Grandmasters are through to the grand finale tomorrow.

Wow! That is insane because the Ganges Grandmasters have eighty eight sort of game points. So now the only way they don't make it is if they lose this match with 0 points, like they lose on all 6 boards.

Yeah.

That is unlikely.

And even if that happens, it's going to be some sort of a tie. Yes. And by the way, this is the upcoming match that we have in front of us. The PBG Alaskan Knights take on the Ganges Grandmasters. While the Ganges Grandmasters have in some ways already qualified, the PBG Alaskan Knights do have a chance, an outside chance to play for the 3rd place. And we have Vishy Anand playing against Jan Nepomniachtchi on the icon board itself.

So, Harjit bhai, जिस तरह से Firuja ने अपना last round में first win किया, the same way Vishy Anand can score his first win in the last round today.

Yeah, it won't be easy because he's playing against an inform team. Not just inform Jan, the inform entire team of Ganji's grandmasters. And you know, we've seen the unthinkable happen here at the Global Chess League. Magnus Carlsen losing his game for the first time since the Esports World Cup against Firouzja Alireza. We wait to see whether Vishy Anand can find his first win on the last day here at the Global Chess League.

Right. And in this matchup, I think the PBG Alaskan Knights have to really work hard. Uh, but we will actually come and break down this match. Before that, let's go to Arohi for the piece swap.

2 teams desperate for a win, but for 2 very different reasons. Now they have the aim right in front of them for the final league match in this season. They've got to give in their all. Now for the color swap, let me please call upon the match official, Deputy Chief Arbiter, Mr. Vasant B.H. And now the coaches of the two teams for the Ganges Grandmasters, Adiwan Bhaskaran, and for the PBG Alaskan Knights, Abhijit Kunte. Maybe have the color swap. Thank you. Alaskan Knights play white. Important game, final game in the league stages. How's the team looking?

I think team is motivated to play the last round of the league.

We hope that we play for the 3rd and 4th match tomorrow, otherwise it's going to be the last game.

So everybody is eager to, you know, give their best for this last match.

You want to secure your place for the 3rd place spot, but you also want to stop them from playing in the finals. Any thoughts on that?

I think they are already in the finals, so they have a better point system, so They are already in the finals, so I hope that, you know, they will not give more importance to this match.

All right then, thoughts on that, Adiwan?

No, no, I think every match is important because we want to go to the finals on a good spirit, and team is taking every match seriously, and this match also they want to give their best. So I'm looking forward to how they will pull it off. Yeah.

Do you take less pressure today, or do you go in with the same intent?

No, I think it's like I, I just try to play I have zero emotions. Yeah, so that's what I'm trying. Like, when I want to give my best in tournaments, I go to that stage. So now I'm also trying to do the same.

Yeah. All right, all the best for the clash today.

Yeah, thank you.

Thanks. That is it from the color swap. PPG Alaskan Knights play white while the Ganji's Grandmasters play black.

And we just heard from Adiban in that interview there. He doesn't want to take this match lightly. He wants to go into the grand finale with good spirits. And with good spirits, they will need to face the PBG Alaskan Knights with Vishyanand on their icon board. A very nice piece swap moment there as we see the PBG Alaskan Knights make their way into the playing hall for the very last time.

Or maybe not. Yeah, if they manage to win this match with more than 11 points, then there is a chance for them to get to the 4th place and then hope that the Czech Mumba Masters do not win. And I mean, there are many permutations, combinations, but the end line is that the PBG Alaskan Knights have to win big.

Yeah, they have to win big. And, uh, in fact, if the PBG Alaskan Knights win with 6-0, uh, there potentially could be some interesting tiebreak scenarios that we'll have to get down to.

But if Ganji's Grandmasters manage to lose six-nil all their games, Harshit bhai, you tell me the dare I do it. Six-zero? Yes. I mean, if as you said, if it is six-nil victory for the PBG Alaskan Knights, start your journey towards the Grandmaster. Okay. Okay. Done. I I mean, if PBG Alaskan Knights win all their games, I will become a Grandmaster. In this lifetime, let's go. But it is unlikely, Harshit bhai. Just like my GM title. Why?

But it is possible. It is definitely possible. And let's go straight to Arohi as the players have made their way inside the playing hall.

The final day, the final moment before the grand stage tomorrow. It is now or never, and both these teams are hungry. Both these teams have. something to prove, and they're going to come on board and go absolutely maniac. Let's call upon the 2 teams, PBG, Alaskan Knights, and Ganges Grandmasters. And now it's time to introduce the players, starting from the PBG Alaska Knights. Five times world chess champion Vishwanathan Anand, Olympiad individual gold medalist Arjun Erigezi, youngest. 2700, Yagizkhan Erdogmus. Former Women's Rapid and Blitz Champion, Katarina Lagno. Olympiad Individual Gold Medalist, Nino Batsiyashvili. Youngest Grandmaster, Abhimanyu Mishra. And their coach, also the coach of the Olympiad Women's Gold-winning team, Abhijit Kunte. Let's move to the Ganges Grandmasters. 2 times Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi. Former World Rapid and Blitz champion Levon Aronian. 5 times Cuban champion Lenier Dominguez. Girls under 18 and under 20 world champion Polina Shuvalova. Girls under 16 and under-18 world champions, Tavrula Solakidou. 67th Grandmaster from India, Leon Luke Mandanka. And their coach, the Beast, Adiban Bhaskaran. Give it up for the knights and the Grandmasters as they get ready for their clash. It's time now for the handshakes. All the best to the 2 teams.

Thank you.

And the players take their seats. Vishwanathan Anand, Jan Nepomniachtchi playing on the Icon Board. We have Arjun Erigaisi playing on the Superstar Board against Levon Aronian. Yaz Khan, Erdogmush on the Superstar Board. And Lagnow versus Polina Shualova is the first match that starts. And with me to call out action for this exciting match, my very good friend Sagar Bhai.

Yes, Harshit Bhai, this is going to be a tremendous encounter. Especially because Polina Shualova is in great form. And look at that, we have like someone blocking the view because they've come with the banners here. They are so excited. And one team here is fighting for a spot in the finals. That's the team in the yellow, while the team in the green is fighting for a 3rd spot match tomorrow.

And it's a packed house inside the playing hall there, as we saw players roaring. For Vishwanathan Anand, you know, I have to say one thing. You know, even though the form has been a little shaky, there is obviously so much class that we can just see from the intuition that he has shown when making the moves in this tournament.

Oh, for sure, he has played some great games. It's the time pressure that has been tough to handle. Let's go to the other board between Nino Batsyashvili and Stavrula Solakidou. We have. Here the Nimzo Indian that has happened with B6 on the board. I think Stavrula is in such good form, Harshit bhai, that even though Nino has been a top-scoring player in this tournament, I have a feeling that Nino is a small favorite here.

Yeah, but I have to say something about— sorry, Stavrula is a small favorite here. Stavrula is actually taking this entire event very seriously. Just before coming to the playing hall, I saw Her with their team captain Adiban, perhaps making some strategy about their important clash here. And as Adiban said, I mean, even if the Ganges Grandmasters have perhaps qualified, they don't want to go into the finals by losing over this match against— why to lose the momentum?

Absolutely, let's keep going.

They need to keep the momentum going. As you see, complete focus by Arjun Eregesi as he Tries to finish his journey at the Global Chess League with a win. He takes on Levon Aronian.

Levon Aronian and Arjun Erigaisi have this rivalry going on for years now. I can't believe it's already been five years. They started this rivalry back in 2021, I think.

And it started where Levon Aronian used to be a big favorite playing against Arjun Erigaisi. But look at how Arjun Erigaisi has grown in the last three or four years. Yes. established himself as one of the top players in the world, one of the top players, uh, in blitz and rapid as well.

He's now the higher-rated player between the two. And while Arjun and Levon play here on board number 2, let's go to Yazgan Erdogmus and Leinier Dominguez, who are playing an Italian.

And this is a match of— this is a clash of generations, right? Yazgan Erdogmus, uh, the youngest player to break into the 2700 club takes on Leniel Dominguez, who is a very, very experienced player from Cuba now representing the United States of America. And a very aggressive approach chosen there by Yas Khan and Dogmash.

We'll come back to that game, Harshit bhai, as we do not want to miss the starting moments of this epic encounter. Will we see Vishy Anand taking fort once again in this tournament, or will this be the last game today that we will see him in action. It will be super exciting. And we have 2 wonderful personalities in the crowd as well. Vishy's family is here. We have Aruna and Akhil both rooting for him. That's so nice to see there.

Absolutely. You know, I think it's going to be super nice for Vishy to have this family support. Uh, he's waiting, uh, uh, for kickoff in this game. Whilst this happens, taking a look at all the other boards and the openings. It's going to be curious for me to know, Sagar bhai, whether Vishy will play a very solid opening or try to play a bit more aggressive with the white pieces.

I think for Vishy it's important to play a game that is natural here so that his team keeps the chance to win this match. He goes for pawn to e4, and Nepo goes for the Sicilian. This is super exciting. Will Vishy play the Open Sicilian with d4 Or will he go for bishop b5? Please bishop b5, yes!

Rosolimo. I love this. I am personally a big fan of this opening with the white. You want to give away your bishop on b5 at some point and spoil black's pawn structure. The king definitely did not stop there on f1. White castles short. Black develops his knight to e7. And I think the idea of this move is to recapture back on c6 with the knight. Vishy playing the move pawn to c3, trying to Bolster the center with the move pawn to d4.

And the bishop comes back.

Bishop comes back to e2. By the way, I— as this game is developing very quickly, just look at what's happening on the board of Yaz Khan Erdogmush and Lenier Dominguez. A very interesting opening.

We will go to this game here as we have a nice fan comment. Aryaman D7i says, GCL made me fall in love with chess.

Wow! And I and Aryaman made me fall in love with his comment there. As you know, we are also enjoying the Global Chess League so much. This is the second last day. Tomorrow we have the grand finale. A lot is at stake here, and you can see the kind of aggressiveness Yas Khan has shown in the starting few few moves here. What's your thought about this opening?

Hmm. So the thing is, in this position, d3 is usually played by white, and which is a very calm way to continue. But Yas goes d4 thinking that his opponent might not be well prepared. But Lenier Dominguez says, well, I'm well prepared. And here, Harshit bhai, the main move as far as I know is pawn to f4, or maybe bishop g5 first. But even bishop e3, and this is already a very nice position for Black. Maybe Yaskhan Erdogmus has mixed up his moves, or maybe it's just brilliant opening preparation.

I think it is the latter. I think it is brilliant opening preparation by this young boy here. He— and look at this, Black plays the move pawn to d6, and already Yaskhan Erdogmus might have a small edge here if he pushes the pawn once again, which he does. Pawn to f5 on the board, just completely blockading the light-squared bishop of black.

And Harshit bhai, they used to say that chess is now filled with so much theory that we can't find new ideas. And here is the young boy who has found a new opening idea on the board. This will be very exciting to see as people will analyze this very well.

Absolutely. I have one question for you, Sagar bhai. Yes, will you pick up the pawn on e4? Knight takes e4, is that something that you will play here?

Let's ask our audience here. Let's ask everyone who's watching Do you take this pawn? Why is this a blunder? White to play. Harshit bhai with the question in the chat. Also, there are a lot of people watching in the fan zone. Also, people are watching behind us. Everyone is right now glued to their chess screen.

They are glued to the screen, glued to their seats if you are inside the playing hall here. And we have a lot of answers, all of them, uh, finding the best move, a lot of them guessing them in the As we have a big screen. Queen to d5. That's the trick. That's the trick Yas Khan is banking on, hitting the knight on e4 and a checkmate on the pawn on f7.

Very nice. So this is how this game could continue. Let's head over back to our icon board. We do not want to miss any action here. We've reached a position that looks roundabout even, Harshit bhai. Like, after— let's go back few moves. d5 takes. Knight takes. He pushed the pawn forward. Vishy takes, knight takes, and bishop came out. Pawn to c4, the knight went back, and this is the live board position. Anand having a roughly minute advantage on the clock.

And I think the next move is quite, quite important for white because he needs to make a decision whether he wants to allow black to be able to trade the knight on d4 or Or he wants to slide back with his knight to f3 and keep those 2 knights on the board. Generally, when you have a space advantage, you want to preserve your minor pieces, which is why knight to f3 could be Vishy's choice.

Right. When you have a bigger house, you want more people in the house. Otherwise, the home looks empty. And so white should right now try to keep a few of the pieces, maybe by the knight coming back, but विशी कुड़ आल्सो डेवलप द बिशप हियर, द बिशप कुड़ गो आउट अस वेल। आई थिंक इट्स अ गुड पोजीशन फॉर व्हाइट, एंड हीज़ टेकिंग हिज़ टाइम इन द ओपनिंग। दिस इज़ दिस इज़ गोइंग टू बी वेरी इंटरेस्टिंग गेम। हर्षित। इट्स सो इंटरेस्टिंग, बिकॉज़ लुक एट लुक एट द स्क्रीन इन own position.

I think this could be a good time to quickly do a roundup of all the boards, uh, that we have going on right now. We saw, uh, the game of Yaz Khan and Vishy. Do you want to go quickly to the game of Nino Batsyashvili and Stavrula, uh, first? And then we'll also go to the Prodigy board. And this is the bird's-eye view.

It seems like white is slightly better on all the boards and maybe significantly better in— on the 4th board That is from the bottom. If you look at the left board, which means that it's natural. Yeah, Harshit bhai, that when you start with the white pieces, you will have a small edge. The question is whether you can maintain that edge over the most.

Very well said. I don't think we should rely too much on the engine evaluation bars just yet because as the game develops, we see a lot more turnarounds as we've seen in the previous game. Right now, Arjun Irigesi does Seem to have a nice table advantage on board number two, and also there is a very interesting position that is brewing up on board number four between Katarina Lagnow and Polina Shualova.

Harshibhai, you are confusing me. Should we go to board five, four, six? Why? सब इतने इंट्रेक्स आते हैं भाई। Let's go one by one. Okay, भाई. Let's start with four. Let's start with four. Okay. Let's go. Katarina Lagnow against Polina Shualova, the two inform players here. We have the analysis board and the live board. You can clearly see that Katrina Lagnu is better because of the space advantage that white has. And I think a nice position to have with white when you are wanting to win the match.

Definitely. But I think what black is kind of banking on is at some point to be able to exchange the dark-squared bishops. You can kind of see that there are some strategic weaknesses in white's position. And those are the squares of B4, D4, C5, as you highlight there. And I think this is what Black's game plan is— somehow try to get control of the dark squares. What White wants to do is to somehow, you know, just stop Black from achieving that. Polina Shualova, she has been the star performer not just for the Ganges Grandmasters but for the entire Global Chess League, trying to win that important bike that's at stake if you win the Player of the Tournament award.

Yes, the Java bike which can travel with Polina Shualova if she does well in this one and the and the finals as well. She is on nineteen points. Okay, so nice position for Poli for Katrina right now. Let's head over to board number five. What is happening here? Stavrula Solakidou is just completely crushing it. I want to tell the viewers a small story of what happened yesterday.

Uh-huh.

Stavrula was playing, and I said to Katty, who was my co-commentator, that she's not going to play this move, and if she plays, I have to bow down to her whenever I meet her. And guess what? Stavrula made that move. And then in the evening, I went back to the hotel where she was eating her food, the dinner, on the dinner table. I went there, I bowed down to her, and she was like, you Did you actually not believe in me that I could find that move? And at that point, I realized that do not ever think that Stavrula cannot find a specific move.

A man of your word there, Sagar bhai, bowing down to the Greek goddess as she's trying, uh, to make sure that her team enters the grand finale with a nice morale here. Look at the focus and intensity of both the players. I love to see this.

Too good.

But you know, White has pushed the pawn, Harshit bhai. White has sacrificed the pawn, now pushed the pawn, and the bishop has opened up. These pieces are also well positioned, but the engine says this is slightly better for Black.

And I'm actually going to side, uh, with the engine here because, uh, even though it feels like White has this nice central pawns on d4 and e4, whenever you push the pawn from e4 to e5, you are going to weaken the d5 pawn. If white isn't able to get compensation immediately, black is ready to bring in the knight from b8 to d7.

Hmm, okay, so this is looking good for the Ganges Grandmasters. I feel clearly this board will score, which means they won't end up with 0 points, which means that they will go to the grand finals tomorrow.

Let's not, let's not call the action just yet. I mean, there's a lot of moves still to be made on this board. Let's go to the Prodigy board to see if the Ganges Grandmasters are doing well here.

Well, Abhimanyu Mishra takes on Leon Mendonça, and this is the live board position right now that we have. It was a French Defense today that Leon played, and Abhimanyu went for this line which is supposed to be very interesting. And went back to c1, all the way back.

I think I have seen the move bishop To D2 here. I think that's one of the main moves. But Abhimanyu Mishra showing why he's such a good theoretician.

You have to start working with these youngsters. They always have new ideas. Yeah, they're too good. They are all the time working. Like, like, the thing is, you go back to the hotel, they're playing blitz. In the morning, they might be preparing. In the afternoon, they're playing here.

The thing is, like, I would love to work with them, but I think they don't want to work with me.

Well, Harshit bhai, maybe someday, someday, one day, one day it may come true. Queen to g4 played, attacking the pawn here. The king sidestepped. Pawn to a3, and this is a pawn sacrifice, right?

I mean, white is baiting black into capturing the pawn on c3, but I think, uh, of course it makes sense that Leon played the move pawn to c5.

Leon was like, I don't want to take this because if I take, you simply develop, you bring your knight out. castle and I am just wasting time.

Yeah, pawn to c5, uh, just putting pressure towards the central pawns here. Knight to e2 before developing the white bishop to d3. I think at some point white wants to play the move pawn to f3 and kick that knight away from e4.

I like the position here of Abhimanyu Mishra. He's doing well with the white pieces. The PBG Alaskan Knights are actually looking pretty strong in this In this match apart from board number 5. Let's head over to board number 3. Yas Khan, Erdogmus. Like, this guy has been playing insanely well. If we look at his last 4 matches, he has won 3 and drawn 1.

And one of the draws came against his, uh, current coach Shakriyar Mamedyarov. Yas Khan is rising and rising very quickly, uh, right in the rankings and also improving His chess in doing so. Right now, in his current position, he slides the queen to g3, and just that one move, just a very small move there, is very dangerous. Hits the pawn on g7. At some point, if black castles, if you can just show that, that would be a huge mistake, guys. That would be a very big mistake because that's just like going into a lion's den.

Exactly. You're going to get slayed. Bishop takes h6. And queen takes g7 is going to be a checkmate here. So clearly Dominguez under huge pressure.

And talking about lions, do you want to go to the game of Levon Aronian as he takes on India number one Arjun Erigaisi? This game seems like Arjun Erigaisi is in complete control. I'm not just looking at the position, I'm also looking at the clock. The clock kind of tells us the same story. 16 minutes for Arjun Regasi, only 9 for Levon Aronian. The time ticks so quickly when you are playing game of chess.

Yeah, also when you play against Arjun, it's a bit intimidating when he's so well prepared. I think Levon is under pressure in some ways, Harshit bhai. The fact that the Alpine APL Pipers lost must have put the Ganges Grandmasters under some relief. Yeah, they're like, okay, now we can make it to the finals even if we lose this match. But you have to remember that losing a match means that the mood gets a little bit, you know, low. They should try and push.

There are some players who perform extremely well under pressure, and there are some people who perform extremely well when they are relaxed. It felt as if the Ganges Grandmasters loved the pressure and the intensity going into a match. Right now, as they've already qualified, the question is if they can keep the same intensity as the PBG Alaskan Knights seem to be taking them down in the live situation right now.

Early days, early days, but looking good for the PBG Alaskan Knights. I know that the Ganges Grandmasters turn around things super rapidly. They are so good. Actually, they are right now leading the tournament with 18 points. They have the higher match points as game points as well.

And, and the reason why we give Arjun an advantage right now is because of his dark-squared bishop on h6 and knight on f4. Both these pieces are crucial in putting some pressure towards the black king. If the white queen ever gets a chance to hit the g7 square, that's going to be trouble. For Levon Aronian.

Well, he has to try and wriggle the way out for the queen there, but Arjun doing well. Let's head over to our icon board where Vishy Anand and Ian Nepomniachtchi are playing. Wow, this seems like a position that can only have 2 results, Harshit bhai. Either white wins or it's a draw.

Yeah, and, uh, just for everyone who is not so sure, Vishy Anand is playing with the white pieces, so, uh, I think it's a good position for him. Where he can only play for two results. Can I?

Can I just go through the moves? Because you know, in this position we left off and almost all pieces got traded. Yeah. So takes, bishop takes, queen takes, bishop e three, and then take take, rook d eight. This is how the pieces got traded. The knights also got traded, and this is how we have reached here. Let's ask our viewers a small question, and also Harshit bhai, you can reveal the answer. What is that? Small edge that white has in this position. Why is white the one pressing a bit?

Well, that's a tricky question. That's a very tricky question. Not so sure what answer you're expecting there, but according to me, if I can reveal my thoughts, I think it's because the white pawns are nicely advanced towards the queenside. Exactly, exactly. Let's go by on the same page here.

GM for a reason. But it's true, right? There's only 1 pawn here and there are 2 pawns for white. So clearly you can create a passed pawn much more easily than these 4 pawns can create against 3.

Yeah, what black is nicely doing is bringing the king closer to the center. It's essential and vital for a player to bring their king closer to the center of the board when we reach the endgame and use it as a piece. Pawn to f3.

Oh no, actually, Vishy Anand just pushes his pawn here. I have a feeling, Harshit bhai, the most likely result of this game is a draw. But do you think that there could be a surprise result here?

I do think that, uh, white can get some chances in this endgame. That being said, with the black king already on d7, I think Jan Nepomniachtchi is going to be able to hold this game. My prediction of this match is that it's going to fizzle out at some point.

Think about this. Okay, let's imagine the scenario. You push your pawn, I come up, you push your other pawn, I trade the bishops, you take, I take, and then maybe this is a very nice position, right, for white? Or it didn't change anything?

It, it looks nice. It really looks nice for white as we have these pawns on c5 and b5, but the d5 square The square where we would love to put our king is already controlled by the black pawn on e6, and I think that's the reason why the position is still balanced.

Okay, so maybe we will see a splitting of the point. Can we get our 6-board view here so that we can tell our viewers what is exactly happening in this match? So we have board number 1 likely to end in a draw. Yeah, board number 2, Arjun pressing. So good news for PPG Alaskan Knights.

Big time, 10-minute pressing time advantage on the clock as well.

Okay, board number three, Yas Khan is pressing, right?

By the way, there is a big threat in that position. Queen takes e five is a big threat by Yas Khan in that position as the black queen on d eight.

So small, how are you even analyzing it?

By I somehow you know the the passion and the curiosity of to know the best move in the position kicks in whenever I look at the look at this.

Good eyesight is the secret of it. I can't see the board clearly. I can only see the bars. But true, I mean, let's go to that position in a bit. But board number four, white is better clearly.

Katharina Lagnow doing some some playing some fantastic chess for the PBG Alaskan Knights. I mean, Polina Shualova, as we mentioned, has been the star of this tournament. To take her down would be would be a big feat.

And and we see board number six also slightly better for the PBG Alaskan Knights. No board. Oh yes.

Board 6 is better.

Yes, but board 5 is the only one where the Ganges Grandmasters are better. So can we say that the PBG Alaskan Knights might pull off a huge upset today?

It seems as, it seems as if that's going to be the story, uh, but for that to happen, Stavrula needs to strike. She's the only, uh, player in the entire 6 boards right now that has an advantage for the Ganges Grandmasters. And of course, we are going to keep a close eye on that game. Let's quickly go to the game of Yazgan Erdogmush and Leinier Dominguez. I mean, it was a very aggressive opening chosen by the youngster. The question is if he's going to be able to follow it up with more aggressive ideas. By the way, the last move of black, queen to c7, very important. If he did not play this move, imagine if black just played a move like, I don't know, pawn to a6. Just to highlight it, white can now sacrifice the queen on e5. Boom! What a move! Taking down, uh, the pawn there. And if you take back, rook takes d8 would be a nasty, nasty way to end the game. And that's the reason why Leinier Dominguez moved his queen to c7. Very, very logical, uh, moves played by both players so far.

You know, Harshit, I do find the pawn on d6 to be a weakness. So, what if I simply move my rook one step ahead and bring the other rook? That seems like a very logical way to play.

I agree with you. I think knight, you know, the white pieces right now have this only weakness to target, which is the pawn on d6. The black king on f8 as well looks a little weak, but I don't see a way for white to take advantage of that. The black knights on e7 and f6 are nicely controlling the squares Around the black king. And with, with this, with these knights, I don't know if, uh, the black king is in danger.

You know, Harshit, for me— Rook b2, rook b2, let's go! One thing is very clear, that for the investment of one pawn, Yazkan Erdogmus has a great time here.

Yeah.

I think, uh, Lenier Dominguez has taken a pawn that is very heavy right now for himself.

He has taken the poisoned pawn. If we can say that, rook to d2. Leinier Dominguez does have a 3-minute advantage on the clock, which is definitely good news for him. But you have a position to take us to.

No, I was just saying, like, can we look at your queen sacrifice here as well? Like, in such a position, does something like this work?

Oh my God, look at this!

This is insane, because now all of a sudden we have a position that is so passive, and maybe our other rook Can also join in trapping your queen.

What a beautiful variation that you have shown here, and it's very easy to miss this.

Yeah, it's beautiful because at that point, look at this domination by all the pieces, and maybe Lenier is thinking about this himself and trying to figure out how to defend the pawn on d six.

Yeah, he's taking his time here. He's down to nine minutes twenty seconds as Yas Khan leans forward. He seems to be very excited. Excited. He is one of the players who is very emotional and shows his expressions. Right.

Can we quickly head over to the icon board? Because Yan Nepomniachtchi wants a draw, I believe. He's like, if I get a draw, I book a spot in the finals for my team. But Vishy Anand is pressing, like continuing to play. Pawn to e5 played here. And now, do you take on e5? Do you wait? It's the question.

I think White might wait. I think White might wait for Black to capture the pawn on f4. But with the move pawn to e5, Black has another idea, which is to bring the king to e6 and then to d5.

Oh my God!

And with that maneuver, you put a lot of pressure on the pawn on c5, which is why I expect the move bishop to c4 here by Max.

Oh! Vishy goes h4?

By the way, Vishy plays h4, keeps control of the position. But look at Nino Batsashvili, she's completely losing.

Let's go to board number 5. This is going to be game over. Stavrula Solakidou, someone stop the Greek goddess in this tournament!

She is on fire, she is on absolute fire here. She plays the move knight to b2. Nino here attacking Stavrula's queen. Queen to a1 check.

Let's just give a check. No, this is hanging, and Harshit Bhai has spotted the refutation. Just Give a check and finish off the game.

Black is up two pawns in the current position right now. If you trade queens as white, you you almost lose all hope of defending this position. Stavrula Solakidou has been the star of the Ganges Grandmasters in the second half of this tournament, and I think she's keeping up with that.

You know, sometimes a good global chess league really pushes your chess career. I remember the first edition. Was amazing for Pragnananda, and he went on to cross 2700, eventually also making it to the Candidates. And then, you know, his career has been on an upward swing. And this may be something that could happen with Stavrula. She's not even a GM yet, but very likely that after such a performance, she'll be thinking, hmm, I kind of believe in myself, I can reach the top 5 in the world of chess.

And I actually became a fan of hers Yesterday. Well, I was before that, but even more so, yes, after yesterday, because everyone remembers the moment of Magnus giving the award to Vidit. But Stavrula also said, uh, in the post-conference that she wants to give the award to her coach, which is Adiban Baskaran. And that was a very nice gesture by Stavrula there.

You know, there's a reason why the Ganges Grandmasters are a dangerous team. If we can bring up our 6 boards Somehow you can see them pulling back. अगर वो हर्षित भाई, if you have ever seen the tug of war that happens in this tug of war between the two teams, the Ganges Grandmasters gave up a lot of space at the start, but slowly they are pulling back. Look at board number two, Levon Aronian back. Board number three, Lenny Dominguez looks okay. He sacrificed a piece.

He gives up some piece for some activity. I love that decision.

What the hell? We will go there. Board number 4, Katrina Lagnu is still better for the PBG Alaskan Knights, but Stavrula is now winning. On board number 6, Abhimanyu Mishra still pushing. This match can go in any direction, Harshid bhai.

And Stavrula is making sure that she never, uh, gets— lets the grip away of her position. Right now she's currently up 2 pawns on board number 6. However, Abhimanyu Mishra does seem to Have a small advantage there, but Ganji's grandmasters are so good at turning around the tables in their favor.

Should we go to the Yas Khan Air Dogmas board? There we go. Look at this move. Maybe a contender for our AMD move of the match. Bishop f5 came from the blue. Harshit Bhai, I didn't even— a bolt from the blue. I didn't even see it happening. What happens if I take? e takes f5. Do you take on f5 with the knight, or do you push your pawn?

I mean, I don't know. Oh, by the way, we do have a result already.

Oh, let's go to the icon board. Vishy Anand and Nepo have drawn, which is good news for both the players. I believe they were both okay with a draw, and you can see them in good spirits, both of them analyzing together.

Yeah, uh, I think for Jan playing with the black pieces, a draw is definitely something he's going to be happy with. And for Vishy, Who was not doing so well in this tournament ends ends with a with a solid draw here. By the way, we were talking about the game of Yas Khan and Lenier Dominguez. We are going to that game, but before that, we have this very nice comment by username XD that he came all the way from Hyderabad to witness the grand finals, and he's going to stay here until tomorrow. Live tomorrow.

Let's go! Wow! That's amazing. And I, you know, Harshit bhai, yesterday I was walking through the fan zone and I met someone who has come all the way from Costa Rica. No way! Yeah, and I said like, uh, you are here? Oh, by the way, what happened there? Katrina Lagnu has just won her game or what?

What happened? Oh no, a draw by repetition. Repetition.

But why? Katrina seemed like someone who would score the point for the PBG Alaskan Knights. And look at this, Harshit bhai. In this position, white is better. Bishop e5, she went bishop h6. White is still better, attacks, and they repeated. I can't believe that Katrina Lagnaud did not try in this position. That's very surprising.

And that's the intimidation that you get when you're playing against Polina Shualova, right? I mean, she has been the star of the tournament, like uses her, uh, you know, results to save her in that match too. Scare Katerina Lagnu of that advantage. So we have two results so far, two-two between the PBG Alaskan Knights and Kanji's Grandmasters. But this board is really heating up as Yaz Khan Erdogan is a piece up, but Lenier Dominguez has three pawns for it.

I love how Lenier makes his moves, you know, like calmly he makes this. And you know, Lenier didn't have a particularly great start to this tournament, but you know that the team is doing well when you are beating Shakriyar Mamedyarov. He did it in the previous round. Lenier is feeling that energy within him.

By the way, for everyone who just tuned in, yesterday the Ganges Grandmasters defeated the Czech Mumba Masters with a score of 16-1. 16-1? 16-1. Wow, crazy!

That's just unbelievable. They were not even able to win a single game, the Czech Mumba Masters, and today the Ganges Grandmasters haven't lost a single game. It is 2 draws And Lenier Dominguez is now equal at least.

And how do you think it is to be Lenier Dominguez in this situation? Well, he's completely focused. But look at Yas Khan there. He's kind of talking to himself. He's showing a lot of expressions there. He's unhappy that he's missed this idea of black pushing the pawn to d5.

And Harshit bhai, he is on move number 18. We are here. He has to make 22 moves and he has only 2 minutes. If we break down, it's 120 seconds divided by 22. That comes to roughly 6 seconds per move.

Yeah, and I mean, it's clear that he's very visibly upset by himself. Pawn to a5 is a strange move there.

Any strange move, he's getting nervous there. Yaskan Erdogmus there, he's going to be now in trouble if Leinier Dominguez pushes his pawn one step forward with d4.

I mean, he for sure will push the pawn to d4 as white is threatening to capture the pawn on b6 with the black रुक बीइंग अनडिफेंडेड ऑन एट पॉन्ट टू डी फोर फॉरशुर द मूव ऑन लेनियर्स माइंड राइट आई आई थिंक वी शुड कीप एन आई ऑन दिस गेम व्हाटेवर इज हैप्पेनिंग देर बट देस वन गेम दैट इज लुकिंग गुड फॉर द टीम ऑफ पीबीजी अलास्कन नाइट्स एंड दैट इज द सिक्स्थ बोर्ड द प्रोडिजी बोर्ड He would be so happy.

And do you remember what happened when these two guys played against each other the last time? Oh, the crazy game of this, uh, pawn promotion. I mean, promoting this and then the piece falling, the arbiter coming. Again, they are against each other.

And I'm sure Abhimanyu Mishra has that in his back of his mind and is like, hey, Leon, you got me the last time, but this time I'm not going to let you go anywhere. Has a 2-minute advantage on the clock. That's going to be very important.

And also a good position there. We have one more game which is actually very important. The second board clash between Arjun Erigaisi and Levon Aronian. And Levon, has he just pinned Arjun's bishop? What has he done?

Levon has been so slippery in this entire tournament. Very difficult to catch him and keep him under control. He did that against Anish Giri before. He's doing it against— against— he's doing that again against Arjun here. It feels like Levon is making a big comeback.

Yeah, Levon should be able to hold this game to a draw. I think, Harshit bhai, it seems very even right now. So the most exciting game is Yaz Khan Erdogmus versus Levon— uh, Leinier Dominguez. Let's go to that one. Leinier has 5 minutes and 1 minute 22 seconds for Yaz Khan.

He takes the pawn on c4 with Queen. The material right now is white is down three pawns.

No, two pawns. Two pawns. Just two pawns. But the coordination is not that great, and Yaz is very good under time pressure. Arshid by the knight is jumping here. The rook is entering here.

The other rook is active.

This will be like the typical you know bullet chess action that we want to see. But Lenier has five minutes.

Yeah, so it's a bit unfair in terms of the bullet match with Lenny having 4 extra minutes. He looks to be in a good shape to potentially even win this game for the Ganges Grandmasters. I like the move pawn to e4 here. I mean, you are up a pawn, why don't you push it? Just push the pawn to e4, open up your queen's, uh, visibility towards the white h2 pawn.

Or Harshit Bhai, you can walk your king over to the side, connect the 2 rooks. That's also a possibility. A lot of pressure here on Yazgan Erdogmus, but also Leinier Dominguez must be feeling that heat. I remember that Yazgan Erdogmus often under time pressure starts playing even better.

He plays even better, but it's, it's not so easy to play against him because look at how expressive he is. You know, generally you are looking at the board, but then, uh, you know, in, uh, at some point you are going to look at your opponent and he's so expressive. Hard to say whether Yas Khan is nervous or excited.

I think in general it's a mix of everything. When he's losing, he gets nervous. When he's winning, he gets excited. He sees so many variations in his mind. He's like that genius mind, you know, where all the ideas are just going boom boom boom boom boom.

Three minutes fifty-five seconds for Lanier hasn't made his move.

But don't go in this bullet stuff. Yeah, then Yash becomes a small favorite, I think.

Score is tied 2-2, 4 remaining games, all of them coming down to the wire here. Less than 5 minutes for both the players. Leinier Dominguez recognized that he hasn't made his move yet and he has to keep the time advantage.

Come on, let's go! You need to make the move. You can already feel Feel the uneasiness in Lanier's body language. He's also not able to spot the move that gives him an advantage.

You can sense the tension inside the playing hall right now.

Three minutes for Lanier now. He's almost coming close to Yaz's time. And Naz is moving back and forth, back and forth. Just to give you an update, Arjun versus Levon is equal. Stavrula is still winning against Nino Batsyashvili, and we have Leon Mendonça who is in trouble against Abhimanyu Mishra. So who is winning this match, Harshit bhai? Can we get the 6-board view very quickly?

Let's get it.

And then just to Analyze. So imagine if we can get the six boards. Levon ends in a draw. That would be three draws, right? Then board number four, maybe Lenier wins. That would be four extra points for the Ganges.

And Nino Batsyashvili is also going down, which means Ganges Grandmaster. Gurula is winning. Might win this match as well.

Yes, but Abhimanyu is winning. So it all depends on the Yaz Khan and Lenier game. If Yazgan wins, then actually the PBG Alaskan Knights can win.

But don't forget that a win with the black pieces gives you 4 points, which means that if we have 1 win each and 4 draws, that's going to, uh, win the match for the Ganges Grandmasters.

And Harshit bhai, let's get back to board number 3. Lenier Dominguez hasn't made a move. He plays e4. You're right, let's go. Takes 5 minutes. To make a move like that. That's too much. 4 minutes.

Knight b5 played. Knight to b5. Queen comes to e7. Small hesitation showed by Leinier there. Well, he can afford to give up his pawn on c6. He's currently up 2 pawns. I think Leinier Dominguez is in control here. He's going to slide his king over to g8 at some point and find safety on h7, as you highlighted there. Down to 1 minute there, Yas Khan.

Oh, and there we see अभी मन्यू मिश्रा doing it in style on the right side of the board. He is winning. On the left side, we have लेनियर and यास्कान, and the move that is made is knight d6. He doesn't want the pawn back. And pawn to e3. Pawn to e3.

Will he push the pawn to e2 as well now?

Let's go. 46 seconds left for यास्कान, and he has to make 15 more moves. This is actually physically difficult for यास्कान. Physically tough. Physically tough. He has to checkmate. Let's go full screen on Yas Kaner Dogmas and Lenier Dominguez. One minute twenty seconds left for Lenier.

This is such a close match, not just on the board but on the clock as well. One minute fifteen seconds for Lenier Dominguez here. He needs to pick up his pace as well.

Play, play, play! But you know what, Harshit bhai? If you play rook d eight, suddenly boom bam knight f seven is winning because the rook will enter from here, man.

That is an insane move.

अभी मन्यू मिश्रा has just won, giving the PBG Alaskan Knights their first win. Score becomes five-two in their favor. But look! Wow! This is crazy. He goes Queen e six. Yaz is winning.

Yaz is winning, but he has forty-one seconds on the board. He needs to capture the pawn on c six. He can lose just by getting flagged here. Thirty-three seconds.

Players play thirty-two thirty. You have to make. 15, 14 moves.

He cannot make a decision here as Tavrula Solakidou gives the Ganges Grandmaster 4 points. He finds the best move, has 28 seconds to make 14 moves.

This is insane drama here. This is becoming almost like impossible to make those moves. They're going— who's going to lose on time? Linear play.

Make your move. He cannot. He just needs to move the king to g8, but he cannot just— yes, he does it. Finally, he does it. Twenty-five seconds on the clock. Queen back to f.

But you don't need perfect chess anymore, Arshid bhai.

He's going to lose on time. Just move.

Knight f five. Yas suddenly.

And Yas becomes much stronger in this time control. Rook comes into d seven, and Yas now has a winning position.

And by the way, the score is actually six seven. So this is the final game that is left. No, no, no.

Not not found.

And fourteen seconds to Lenny. Thirteen, fifteen for Yas. Right now anything can happen. This is oh he's going down on time. Ten, nine. Yas is going down. Rock, rock.

Where does it go? Goes to D one. Knight to D four. He takes it. Rook takes.

Lenny is going to win on time. Or they may reach move forty. Harshit Pai. I can't believe if they make it to move forty.

Rook to E seven. A big move.

King to E eight. Oh the queen falls. What's the queen falls? He loses on time. Play, play, play. Oh he doesn't. And Yas Khaner Dogmas wins the game and gives his team the victory in the match. 9-7. Wow, wow, wow!

That was actually the last game.

Yes, it was the last game because everything else had ended. And look at Abhimanyu there, he's smiling. Vishy's smiling. Abhijeet is smiling. The PBG Alaskan Knights have beaten the potential champions. Oh my God, they have beaten the leaders of the tournament, which means today both the Teams on 18 points. Alpine APL Pipers and Ganji's Grandmasters have lost.

Yeah, and you could see Leon there visibly upset with his performance there, but the match has been decided. The PBG Alaskan Knights win against the Ganji's Grandmasters with a close score.

A close score of well nine seven, I think the score was. Yeah, it's just nine seven is the score, and Harshit by the last pull. Position where Lenier's pieces flew off from the board. That was insane. Was an equal position. Can you believe it?

Yeah, you know we were talking about flagging Yaz Khan. Erdogmus was down 30 seconds when they started this bullet brawl, and even down 30 seconds was he able to defeat Lenier Dominguez on the clock. And look at him; he's kind of showing like I just played quickly. I played this. I played that, and I was able to win my game. Very confident looking boy. Yeah, very.

Happy at the end, end of the day. They are just youngsters there. Let's head over to the playing venue where we have Arohi to announce the results.

The game between the PBG Alaskan Knights and the Ganges Grandmasters ends with a win for the PBG Alaskan Knights with a score of nine is to seven. Joining me is the chief arbiter, Mr. Gerd Bayer, and. The coaches of the two teams for signing the result. Adiban Bhaskaran for the Ganges Grandmasters, Abhijit Kunte for PBG Alaskan Knights. That is it from the main stage for this one. We'll be back with the next. As of now, back to casters.

These results only prove, Arshid bhai, that actually all teams are very even.

Yeah, and you know, the craziest thing is that even after this win, the PUBG Alaskan Knights almost made it to play for the third spot. Spot match, but they are one game point behind the Triveni Continental Kings, who will potentially play. Well, not potentially.

Not yet. Not yet, because the Czech Mumba Masters can go for that spot right now. We are seeing the highlights. The PBG Alaskan Knights have not made it to the third and fourth spot, but they ended with the win against the top. Rated team here, the team that was doing the best, and that happened, Harshit bhai, because of the two youngsters who scored: Yas Khan Erdogmus and Abhimanyu Mishra.

Yeah, two big wins there for the PBGI Laskan Knights, and they end their journey of the round robin matches with a win, a big win. The board of Vishy Anand and Jan Nepomniachtchi, the icon board, was. solid draw. I think neither sides had big chances there. That game ended in a draw. As you can see, repetition being played on the board, uh, both players locking eyes there, locking their hands as a draw has been agreed.

As soon as that draw was made, the Ganges Grandmasters sealed their spot into the finals with 7 points that they scored here. They have 95 game points. And they are the first team to enter the finals of the Global Chess League 2026.

But this was definitely the match of match of this round. The game between Yaz Khan and Lenya Dominguez down to the last few seconds. They were just making the moves on intuition, on instinct there.

And you could see pieces fell off, and that was the 39th move, Harshit Pai. He could have very well made it to move. 40 with two-second increment, and we never know what would have happened next. And look at Vishy Anand! What a nice day for him because not only did he draw his game, his team won, and his family is here to watch that happen.

Must be such a nice moment for him today.

Go for a nice dinner with your family. That's the perfect life you're looking for, and potentially might come back tomorrow. Tomorrow impossible, Harshita. P B G last.

Yeah, definitely.

This is the last time that we will see Vishy Anand in the field of play, and you can see him happy there. He has a big role to play now as the FIDE interim president, as he will head over to Samarkand for the FIDE elections as well as the Chess Olympiad. Lot of work to do. I mean, come on, guys, I can't even do one work well. Here is a guy playing on the icon board, is the FIDE interim president, training some youngsters.

I mean, well, talking about what, what's coming up next, we have a huge match, uh, the 3rd match of the day that's going to come up. Before we go talk about that match, let's just look at the match summary. From this match, we had 3 results and 3 draws, and the 3 results came from Yaz Khan on board number 3 for the PBG Alaskan Knights. For the Ganges Grandmasters, it was Tavrula winning with the black pieces, and Abhimanyu Mishra making sure that the team PBG Alaskan Knights win with a victory on the Prodigy Board.

Right, and Stavrula Solakidou maintains her good form. 9-7 victory to the PBG Alaskan Knights. And we would love to look at the standings at some point because therein lies so many things that need to happen. We are still not clear who's the second team to reach the finals. We are still not clear who are the teams for the third and fourth place match. Everything will be decided in under an hour from now.

And I— you can see here right now, the teams highlighted in blue, it is the Ganges Grandmasters and Alpine APL Pipers who are currently making it to the grand finale. But there is a match remaining. It's going to be between the Fires American Gambits on position number 3 against the Czech Momo Masters, who are currently on the bottom of the leaderboard. If the Fires American Gambits win, they are going to make it to the grand finale. The Alpine APL Pipers have Their fingers crossed.

You know they have to win. Okay, you can't win with less than eight points. Exactly. Nine points is the minimum.

All they need to do is win. Win. Win their match. Just win.

That's it. Any score and you will be in the grand finals. The fires American Gambits can beat the Czech Mumba Masters. But today, Harshit Bhai, all the favorites are losing.

The favorites are losing. And for the Czech Mumba Masters, I mean if they win this game, they have chances to play. For third place match.

No, they will for sure go into the third place match with fifteen points. So if they win, it will be their match again against Fires American Gambits tomorrow.

Man, we were talking about a script at the beginning of beginning of the day how the Fires American Gambits have a narrow path, but the path was not closed. The Fires American Gambits need to win against the Czech Muma Masters to play the grand finale.

Right. By the way, Yogi two five four three in the chat says, "I feel like I." APL energy is being channeled into chess with GCL. Infectious, infectious energy all throughout. Fires American Gambits versus the Czech Mumba Masters. This is going to be the most epic clash ever because the Alpine APL Pipers are going to sit in the dugouts Of the Czech Mumba Masters, and we'll root for them. We'll be like, come on! Magnus will be like, MVL, what do you need?

All the preparation चाहिए. Peter Hein and Nilsson at your service, please.

पूरा Alpine APL Pipers will be rooting for them. You in the chat, please let us know which team are you rooting for—the Fires American Gambits to reach the finals, or the Alpine APL Pipers? One team has Sindarov on their top board. One team has Magnus Carlsen on their top board, पर यान नेपोम निशी बोल रहा है। मैं तो आ गया हूँ। अपुन तो पहुँच गया है ऊपर। आज relax। And this was not expected, right?

Beginning of the season, we did not expect the Ganges Grandmasters to be in the finals so comfortably, but they have played super chess.

By the way, in the chat, I do see little more Alpine than the fires American Gambits. But we will go there and see all the action. Harshit bhai, it's time to find out who is our player of the match.

Hello and welcome to the post-match presentation ceremony. Now the last day of the league stage, it is not turning out to be anything that we expected. Like, well, but that is the beauty of this tournament. The, the leaderboard is yet open, the top 2 spots are yet open, number 3, number 4 yet open. And we are going to move on to the last tournament game. But before that, let's give it up for the winners of match number 2 on the last day, the PBG Alaska Knights! A huge congratulations to the team. What a game today. Love that smile on you. Vishy sir. The team's come together finally. Y'all are known as the comeback knights, and today the youngsters for the team have done it.

Yes, I mean, both their wins, it looked very chaotic at one point, but somehow they always pull it off, and that was great.

Tell us about how was it having such youngsters in the team. We did speak about it at the opening ceremony, but now that you've spent so many days, what you said you wanted to learn from them, yeah, what have you learned from them?

I think mostly just their spirit. I mean, they bring so much energy to it. And also they, they have an insane style. So that takes some processing. But both of them like to live on the edge. And I'll probably need some time to understand what they're doing.

Yeah, because we saw that game today. Y'all do live on the edge. You were down on time. Lenny Ayer had a lot of Somehow he came down with you, and then in that rapid chess that you played in the end, you had the upper hand.

Uh, I think I got a very pleasant position out of the opening, uh, but then I played Rook fd1, which was, uh, I think wrong. I mean, I, uh, I would have played Rook ad1 because I allowed Bishop f5. Then I think he had an okay position, but, uh, still it was a little bit tricky. And, uh, and okay, I find some tricky line and somehow I tricked him because time was also, you know, so low. And yeah, I'm very happy that I won and team also won.

Any point of time in the game where you're confident now the game is going to go your way?

Okay, I mean, this time scramble, I thought I should beat him because, you know, I have like much more practice than him and, you know, I also like playing fast chess and So I thought like last moments, I thought I should be much favorite.

Well, you did put on a spectacular show for everybody in the audience and they loved the kind of play that was on that board. Congratulations.

It was good content for the watchers.

Definitely good content. Now this is also going to be good content for social media. All right then, let's move on to the player of the match, which is to be given out by Mr. Avadh Shah. India Country Director, Chess.com. And the Player of the Match award goes to Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu, congratulations finishing this league stage on a high. Firstly, let's talk about your game.

Tell us more about it. I believe whatever happened the last 10 seconds of the match is karma from what happened the first match versus the kind. So yeah, it was really nice to see justice being served. My game was quite interesting. He opted for the French Defense, which I'd checked a little bit. I decided to vary from my main repertoire and play Bishop g5, and soon we both reached a position which we both had no idea, which was very fun because usually this kind of thing doesn't happen so early in the game.

Yeah.

But I think, uh, like when you played h5, I was a bit surprised. I thought like Queen a5 or something else could be played, like Queen a5, f3, Knight c3, Bishop d2, cd4, and I thought like White is maybe slightly better, but okay, it's nothing much. But in the game, he allowed my knight to d6, and after that, I felt like I had a very nice position. And at the same time, black is quite solid, but black has the pawn. But this knight on d6 is— it reminds me of this Karpov-Kasparov game, this octopus knight on d3. So I mean, I, I was quite, quite happy with my position, quite optimistic about my chances, and he soon came on time pressure and collapsed.

Well, how special is beating the table toppers, the Ganges Grandmasters?

Yeah, the fact that they're table toppers is, is an added bonus, but, uh, I really wanted to win after what happened last time. They, they got away very, very luckily.

But you all pulled it back again. Yeah, well, congratulations, uh, for today's game, and what a spectacular win. Give it up for the PBG Alaskan Knights! That is it from the post-match presentation ceremony. We'll head back to the comms.

A scintillating victory by the PBG Alaskan Knights, taking down the mighty Ganges Grandmasters 9-7. What a match, Sagar! Listening to Harshita, I knew I was on the edge of my seat watching the final few moments.

Our heart was in our mouth because of the Yas Khan air dogmas and linear doming is But it was so nice to see Vishy in the fan zone, Tanya. It was beautiful.

Only at Global Chess League, the fan zone's buzzing, inside the arena's buzzing. We are hyped for what's coming up next right now. Sagar, I sure hope we've got our popcorn ready, our— everyone watching is ready.

Sorry, I have not popcorn but hot chocolate ready. Look at this, guys, amazing hot chocolate by Roastery.

Coffee House. Great chess meets great coffee here at the Global Chess League, Sagar. We've been refueling ourselves with all those cups right now, and keep them coming because the action continues. BBG Alaskan Knights currently— it was their last showing, but what a last showing they had. Leave with a big statement win.

True. And that means that we are not yet sure on who will be the second team to reach the finals. We do know that the Ganges Grandmasters have made it to the finals for the first time in the history of Global Chess League.

It is going to be the franchisee Ganges Grandmasters, one foot in getting to that championship, to that Global Chess League crown. They are through. They're waiting for their challengers. And Sagar, it's between 2 teams. It's either going to be Magnus Carlsen and company with the Alpine Vipers, or it's going to be Javokir Sindarov and company with the Five American Gambits.

But you know what, Tanya? Javokir Sindarov knows that he has the future of his team in his own hands. So he's like, "Why me? To अपने टीम को जिता के रहूँगा।" That's what he would love. But before we go into that match, we have to look at the AMD move of the match. Let's have a look at that. So in this position. Very interestingly, although Lenier Dominguez lost the match and we were analyzing that the d6 pawn is weak, Tanya, and everything, the rook is coming, there was a lot of pressure. Shockingly, at least we didn't see it coming, Lenier Dominguez sacrificed his bishop on f5. That was beautiful move. And after takes, knight takes, he actually got an Amazing position over here with D5 and D4 coming. It's a pity that he went on to lose this game. Otherwise, this would have been a very memorable sacrifice for him. But we still give it the AMD move of the match.

There you have it. And what a time scramble this matchup ended in. Absolute nail-biter of a finish right there. And a fantastic player of the match ceremony. Saw some hot takes by Abhimanyu Mishra.

Right, it is very, very interesting that he said something like justice is served and karma being done and all of it. I mean, these youngsters are so competitive. By the way, Tanya, the next match is going to be super competitive. We see so many people, so many fans have arrived here with Vishy still being in the venue.

No one's going to let him go, Sagar. We are going to be having him around He's been the ambassador for the Global Chess League from the very start, from season 1. And here he is as we say goodbye to the PBG Alaskan Knights, but action still remains. Signing the autographs. Who's going to sign off the end of the night as the 2nd challenger to fight for the crown? Will it be the Pipers? Will it be the FaZe American Gambits? We find out on the other side of this break. जब एक इंडियन के हाथ में पावर आता है, वो एक कामयाब लीग कैप्टन बन जाता है। सोचो जब हर इंडियन के हाथ में पावर आएगा, इंडिया और कितना कामयाब हो जाएगा। इसलिए योनो देता है हर इंडियन के हाथ में पावर। The all new योनो power to every Indian.

Come on guys hurry up.

अरे सुनना एक ब्रेक ले लेते हैं। Guys, I'm telling you. तुमलोगों सही से trekking नहीं आता। But that's okay.

You can learn.

रोज़ का ढक्कन देना। हम्म। रो ये red वाला है। सही वाला देना। रो ढक्कन। पहले तो सही पानी पीना। हम्म। Manikchand Oxygen proudly Indian। कुछ लोग इतनी तेज़ी से बढ़ते हैं कि पता ही नहीं चलता। जैसे कि APL Polo Steel Pipes। Airport से लेकर आपके घर कुछ ऐसे ही स्टील की ताकत को एपीएल पोलो बनाता है, देश की बढ़ती ताकत। एपीएल पोलो, देश की बढ़ती ताकत। Chief guests have arrived. Salute!

Salute करो, salute करो। सल्यूट हटाओ, ये पीलाओ। लॉन्ग नॉनस्टिकी फुल ऑफ़ वेजीज़। फॉर्मेलिटी हटाओ, ये पी खाओ। आपके क्रेडिट कार्ड की ड्यूडेट मैं सोच चुकी है, जिसकी वजह से पेनल्टी चार्जेस की सीटी बजने वाली है और क्रेडिट स्कोर के गिरने की वजह से आपके होश होश होश उड़ने वाली है यानि कि आपके हालात बिगड़ने की संभावना है क्रेडिट पेमेंट्स की चिंता हमेशा सर पे आओ चेक पे सारे क्रेडिट कार्ड्स बिल एक क्लिक में पे करो और वन परसेंट वापस पाओ रिडीम करो फॉर वाउचर्स या स At 50 orders a day, ₹5 becomes ₹60,000 annually. With Fyers Prime, every order costs you ₹15. Lower cost and unlimited platform access. So get Fyers Prime at just ₹499 a month today. Investment in securities markets are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing.

पर हम भी जिद्दी हैं। तीस से ज़्यादा क्वालिटी चेक्स, विटामिन ए और विटामिन डी से युक्त और खाना भी बने स्वादिष्ट। खाने में समझौता नहीं, अच्छा खाना शुरुआत से ही इंडिपेंडेंस। जब 11 इंडियन के हाथ में पावर आता है, इंडिया क्रिकेट के मैदान में वर्ल्ड चैम्पियन बन जाता है। सोचो, जब हर इंडियन के हाथ में पावर आएगा, इंडिया और कितने मैदानों में वर्ल्ड चैम्पियन बन जाएगा?

इसलिए योनो देता है, हर इं Hello and welcome to the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League Season 4. The last day, the last game. It all comes down to this.

Who would have thought?

Well, these 2 teams are playing here for the top spot, for the number 3 spot. And everything is open. The fates of the other teams depend on the result of this game. All eyes will be on this one. Now for the color exchange, let me first call upon Mr. Alan Atkinson, who is the Deputy Chief Arbiter, joining us. And our coaches of the 2 teams, uh, for the Czech Mumba Masters, we have सूर्य शेखर गांगुली एंड फायर्स अमेरिकन गैंबिट्स श्रीनाथ नारायणन। लेट्स हैव द कलर स्वॉप। प्ले विद द व्हाइट फाइनली इट हैज कम डाउन टू द लास्ट गेम। यू कैन play the 3rd position game, but you're gonna have to go all out and give in your all this time.

Well, I don't think we have to go all out. But yeah, we are playing for the 3rd, 4th position. But I don't think we are in a situation where we have to go absolutely all out.

So everything that could go right for them has so far. They can make it to the top 2. The only people stopping them are you. Any special plans for that?

I don't think I'm— we are thinking How to stop them, but it's more about us staying in top three four.

All right, all the best to the team. Thanks, Shreenath. It all comes down to this game. The team has done everything that it could in the last couple of games. Today, the first two results went your way, and now you yet have a chance to make it, and it's all in your hands. How's the team approaching this game?

Yeah, it almost felt like a lease of life. We were a bit dejected after the loss yesterday, but.

But suddenly the energies were super high after the first match today. We are going to be approaching it like any other match.

We look to play well. You don't have time to count the points or look at other votes.

So play well in each individual game and look at how things go. And hopefully both the teams achieve their aims.

Yesterday I met Javokheer and he was so determined to play that finals. He was mentioning it multiple times. The team shares his sentiment, yeah?

Absolutely.

जयोकिर है इसे द फेज़ वेर ही से बर्निंग विद एम्बिशन बर्निंग विद एनर्जी एंड दैट्स दैट्स जस्ट ग्रेट टू हैव इन द टीम। वेल ऑल द बेस्ट दिस इज़ वेर यू मेक इट। थैंक यू थैंक यू सो मच। दैट इज़ इट फ्रॉम द कलर स्वॉप द चेक मुंबई मास्टर्स विल बी प्लेइंग विद द व्ह Absolutely, Arohi.

The 2 teams will have to play their heart out. This is the final match of the league stage. And Sagar, the entire podium at the end of it will come down to what happens in this one. It will decide who are our 2 finalists. It will decide who will go on to fight for the 3rd place.

Right. And looking at these standings, the calculations that I've done in the last few minutes are nothing compared to what I've done in the last few years. I mean, I have done so many calculations now. At this point, but to simplify it, the Fyers American Gambits need to win with match points more than 8. So if they win with a score of 8-7, that will not be enough because they will tie with the Alpine APL Pipers. But because they have lost both their matches to Alpine APL Pipers, they will be out.

The first tiebreaker are the match points. keep your eye on the last row. The second tiebreaker is the game point. We see the Faiz American Gambits are at 80, and Sagar, that's why they need to surpass the Pipers at 88. Now, in case the match points and the game points are tied, at the end of it, the decider is the head-to-head. With Pipers having taken down the Gambits, 88 game points will not be enough. The first job for the Gambits in this next match against the Chakmumba Masters Is to win the match. They need to make sure that that is done. Yes. But to make it to the finals, it is essential to win it by a minimum score of nine points.

Nine match, nine game points is a must because then they get to eighty-nine game points and also on eighteen match points. Then they are through to the finals.

Now talk to me about the Czech Mumba Masters story because there is a third place fight to fight for.

Right. The Czech Mumba Masters need 7 points actually to make it to the top, uh, because they are on 12. So if they lose 8-7, still they will make it to the 3rd-4th place match because Triveni Continental Kings are on 81 game points and same match points. But Czech Mumba Masters have beaten Triveni Continental Kings before.

So fires American Gambits at the least fight for that 3rd place finish, but it is 1000% not the fight that Sinderov and company want Right now. So either the Fires American Gambits will lose out on a fight for championship, or the Triveni Continental Kings will be knocked down from that leaderboard and won't be fighting for that podium finish. This is unbelievable, Sagar. We've been saying it from the start of the day, a script you could not have written if you tried.

This is beautifully done, and, uh, you know, everything has come down to this game. If we have to simplify it I can say that if Tanya, the team of Fires American Gambits wins with more than nine points and more than eight points, more than eight, like nine points basically. And if the Czech Mumba Masters are able to score seven, then both are happy. Even if whoever, like even if they lose the Czech Mumba Masters. So at this point. If 9-7 is the score, then both have made it to the finals. Will be made by Fires American Gambits, and the Czech Mumba Masters will also reach to the third, fourth place. But the only team that will be super upset would be the Alpine APL Pipers. They really want the Czech Mumba Masters to win.

Magnus and company are rooting for the team right in front of us, led currently by. Harika Dronavali, who has been a big scoring machine for the Czech Mumbai Masters. She's been cashing in all the victories, Sagar, at 16 game points. The other big scorer everyone needs to watch out for is Shakriyar Mamedyarov. And we've got both the teams now in the building. Javokir Sindarov knows that the door has been opened with the Alpine Pipers losing to the Kings earlier today. This is this young man's big shot to make it To the finals in his first season where he plays as an icon.

Absolutely. And you can see Javok here looking a bit tense, trying to just, you know, release his pressure sitting in the buggy. Next to him is Mr. Cool, Daniel Dubo. You never see him under pressure. Daniel is like, yeah, what's the big deal? Yeah, I, I, yeah, it's like the finals, I'll make it, don't worry. If we don't make it, yeah, it's okay. He's just the coolest guy there, but I'm sure Bibisara would want to score the win here and play really well for her team. Also, Sara Khadem, well, she would want to score her first win in this, in this tournament.

I have never seen Jabba Kir Sinderov this stressed before a game. You know, when he was leaning back, and there he knows the fans are there. This is in some ways the local team for Bengaluru.

Yes.

It's always the crowd completely cheering for them. They have an anthem that plays every time, Sagar, to get them to lock in. And lock in is what they need to do because there's no tomorrow, only right now.

Yes, it's very important for the fires American Gambits to fire. It's only one person. Either Javokir Sindarov makes it to the finals or Magnus Carlsen. We can't have both of them facing off against each other. Because Nepo's team, Ganges Grandmasters, have already made it to the finals.

And I think one cannot overstate the incredible performance that the Ganges Grandmasters have shown here. Few put them as the absolute favorites to win at the start, and they are the ones who made it look so easy today, Sagar, cruising through on their path. For the Czech Mumba Masters, the path to the podium finish perhaps goes through these 2 players. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has been a big scorer on the icon board as well. 14 game points for his team. He's taken down Vishy Anand, he's taken down Alireza Firouzja, but he knows today he faces a man that scored 16 game points for his team. Shabakir Sindarov has defeated Anand, Alireza, Nepomniachtchi in Bengaluru. Sagar, this is the moment for Sindarov to lead From the front, to chase that spot right from the icon board.

I agree, Tanya. I think for these players like Sindarov, Dubov, Nihal, Vipisara, all of them would love to play for something that is at stake. You know, that is the dream of every top sports player. They want to achieve, you know, something where everyone's eyes is on them.

You know, yesterday when we had Bibisara and Nihal walk in together, they were all smiles, joking, talking, laughing. Right now we see none of that. They have a job at hand, an opportunity that has been given to them, all thanks to the Triveni Continental Kings showing early on. Let's lay the board down for everyone. Let's see what needs to happen, Sagar, on each of these 6 boards.

Right, so these are the pairings that we have. It's MVL versus Javokhir Sindarov on the top board. I would give this a very even rating. I don't think there's a favorite here for me. On board number 2, I do feel Nihal Sarin is a small favorite against Pranesh M, but we have seen Pranesh really bringing out surprises in this tournament, so can't write him off. Daniel Dubov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, very even once again. I think one could say Shaq is in slightly better form than Daniel. Harika versus Bibi Sara. Here I would say Harika is a small favourite because of her excellent performance in this tournament. And then we have Carissa Yip, who once again I would say is a small favourite against Sara Khadem because Sara hasn't won a single game. And finally on the Icon Board, I would put Marc-Andrea Morizzi as a small favourite. there. So, Tanya, 3 boards I would say are favorites for Fire's American Gambits, while on 3 boards the Czech Mumba Masters are doing well.

A very balanced fight it's going to be. Now, last time they had played against each other, it was the Czech Mumba Masters who took the win 11-6, taking down the Fire's American Gambits. If the Gambits want to fight for championship, they have to fire on all cylinders. One player who won their previous encounter was on that board too, on the Men's Superstar board. Nihal Sarin taking down Pranesh. I think for the American Gambits, Nihal is going to be a big pressure board. They're going to look to score on that one. And let's reverse that for the Chetmamba Masters. It's Harika who's actually— Sagar, a really interesting fact you told me right at the start of this. Yes, that Harika is the only player to have not lost a single game so far at the league. Yeah, that's so insane.

There are 36 players, and 35 of them have at least lost a single game. But Harika is the only unbeaten player. That's why we call her Harika Ka Tarika. You know, that's like Harika Ka Tarika is not to lose.

I've got— I've— and there we have Mr. Ronnie Screwvala. He's here, the owner of the Czech Mumba Masters. What a moment this is for that team looking to fight for that podium Spot now in their previous encounter, it was Shakriar Mamedyarov and Carissa Yip who got the wins for the Mumbai Masters, cashing in on that board. I've got a question for chat, a little trivia there for you. Chat, Harika is the only player who hasn't lost a single game, but today morning there was one more player until today morning who hadn't lost a single game.

Hmm, and but lost today. Who was he or she?

Who was he or she who was undefeated so far? But that story turned around. Let's see if chat is on top of that. Let's see who's going to get.

On top of this, on the icon board, I think Tanya, just from the sheer stats that we have on our screen, Cinderose seems to be in slightly better shape than MVL. But MVL is really a guy who can beat anyone on a given day, and the fact that he has the white pieces, I do feel that there would be something that Javokhir should be very careful about. Maybe a draw on this board would be a good result for Sindarov, is my feeling. He shouldn't over push it today.

Sagar, shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't. I'm not sure. But knowing Javakir Sindarov's style of play, knowing what is needed from the team, I think this is too dangerous a place to leave it to everyone else. I say don't force the fight, but keep the game going.

Anya, believe in the team. Orbi log hai. Look at Nihal Sarin, and you also have Daniel Dubov in your team. Let's have a look at the. Head to head of Shakriyar Mamedyarov and Daniel Dubov.

Shakriyar Mamedyarov so far has scored 18 game points for the Chakmumba Masters. He has four wins to his call here, Sagar, with only two losses. Daniel Dubov hasn't been that steady. Is this really a board that the fires can rely on?

Yeah, I think Shak is a clear favorite here, Tanya. He also has the white pieces. Daniel lost his game yesterday, a key one to Vidit Gujrati. And I feel like he's not found his rhythm in this tournament. So clearly here, the Czech Mumba Masters are a small favorite.

For the Czech Mumba Masters' last meetup, it was 11-6. They are looking at striking on these lower boards. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave against Shabakir Sindarov, a very closely contested battle. So many pressure point boards. Sagar, you know, today has been a day of absolute shocking results if you think about it.

Yes, I think just shows the format of this GCL. It means that all 6 teams were so even that anyone could beat just about anyone, right? So that just is really, really something truly special for me today that has happened.

The Triveni Continental Kings taking down Alpine APL Pipers at the start. Then we had the PBG Alaskan Knights come on in and take down the other leaders, Ganji's Grandmasters. Are we going to see a similar flip of the script? Are there more plot twists coming up, Sagar? You know what, we've done all the breakdowns, we've set the stage for everyone. Now the Gambits want to set the stage on fire. The Czech Mumba Masters are looking for their podium finish. As they say, Arohi, let the games begin.

The business end of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League Season 4 is here, and there is absolutely no room for a casual evening. Now, if you think as fans of these 2 teams playing this final game in the league stage, you are the only ones watching this, well, think again, because chances are that a few other teams are very, very interested in what happens on the board here. This game essentially decides who gets to play the finals and who gets to play the 3rd place. So, please welcome the 2 teams playing this crucial game of Season 4, Chess Mumba Masters and Fyers American Gambits.

Welcome to Chess Mumba Masters.

The Czech Mumba Masters will be playing with the white pieces, and it's time now for introductions. Former World Blitz Champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Former Chennai Grandmasters Champion Pranesh. Former World Rapid Champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Padma Shri Harika Dronavalli. Olympiad Individual Gold Medalist Carissa Yip. Former Iranian chess champion Badiyadanehshvar, and their coach, the six times Indian national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly. And now for the team playing with the black pieces today, the Five American Gambits World Championship challenger Javokir Sidarov. GCL Season 2 Player of the Tournament Nihal Sarin. Former World Rapid Champion Daniel Dubov. 3 times Women's World Blitz Champion Bibi Sara Asalbayeva. Former Spanish Women's Champion Sara Khadem. Former World Junior Champion champion, Makandia Morezi. And the coach who's also the coach of the Indian men's Olympiad team, Srinath Narayanan. Give it up for the 2 teams, the Czech Mumbai Masters and the Fire's American Gambits. And now for the first move, may I please call upon the tournament director, Mr. Bharat Singh, our chief arbiter, Gert Bayer, and our guest for today, Mr. Akash Sinha, founder, CashTree.

And Sagar, it all comes down to these final 40 minutes today. How the podium will shape up, how will the grand final day of The Global Chess League Season Four B, as we see the ceremonial moves by Mr. Akash Sinha on the board, and it's a king's pawn opening, but a different kind. I do not expect Maxime to start with that one, but one thing's for sure: the chase, the fight to the podium has to be led from the icon board right now.

Hmm. Anya, my feeling is a little bit different. I feel like this is the board where something crazy is going to happen. Because Harika has been in great form. However, Bibisara Asaubayeva, if you've seen what she's done in the last 2 encounters, she's beaten Polina Shuvalova and Divya Deshmukh. So she's clearly in top shape and wants to score another win here.

Momentum on Bibisara's side, but the tournament so far with 16 game points with Harika. If you're out there supporting The Czech Mumbai Masters watch out for this board. Harika Dronavali with the white pieces will try to push.

And look at this already, Bibisara being so provocative. She's saying to Harika, push your pawn forward, I'll move my knight away. I need a fighting game here. So she's opted for some kind of a perk modern setup.

Let's go to the next board, and it is Carissa Yip taking on Sara Sadat. Carissa did get the win in their previous encounter with the black pieces, and another board that perhaps the Czech Mumba Masters feel is their pressure point right now, with Sara having struggled in the tournament so far. And we see quite a combative opening, an early trade at the center. Carissa Yip's bishop lands in front of the king on the longest diagonal on the board. And Sagar, it almost feels like some reverse setups where white is playing like black.

Yes, absolutely, Tanya. And I just feel that this is a very nice position that Carissa has got out of the opening. Slightly offbeat, maybe Sarah doesn't know the theory. She's going to push her pawn to d4, and it's just the kind of position you need when you want to press for a win.

Let's catch the handshakes on our men's superstar board. 2 big fights in this one. Nihal Sarin, he was the player of the season in season 2, and he's making a big claim for that in season 4 as well. Currently at 19 game points for the FIDE American Gambit. We've spoken about the big boards for the Czech Mumba Masters. For the gambits, they don't want to gambit away the points on this one.

And one thing that has stood out for me has been Nihal Sarin's interest in trying to learn more about his games. After every game, whether he wins or loses, he goes into their opponent's dugout. Oh, and look at this move, Tanya! This is the move that Nihal has actually popularized. h5 in the Classical Sicilian. It's the Nihal-Sarin variation.

Maybe the Nihal Gambit, we can call it. Playing for the fires, American Gambit firing on the right flank. Pranish hopefully has taken a look at this for this big match, has prepared it for Nihal. He goes for an aggressive approach again. The fires, American Gambits know a fight for championship is on the line in this one. And Sagar, that explains the combative reaction that he's having. Well, this is so interesting.

Nihal Sarin goes for a slightly dubious move. Look at the bar on your left, okay? It's right now somewhere at 0.5, but when the move h5 is played, it becomes seriously better for white. But Nihal is like, I have played this many times in my online games, and I'm going to play it against Pranesh as well.

All right, Sagar, this is going to definitely be a fiery middle game, this one. It's all eyes on our icon board. Let's quickly rush to that. We're gonna have handshakes. It's head and hands already for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with 14 game points for his team. He is facing Shabakir Sindarov, who scored 16 game points so far. A closely contested battle. I'm expecting Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to start with The aggressive king's pawn opening.

Yeah, he is a one e four guy. He doesn't play too many other openings. Although last time when I said this, he started with pawn to d four against Vishy Anand. So you never know if Maxime is here to surprise all of us. But he is an e four player primarily.

And it's go time. It's handshakes. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave switches it up completely and goes for a third alternative.

With the English opening, Maxime is like, "I'll never let you guess what I'm going to do." E six knight comes to F three, and Javokir is playing the opening that he played at the candidates as well.

Shavokir Sindarov must lead the chase for the five American gambits on the icon board, but not rush matters against a speed tactician that is. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Sagar, we see castles has happened on the board. Maxime gets the king to safety and it transposes into a traditional Catalan opening, one of the most played openings at elite level, right?

And Jao Kir may have some insane level of preparation here, uh, Tanya. I think MVL should tread very carefully. So one of the reasons why a player who's playing for the World Championship match becomes so dangerous is because they are preparing so hard for the Candidates first, then for the match. But often they are unable to show it on the board, Tanya, because they're saving their preparation for the match. But for Jao Kir, it doesn't feel like that. It seems like whatever he's preparing, he's playing there. He's freely trying to do stuff on the board.

He's just been enjoying his chess over the last few months, and the performances speak for themselves. Apart from chess, a huge fan of Counter-Strike is Javakir Sindarov. Where will he find his Counter-Strike on the board today? Sagar, in the Catalan, one of the ideas is to strike in the center with black, try to achieve the c5 break. Correct. Everyone watching, if Javakir can defend that b-pawn and push c5 successfully out of the opening, you would have solved all your opening problems.

But Tanya, these are the problems that MVL is not going to let Javokhir solves so easily. He brings out his bishop here. He's ready to bring his knight and then lock in his rook on the c-file. So very, very exciting opening. We are— oh, and he goes a6. He's already planning for the breakthrough with pawn to c5.

For White in the Catalan, a lot of the advantage is around controlling the dark squares that you're seeing on the left flank to try to stop Black from achieving that breakthrough in the center. Will Maxime Vachier-Lagrave line up his rook against the black queen, or perhaps on the c-line, one of the central lines, to make sure that it's not so easy for Sinderov to break out?

Absolutely. At this point, Tanya, maybe the game is still early into the opening theory. Should we break down all the other games going from the Prodigy board? Let's do it, Sagar.

How many of these matches we've seen decided on the youngest Prodigy board. Javakir Sinderov has been the story of GCL, starting his journey as a prodigy, as a breakout star, and he sits today for the Fyers American Gambits on the Icon board, hoping to lead them to the finals.

Right, and e4 was played by Dhaneshwar Bardia, and this is the opening we had with Marc-Andrea Morizzi. It was a Ruy Lopez and a delayed trade on c6. Take d3. Queen came out to e7, and this is the live board position that we have where bishop g4, and he pushes the pawn to g4 blocking the bishop. The knight comes out here. Very exciting start to this game.

I'm predicting a castling on opposite side on this board with white having overexpanded on the right side. I'm already looking at hooks. With black, can I try and strike on the h-line? Can I push my pawn to h5 at the right moment? Will you trade my bishop, Sagar Shah, and open up that rook into the game? That would be terrible, Tanya. I wonder if for Morizzi this is the moment he goes long castle. There is a tactical trick that I want to bring to everyone's attention. It might look like black can take that pawn on e4 with the knight, trying to win LPDO— loose pieces drop off— the knight on h4. But there is an in-betweener, an intermezzo as we call it in chess. When knight takes bishop strikes first, you get rid of that piece, and this means the tactics do not work in black's favor.

Right, and this is there in the air; it's just not working right now, which is why Dhaneshwar Bardia has brought his knight out. It is a nice position here for Mark Andrea Moritz.

भाई long castle होने वाला है क्या?

होने वाला होगा. Long castle होगा तानिया. And also the move that you are talking about, h5, could very well happen. So this board, we can sign it off as an exciting game. Maybe too early to call it as an advantage to, uh, Marc-Andrea Morizzi, but it does look like it may go in his favor.

We've been brewing some great coffee here, courtesy Roastery Coffee House. We are brewing into a fantastic middle game fight between the 2 prodigies. Sagar, let's continue. One thing's for sure, by the way, the knight has just moved back hitting Dhaneshwar's knight on h4 just yet. So asking for a decision on that square. Let's move to our Women's Superstar boards.

Yes, Carissa Yip is saying to her team, guys, don't worry, I'm here. I may not have played the best of the tournaments, but I have a wonderful position. I have 2 central pawns, my bishop's looking here. I'm slowly going to try and break in the center, create a passer And that will give me the victory. This is Carissa's plan.

The potential of that d-pawn becoming a passer long-term gives all the edges to white. It also feels like you have more space in the position. I'll also add to the party the a-pawn moving forward at some time, Sagar. Plans like a4, a5 to dislodge the black knight. And then you ask yourself the question, where are black's active pawns? Where are black's active moves here? And it's hard to come up with a plan for black. Can you break with c5? If you push the c pawn, the d pawn moves forward. If you improve the position, getting your queen forward, the knight on b6 loses out on spaces to retreat. Not easy to play as Bibis as Sara Kadam in this position.

Very difficult this position to keep. The definite advantage in this position is going to Carissa Yip, and that's good news for the Czech Mumbai Masters.

So on this board, Sagar. The Mumba Masters ahead.

Tanya, you didn't even realize I did a shairi. Keep and yip, but you were like, "Nay, भाई समझ में नहीं आया।" I'll be more sharp in the next one, Sagar.

I will catch you somehow. Keep and yip, it just sort of went over my head.

Concentration थोड़ा हो गया dip.

Rookie eight. Shairi rip.

But I think on the other hand, if I have to be very objective. सारा खादम इज़ लाइक ओके, यू नो शीज़ नॉट लाइक लूजिंग बाय एनी मींस, शीज़ डूइंग प्रिटी ओके, शीज़ हैज़ टू जस्ट प्ले कामली। लेट्स गो टू द नेक्स्ट बोर्ड। हरिका इज़ टेकिंग ऑन बीबीसारा असाउबायेवा। एंड दिस वंस अगेन इज़ अ बिग स्कोर फॉर द चेकमुंबा मास्टर्स। हरिका Now we've got a position, Sagar, where it's clear White has more space.

Nothing of Black has exceeded from the 3rd rank. White has got these ideas of trying to improve the bishop. The dark-squared bishop comes out, you set the battery, you try and trade the most active bishop that Black has on the board.

Right, this seems like a good plan, Tanya. And the knight on b3 looks a bit misplaced for Harika. Usually it's over here, so can jump into the center. But all in all, I must say an interesting game. Just like a few others, we can't say what's happening here.

It right now looks a bit of a slow start, this one, but has all the makings because every single minor piece exists. Only a set of pawns have been traded off, so we can expect it to explode later on. Should we move on to our men's superstars?

Let's go to Shakriyar Mamedyarov versus Daniel Dubov. The game we did not see much Actually, we haven't seen it yet, and they would have almost finished the game, Tanya. This फटाफट फटाफट सब exchange कर दिया है। Daniel Dubov, Shakriyar are like draw कर लेते हैं भाई। But भाई there's still one imbalance in the position.

White has a bishop and black has a knight. Now usually when there are pawns on both flanks of the board, the side with the bishop, a long-range piece, stands slightly better. If anyone can push this endgame, it has to be Shakriyar. But does he want to continue, or is he happy to bail out in this position and leave it to the rest? Is the question. Will Shakriyar push for more in a seemingly balanced endgame? Will he try to channel his inner madness in this one?

I think for a player of Shakriyar's caliber, such a position is in no way you should go for a draw. He should keep grinding on and on, and he should wait for what's happening in other games, because then if his team is not doing so well, he can push forth. And if his team is doing well, then he can actually try and say, okay, I'll draw the game.

All right, we will come back to this and see what is Shakhriyar's ambitions and decision. But let's circle back to our icon board because big things are happening.

Sagar, what is happening here, Tanya? We left it off when MVL put his bishop on g5, but Javokir Sindarov has taken the advantage. a6, a4, he brought his pawn forward. Insane play by Jaukir, because if you take here, Tanya, maybe he wants to bring his bishop in the center.

Using tactics to make sure that he did not lose that pawn. And after a trade, it was the pawn push. One pawn sacrifice, a second pawn sacrifice.

Crazy move by Jaukir. And if you take here, the tactics are all brewing. Queen is attacked and the rook is hanging.

You lose one of your 2 majors if you pick up that pawn. This is what Javakir had calculated with that pawn being untouchable at the moment right now, forcing him to retreat. And then finally, Javakir recaptures. We saw a rook trade happen. The white knight got out, continued to develop after this. The black knight came into the game. And Sagar, this is where we are in our live position. Maxime has to take care of the two pawns on the left flank, which are far advanced. He tries to break through, but look at that every. Single move of Javokir Sindarov has come with a hit on the on the white queen.

It's incredible the way in which Javokir Sindarov is making a mockery of the Catalan opening. It's supposed to be one of the most solid openings for white, and in just sixteen moves he has a huge advantage. Sagar, this is what I was talking about.

I do not expect Javokir Sindarov to have a cautious approach even when he's playing a great like Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. This man knows how to lead from the front. He knows that he has to lead the chase into the finals, and he's starting it at the icon board. But let's deep dive into the position that we have. White's queen is hit. You need to move it. The first difficult task is it's not easy to find a square. If you step up hitting the black knight, the other black knight jumps in and starts chasing the queen again.

That looks really bad, Tanya, because But then you have to trade, and black's pieces are just perfect. So maybe the queen has to go back to this square.

But there are tactics on the board. You can force that tactic, Sagar. The c-pawn— this c-pawn moves ahead. Sinderov has already sacrificed 2 pawns.

Did he play it?

It's not happened yet. We've got the live board bottom right, right there. If you move the queen to the square, the c-pawn forces the white queen to take it, to come to the poisoned square. Allowing the black knight on the right flank to jump to the center of the board, hitting the white queen. But not just that, the battery of the black queen and bishop will win a piece on g5, forcing this trade. At the end of it, you pick up the queen, white picks up the queen, and when everything settles, you lose the pawn next to the white king before picking up that bishop. Long line, but not a wrong line in this one. Shavakir Sinderov has calculated this till the end.

भाई जाओ किर सिंधारो इतना अच्छा खेल रहा है यहाँ पर I can't believe that he's going to actually crush MVL right out of the opening and this is why I think somewhere you can see MVL is a predominantly one e four player and here maybe the opening he chose he was a bit inexperienced he don't didn't know the subtleties और जाओ किर तो भाई full आके एकदम धमाल मचा दिया भाई उसने it's almost terrifying to watch जावखिर संडरोव ऑन द बोर्ड, ही इस नॉट इवन लुकिंग एट हिस पीसेस राइट नाउ, सागर, ही इस सीन इट ऑल, ही नो मैटर वेर मैक्सिम्स क्वीन मूव्स, दैट सी पॉन इज़ मूविंग अहेड एंड टैक्टिक्स आर फॉलोइंग अप, ही इस चेकिंग इन ऑन हिज टीममेट्स राइट नाउ, व्हाई डू यू थिंक मैक्सिम्स इज़ ट Tough moment in the game for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Javokir Sindarov has played beautifully here. Maybe the Fires American Gambits will score on this board. Let's go to board number 2, Tanya, where Nihal Sarin is actually doing pretty well against Pranesh after playing that audacious line with h5.

The Nihal Gambit, as we've been calling it early on. Sagar, can we backtrack and see how this all happened? As we do see pawn takes pawn is going on. We just go quickly and circle right back to our icon board, Sagar.

भाई खेल दिया जावो कीर सिंधारो। You know the moment MVL played Queen c1, guess the amount of time Javokir took to make this move?

Less than two seconds.

Two seconds, Tanya. Two seconds. Two second में move कर दिया ये जावो कीर सिंधारों ने He doesn't even need to think.

Shabakir Sindarov has calculated this entire sequence of moves. And before we go back to the Nihal board, can we have our analysis board one more time to show why he's sacrificing a key pawn currently? That pawn hits the knight. If you're forced to retreat your knight or move it anywhere, if that pawn stays alive, you don't even need to explain the pressure on white's position.

This pawn is courageous.

He's a weird— C for courageous. It's the c-pawn.

Yeah, he's like, "Jawo Khir is there." You know, such a strong pawn, Tanya.

He's not even looking at the pawn.

He's looking at what is Bibisara's game, what is Nihal's game, Daniel Dubov's game. He's interested in all those games, and he's like, after the game, he will analyze their games as well.

And that only happens when a player is confident about his own position. Sagar White, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave cannot allow that pawn to stay alive. Queen takes pawn, and it doesn't take it. It would have run into the knight jump and tactics that would have worked out in black's favor.

We already really quickly seen this, but just to show the line takes, and then bishop takes here. Knight e two, king h one, and rook d eight is a very big advantage to black, which is the reason why MVL goes knight b one. But now Tanya. The most insane move can come on the board. Can you guess it?

I would just push my c pawn to the second rank, Sagar. I want my c pawn to be one step away from promotion.

I love your idea, and actually that's the most natural one. But I want everyone here to think of something even more spectacular.

There's something more dangerous in this position.

Even more dangerous. Wow! Black to play, and Javokir might play that move. Black to move. What would you do?

Try to think. So it's not the c pawn moving forward. There's something much stronger that Cinderob has in this position. He's locked in. Will he find it? Well, the move here.

Very good job done by few of the people. Maybe we can see the audience right now when we have asked the question. Are they also calculating? Director Saab, can we look at the crowd today? Is it a packed audience here in Bengaluru?

It has to be, Sagar Shah. When the fires American gambits take stage, Bengaluru shows up. And Shabukir's locked in. Our crowd is locked in right now. We've got Archana there, front row. She's of course supporting the whole team, waiting for them to make a showing in the finals. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is in trouble on this board for the fires American gambits.

Can Sinderov convert this one? Right, look at the number of people who he's made a move.

By the way, Sagar, did he play C two, Tanya?

Yes, he's played your move. That is maybe one of the best moves, but there was another move, Tanya, which was Knight to a2, attacking the queen, defending this pawn. And if you move one square up, I'm bringing my queen in to defend here and push b4, and then just locking up everything.

But very difficult because you're also trapping your own knight at the edge of the board. It just feels that c2 is the most natural move that was chosen. Why not get your pawn on the second rank? Forcing Maxime's knight to the edge of the board. And Sagar, now the c-pawn has to be defended. Notice how the white knight and the queen are hitting it. Are you going to use your bishop to come forward to the central square to protect it, or will you use your queen for the job?

I think the bishop coming here is a beautiful move, Tanya. And can you believe it? In just 18 moves, the pawn has already reached the second rank. What a life that pawn has! It's just like the life of Javokir Sindarov, right? You reached the Candidates, the World Championship, and now you could very well win the Global Chess League as well.

You're already the Olympic gold medalist. You're going to be playing again. That pawn really has had a meteoric rise, just like Sinderov. The bishop does arrive. That pawn isn't going anywhere, just like Sinderov.

Amazing. Okay, so c2 is a very good pawn here. Tanya, it's time for us to get the 6-board view because While Javakir seems like he'll get four points for his team, what are the other players doing?

And again, I want to remind everyone that the Fires American Gambits have to win with a minimum of nine points to make it to the finals. Right. Nine game points is the only way to topple over the Alpine Vipers and take the summit. Absolutely.

Okay. So if we have to analyze board one going in the favor of the Fires American Gambits. Second board, Pranesh has been showing great character. His position looks fine, maybe even slightly better. So there, the Czech Mumbai Masters are better. Going to board number 3, we have an equal endgame that very likely should end in a draw between Mamedyarov and Dubov. On board 4, also equality, but too early to say whether that will be a draw or not. Board number 5, Tanya also equal. I think Sara Khadem has fought Back a bit, and board six also quite even. What a match we have on our hands! It's fantastic.

The battles all around on our top row icon board. We see that it's the black bar that takes most of the real estate. Huge advantage there. I want to just talk about the top center there. You know, you said Pranesh has a bit of an edge, but look at the position, Sagar. Pranesh's king has lost the right to castle for the rest of the game right now. Right. And while it looks that black has a strong weakness on the d-file, the isolated queen. pawn right there. But I think this is a game for 3 results. Anything can happen. It's too soon to call, right?

Possibly. I mean, can we get the big board there? I mean, go into the second board to zoom in and analyze that between Pranesh and Nihal. You are right, Tanya, that this position is too soon to say that who's better. But I just thought that White could get their rooks into the center, the knight could jump in. It feels like White's play is slightly easy.

The only thing compensating for Nihal, if I have to make a case here, is the fact that Pranesh still has to find safety for that king which has stepped up the board. So, Agar, maybe we do a quick action replay because we don't often see a king position like this, right?

So the, the thing that happened here is after pawn pushed forward, the knight had to go back. Pranesh was better, but then this move was incorrect— Bishop f3. Nihal struck in the center Trades happened here. Takes check, the king moved to the side, and this is the live board position. We have takes check and queen takes bishop.

And that's a beautiful in-between move by Nihal Sarin. He doesn't automatically capture his bishop back but throws in a check first, provokes more light square weaknesses around the white king, and then recaptures back with the queen. Sagar, the first question In everyone's mind has to be, can't White just get greedy, capture the pawn on d6? But when your king is out in the open like that, you best be careful.

Yeah, that's just the worst possible thing you can do in this position. That would be just extremely greedy. In fact, this pawn is your best bet against saving this position for the king. Don't let it open, keep the file closed.

So for White, you want that pawn on the board and not off the board right now. So Nihal Sarin fully locked in, currently ahead on the clock as well. Sagar, we'll come back to this one. Let's circle back to our icon board. We left it last when the bishop jumped to the center of the, of the board supporting that c2 pawn. We saw White triple down on the attack, wants to pick that up, doesn't want to let the c-pawn live. We saw a trade happen, and at the end of it, after White captured with the knight, the Black queen jumps into the defense, ready with the rook to slide over as well to that c8 square, making sure that the c-pawn drives White's army absolutely mad.

But you know what, Tanya? MVL is fighting back. His queen has moved to the side, the rook is ready to come over, the knight is ready to come here. This c2 pawn, which seemed to have a beautiful career, a very ambitious career, suddenly may just fall off.

That pawn Has to be kept under lock and key by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, making sure it doesn't move forward and trying to capture it as quickly as he can. So, Sagar, what you're saying is all of White's forces are going to double down, triple down, quadruple down on it. Yes. And I can only see 3 defenders for it. You'll get 4 attackers. The 3rd defender has arrived. But what happens to this plan? White will put the rook on c1 like you're pointing out. How is Javakhir stopping the other knight from jumping in? And defending that pawn.

I think Tanya, he has to give up that pawn and then play for some compensation. For example, a line like rook c1, you go knight to d5. It's on the board.

We're seeing this happen. Maxime has just swooped the rook in front of the pawn.

I'm pretty sure here will play knight d5. You trade the bishops, queen takes, and now when you lose the pawn, you go back again. And pin the knight here, threatening to win it. Force him to be really passive, and then everything is locked up for one pawn. I think this is good compensation, Tanya.

It's fantastic compensation. And the only way this plan works— and this is a slightly deep concept, everyone watching what Sagar has just told us— the only way you can make this pinning idea of a full piece clampdown happen is if you trade the dark-squared bishop at the start. That bishop on g5 cannot be defending the rook on the C1, the one we see on the right board, the live board there. So knight jump, get that bishop out of the board, and you're a happy senderov, right?

Let's see if Javokir manages to find all of these best moves. He has played pretty well until now, but we have a result on board 6. Unbelievable, unbelievable! Marc-Andrea Morizzi has lost A huge blow to the fires American Gambits. The Czech Mumba Masters have struck, and I believe he just blundered, Sagar.

Yes, he just at the end of it lost a piece with a one mover, a one move blunder. This is let's do an action replay of this. We'll go straight back. We've got our icons in front of us. This is the board of Moritz versus Dhaneshwar. Bardia for the Czech Mumba Masters got his queen out here. Moritz went for a tactic thinking that he's winning the game for the fires American Gambit. Saying if you pick that up with your pawn, the knight is falling on c4. And if you pick it up with the queen, you're getting checkmated in one, Sagar Shah. Queen takes pawn, game over.

But what he missed, absolutely elementary, was that the knight would first take the bishop, and after you take it back, I simply take your bishop. Because I think he missed that there was a check here.

This is shocking. And what is at stake right now with having the position that he did And Maurizio has been a star performer for the Gambits, 18 game points, and to go down with a one-mover.

Right, and that is terrible. And you can already see both the players were looking at the big screen there. MVL would be thrilled right now. And you know, Tanya, such games do change the momentum in a team tournament. Suddenly everyone in the team looks up on the screen and starts feeling the jitters.

And suddenly for the Fire's American Gambits, the pressure has skyrocketed. They have lost on a board early on, and the ripple effect of that is that every board now has to perform. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, as Suresh Iker Ganguly earlier said, their aim is to get to seven game points. They get to seven game points, Sagar.

They ensure a fight for third, and they just need four more points now with already Dhaneshwar Bardia giving them those three points. Let's bring up the six board view because therein lies the truth of this match. Do fires American gambits have a chance to win this match, Tanya? What are your feelings?

Well, let's take a look at our top row right now. We do see for the fires American gambit on two boards the bar says that you are better, and that is Nehal Sarin and Shavakir Sindarov doing well on those top two boards. Then we move on to our top right corner right there, and the position very much in the balance. It's a rook pawn endgame. And it looks like very likely that will end in a draw. Let's move on to our bottom row. We've already had a result with a 3-pointer win coming in from Bardia Daneshvar. The other 2 boards, Sagar, I think it's anyone's game. The bar says roughly in the balance with Harika slightly better for the Czech Mumba Masters. But too soon to call a result on either one of them. Too soon.

And Tanya, this puts immense pressure on Javokir Sindarov.

And Nihal Sarin.

And Nihal Sarin. They both have to strike. If we can go to the Icon board, जावोकीर हैज़न मेड अ डिसीजन इट्स बीन थ्री मिनट्स एंड यू नो द रीज़न फॉर दैट बिकॉज़ ही लुक्ड अप ही सॉव व्हाट हैपन्ड ऑन मॉरिट्सी के बोर्ड यस एंड लुक एट सिंदरोवी सो लॉग्ड इन ही वांट्स टू थिंक ही वांट्स टू फाइंड द बेस्ट मूव बिकॉज़ इफ ही ड्रॉज़ दिस गेम दिस व A one mover cost him a massive point on that one from a position with everything to play for.

Meanwhile, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave lands with his rook in front of the black pawn, and Sinderov is yet to make a decision. The correct move, the best move in the position, is the knight jump.

Yeah, the knight has to jump, Tanya. This is very important, and Sinderov has been thinking for more than 4 minutes now. He needs to make a move. Let's quickly check before Sindarov makes his move the game of Nihal Sarin and Pranesh, because if Nihal scores here, that would be very, very cool for the Fires American Gambits.

Where are the 9 points coming in for this team right now? I think this is a hot board for the American Gambits currently. Huge board. The last move not only defends the pawn by Nihal Sarin, the rook sliding up right now marked in blue, it also vacates a square For the other rook to line up double on the e-line. For Nihal, it's all sight on Pranesh's king on f2. Oh, he tries to hide, but it's a big blunder. And now Nihal can push that h3 pawn and really clamp down on the white king. He has to give a check.

You know, Tanya, this little pawn is saying that include me in the attack, give me this chance to take away the crucial square on g2. As we see the 2-board view, on your left is Nihal versus Pranesh. On your right is Javokhir, who hasn't yet made a move, down to 3 minutes.

The 2 most critical matches right now. Both matches, both games coming in time trouble territory. Nihal first doubles up on the e-file. Now White moves the rook away, and that was a key moment to give a check, because if you do it now, Nihal, then the White king hides at the corner of the board. So as Slight missed opportunity there by Nehal.

But you know, Tanya, even if the pawn goes now, this is some sort of a mating net. You remember there could be some tactics, although it doesn't work here, but this is almost a checkmate. Only thing saves is the queen coming back.

It just shows the dangers that exist around Pranesh's king. Nehal Sarin with a dominating attack, a crushing advantage in the position, is looking for that knockout move right now. He has to keep building. You know what? Get all the toys to the party. That last remaining knight on that left side, Nihal Sari needs to improve the position of the knight. Everyone watching, you want that knight into the attack. Meanwhile, on the Javakir board, he finds the best way forward.

Finds it, but you see Javakir's time. That's the big worry for me, Tanya. He's down to 2 minutes 23 seconds, and if I think Sindarov doesn't take care of his clock, he may not be able to physically make it to move 40.

How many moves to go, Sagar? For that is the question.

Can we go to that board of Javokir Sindarov? Full screen maybe on that one.

Let's bring up Maxime Vachier-Lagrave versus Javokir Sindarov, and they are currently on move number 24. 16 moves to make.

But he takes with the knight, Tanya.

He's got 2 minutes for 16 moves in this position.

But look at the knight takes is not a good move because now Knight e3 and 4 attackers. Remember we were talking about this. How do you save it?

सिंदरो का गेम इस गोइंग टू एंड इन अ ड्रॉ। ही इज़ रिलायिंग स्टिल ऑन पिनिंग टैक्टिक्स, बट दे डोंट सीम टू वर्क। ही हैड टू पिक दैट अप विद हिस क्वीन एंड नॉट लूज द सेंट्रल लोकेशन ऑफ़ दिस नाइट। दैट हैज़ अलाउड मैक्सिम्स पीस इनटू द गेम, बट ही हैज़न येट मेड दैट डिसीज Alpine APL Pipers must be on the edge of their seats right now.

They must be really hoping that the Fires American Gambits lose so they can make it to the finals.

The Alpine Pipers really rooting here for the Mumbai Masters to show some magic and cash in. Let's go back to our double board view. Nihal Sirin, can he get a big 4-pointer on his board? And he takes it, takes it in What the hell is this move, Tanya?

One second. Takes here and he's done a blunder.

Sagar, he's saying let's just first— can we go into an analysis board? Yeah, we have to deep dive into this right now. We'll come back to Nihal's game right now, but on our icon board, a shocker of a decision by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He takes here.

If we can get the analysis board— knight takes. Tanya, Maxime's idea is Knight e3, and if you play this, you're going to lose. But I mean, it's a crazy thing. Knight takes. Now what Javakhir has to do is completely ignore this knight and simply bring his knight back into the game and say that you can't move anything.

Wow! Shavakir Sindarov has a huge opportunity, but he's down under a minute and a half. He does bring the knight forward, the best move in the position. Wow! And Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is playing against the fires American Gambits and playing with fire on the board with that last decision. A dangerous game to play, Sagar. It's paralysis for white here. Nothing's moving.

Same thing we analyzed, Tanya. It's the same line that we had analyzed. We have reached it through a different move order.

A switch up in the move order. Notice how the white rook cannot move because the knight needs to stay defended. The queen can't move because the knight has to stay defended. The rook can't move again. The knight has to stay defended. The knight can't move because the rook will fall. Everything of white is stuck, and what Sinderov is doing—he's just stopping white's active ideas and passing the ball back to Maxime because Maxime has no good moves in the position.

This this family is a highly dependent family on each other, while this one is a very independent family. I love black's pieces.

They're independent, yet they're working together. They're supporting each other in the big plans of life right now. And the big plan for Fire's American Gambits is to make it to the finals. Sagar, let's also bring up— we've got another result coming in. Harika Dronavali against Bibisara ends in a draw, and that has to be good news for the Gambits.

The Fire American Gambits have managed to neutralize one of the best players of the Czech Mumba Masters there, and so the score now is 4-1 in the favor of Czech Mumba Masters with 4 more games to go. And I think this match can go in any direction.

This game can go in any direction. It's 1.5 minutes roughly for Sinderov in this position, and Sagar, he has to make 14 moves to reach— to get that extra 2 seconds on the clock. Right now, 1-4 is the scoreline in favor of the Czech Mumba Masters, but that doesn't tell you the full story. Let's bring up our bird's-eye view, our 6th board view, and Sagar, see where are the gambits, hopes Coming from.

Let's have a look at the six boards here. On board number one, it's a small edge for the fires American gambits. I would say quite a good position there. They can convert it on board two. Nihal Sarin's advantage has reduced drastically. Pranesh has made a comeback on board number three, Tanya. We were thinking the game would end in a draw. Is Dubov down to 7 seconds? Yeah, Dubov is down to 7 seconds, but they have crossed 40 moves and it does feel like that one should be a draw.

And the Czech member master is on the lower board right now. Can we go there against Sara Khadem?

Let's go to Carissa Yip's board. She is about to win her game against Sara Khadem in this bishop endgame, which means that the score will turn to 7-1 in the favor of Czech Mumba Masters, which means the Gambits will have to win on every other board.

Carissa Yip beat Sara Sadat in their last clash, is about to do it one more time. She's got an extra pawn in the position right now, that a-pawn, unstoppable. Sara's about to go down in this endgame.

Yeah, she's going to win this.

And with that win, if she does get that win in, that would mean that the Czech Mumba Masters will fight for 3rd place. Another result coming in.

Yeah, now the thing is, resignation there. It's eight-two. So the Czech Mumbai Masters have gone to the third-place match. But now, Tanya, both Nihal and Javokir need to win. This reminds me of something. Is it like déjà vu? Has this happened before? Somehow, I think both of them had won in one of those matches, and then they won it. I think we are seeing something repeating here.

It almost feels like it happened yesterday in the match of Pipers, with Vidit having the full pressure, Magnus having the full pressure of winning, and they did it.

And a blunder by MVL. Can we have the two-board view? Two games going on. Fires American Gambits need to win both. Queen c3, brilliant move, and Nihal is winning! Nihal is winning! Sindarov is winning! Fires American Gambits can make it to the finals!

What a moment this is! Look at the attack that black has on that white king. The pawn, the rook, and the queen, and now the knight jumping into the attack. The right side of our screen, everyone look at that board. The black knight ready to jump in with a devastating check on that white king. If Nihal gets it done from the scoreline where we have, Javokir Sindarov will have to win. And if both these players get the match, they go through, pipers are out.

Right, exactly. Right now, Nihal Sarin has to keep his cool. He has 1 minute on the clock. He needs to convert it. Meanwhile, Javokir Sindarov also has a minute on the clock. This is ultimate pressure for the fires American gambits.

It's been two wins for the Czech Mumbai Masters, two draws on the board, and yet it looks like it's within reach. Look at the bars, Sagar. They are saying it's completely busted. This will be the turnarounds of turnarounds if this happens. Javakir Sindarov, Nihal Sarin have to win their matches to take the team to the finals, and it looks like both of them are getting the job done.

Yeah, they are getting the job done. But Tanya, don't miss out on Nihal's time. He's down to 26. 25, 24, 23. Let's go full screen.

Let's go full screen on Nihal Sarin right now as both players are down to seconds. We'll check back in. We've got an eye out on the Maxime board, and just as we said, he blunders his advantage away.

And you know he has to move, and he knows it's ugly.

He reacts. Nihal Sarin reacts on the board as he realizes he had a much stronger move in that position. Now it's all about the clock. 15 seconds to Pranesh. Both players panicking. Pranesh plays Queen f5. Sagar, a draw means the match is over. Yeah, a draw means that check wins the match. And we see the queens come off the board, which means Pranesh's king is now absolutely safe.

Nihal misses his chance and this is now worse. Look at how Pranesh is gobbling up the pawns. They are making the moves quickly because, Tanya, they have to reach move 40.

Nihal loses the time. Nihal Sarin gets flagged and the fires American Gambits go down. To the Czech Mumba Masters. Absolute heartbreak.

Nihal Sarin does not lose on time. It's the pressure that got to him. And with that, the Czech Mumba Masters have done it. Even if Sindarov wins, it's not going to be enough.

If you love the underdog story, today was the day at the Global Chess League. 3 teams at the bottom of the table take down the top 3.

Agreed, Tanya. And that means the team of Magnus Carlsen, the Alpine APL Pipers, have made it to the Finals. They set up the finals clash with the Ganges Grandmasters.

It's going to be Magnus Carlsen taking on Jan Nepomniachtchi in the big one tomorrow. And Sagar, we come to the big one in this, but in value it has lost that chance for Shavakir Sindarov. He knows he's crushing it, he knows he's winning against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, but he also knows that his team will not fight for championship.

That's such a sad position to be in. You are winning, but what's the Point. You don't want to celebrate it alone. You want to celebrate with your team. But Cinderof can get this win in for his team, and he resigns there. MVL says, "I lost, but my team won." Javokir well, he won, but his team lost. And the crowd there well, they can't believe what they've just witnessed. The Czech Mumba Masters team all smiles there, Tanya.

And it all started on the prodigy. Board with Bardia Dhaneshwar scoring a big shocker right there, a one-mover loss. And then you could feel the tension and pressure that defies American Gambits. They tried and they tried hard, but it wasn't enough. Nihal Sirin, as he gets up and sits on his own, I think he needs that time to recuperate from everything that happened.

Sagar, for him to get flagged first, the winning position, losing that advantage, too difficult to deal I agree, Tanya, and I think Nihal Sarin just tried too hard there because he knew he was winning. He couldn't find the win. He used up all his time and he lost on time because he— look at Nihal, look at Nihal!

He's heartbroken, is Nihal Sarin. And one can only feel for this team. So close. Ravikrishnan Dhirav, no celebration there. He won on the Icon Board. And Nihal, Was crushing it on his board. Sagar, he played a fantastic opening. He set up a fantastic attack, and he realizes it. He sees it. Throws his hands in the air.

He's like, "I knew this was the winning move." This I just missed it. Incredible scenes there. Let's head over to Arohi, who's in the playing venue for the results.

The final clash of the league stages between the Czech Mumba Masters. and the fires American Gambits, and we have a result. The Czech Mumbai Masters win this clash at— with the score of 11-6. Let's call upon the chief arbiter, Mr. Gerd Beyer, and the coaches of the 2 teams. For the Masters, there's Surya Ganguly, and for the Gambits, Srinath Narayanan. That's it from the main arena.

Back to casters.

And for a second time in this league, it's 11 to 6 that the Firs American Gambits go down to Czech Mumbai Masters. And Nihal Sarin still cannot get over what has just happened.

Sagar, well, don't keep any bottles near him. He's going— just going to throw it. It feels like he's so upset, not even leaving.

He's not leaving. And Sindarov, you know, he got it done on his board. And again, Nihal Sarin played a fantastic game with the black pieces, found a way to set up a checkmating attack, was up on the clock as well. But that time scramble at the end of it, everything turned around, and it's got to be hurting right now for the FIDE American Gambit, so close to taking that championship spot. But this moment belongs to the Czech Mumba Masters.

You know, I could literally feel the pain of Nihal Sarin there, sitting there. He had seen the win. He knew he was winning, and yet he couldn't find it. These are the games which actually don't let you sleep at night. These are the games which make you feel so bad. But these are also the games, Tanya, that make you into a stronger chess player.

Absolutely, Sagar. And I will say that for Nihal Sarin, this is going to be a tough pill to swallow. Yes, he will look back at this, everything that's happened, and come back stronger from it. But right now It's not an individual tournament. The responsibility that you feel for your team—

Yes.

Is what makes you feel for the result that's just happened right now.

Right. And I think kudos to Pranesh as well for playing really well, for fighting hard, not letting Nihal win just like that. You know, that is really special.

And we'll relive the big moments of this big match. It started with 2 teams with the podium spot on the line. For the Fires, it was a spot for the championship. For the Czech Mumba Masters, it was all about trying to get to that 3rd place match for a podium finish. And Shabakir Sindarov was a man who meant business today as he came in. You could see it on his face. The Fires American Gambits tried to fire on all cylinders, and I have to say, they got the job done on the Icon board. But Sagar, that first loss on the Prodigy board put so much pressure On the others, right?

And you know, Tanya, it might feel like Nihal was the one who kind of let the team down, but there were also two other games that Fires American Gambits lost. Like you said, on the Prodigy board, Mark Andrea Morizzi making that blunder. Sarah Khadem, who lost her game as well.

Sagar, the Fires American Gambits have to thank Nihal Sarin to be at this stage where they are fighting. He's earned 19 game points. He's the highest scorer for the fires American Gambits. And I think somewhere for Nihal, the standards that he set for himself are so high. That's why we could see the pain that we could on his face later.

Yeah, well, it meant a lot to Nihal. Meanwhile, Chawukir Sindarov seems more ready than ever for the Olympiad, for the World Championship match. He's playing incredible chess, right?

He's really showing the world exactly how dangerous a player he is. And this was that moment where everything fell apart for the Fire's American Gambits. And you could see Jaboukie realizing it as he looked back and saw Nihal's position crumble at the end. Maxime did not want to continue the suffering, resigned as he knew that the team had done its job. And it was all celebrations and high fives for the Czech Mamba Masters.

You know, Tanya, for that brief 1 minute in between, all the fans of the Fire's American Gambits were actually so excited.

Ready to celebrate.

Yeah, because Nihal was totally winning. The bar was down. Chaukeer was totally winning. And if they both won, the score would have been 10, uh, 10-8, I think. Yes. And that would have been insane. They would have won the match.

And this is how it went down. You see the 3 blue jerseys right there? 3 wins, 3 3-pointers. One for Javakir Sinderov. He got the job done on the icon board under pressure, with spotlight on him, carrying the weight of his team. While he won on the icon board, it was Pranesh who survived the big scare. Nihal was just a few moves away from cashing in onto that big win before the big blunder appeared. Karissa Bardia flawless in their finish. For Bardia, he was gifted the point, but Karissa played a fabulous game today.

Yeah, Karissa has been like Really coming back into her own. And the good news for the Czech Boomba Masters is that tomorrow they will play the 3rd place match.

And do you know who they play against, Sagar?

It's a rematch, I believe, right?

It's going to be these 2 teams one more time facing each other, and this time a lot on the line. It's not a consolation match in any way. It's going to be about finishing the league with a big statement, with a big victory. And for the Fires American Gambits, it will also be about revenge.

Well, who do you think will triumph in the third place encounter? Javokir's team, the Fires American Gambits, or MVL's team, the Czech Mumba Masters? And who do you think will win the finals tomorrow? Magnus's Alpine APL Pipers or Nepo's Ganges Grandmasters?

Big questions. We'll have all the answers to that tomorrow. But chat, get involved. Tweet, take the social media by storm with Global Chess League and tell us your thoughts. But right now, the one thought I have in my head— my heart goes out to Nihal and Sagar for what's coming up tomorrow. I sure hope he finds that emotional reset before the big day.

Yeah, I mean, it's going to be very tough. It's going to be tremendously difficult to be able to come back. He Will be very sad today, but I guess the team should just say the best we can do now is fight for the third place.

Let's do it. And there we've got at the end of the league stage of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League Season Four. These are our standings right at the top highlighted Ganji's Grandmasters and Alpine APL Pipers, the two best performers, eighteen match points apiece. will fight it out against each other for the championship, for the crown of Season 4. It's going to be Magnus versus Jan on the top board, and then we've got the Faiz American Gambits one more time taking on the Czech Mumba Masters for a place on the podium. For the Kings and the PBG Alaskan Knights, it's goodbye.

Right, but Tanya, just look at the match points, right? It was such a closely contested tournament. The game points also show The bottom team has 80 game points while the top team has only 95. So the difference is just a mere 15 points between the last and the first team.

Sagar, you know, we've got our overall standings before the big grand final day of the league tomorrow. What has been the most standout story for you in this when you look at our overall leaderboard right now?

For me, it's the Kanjis Grandmasters reaching the finals. They were not a team that many considered as the favorites. Yes, there were amazing players on the team, but I think Alpine APL Pipers— everyone thought Magnus, Anish, Vidit, Divya, Hampi, Murzin— this team was the favorite. And then next, many were considering either the Fires American Gambits or the PBG Alaskan Knights. But the Ganges Grandmasters have proved that team spirit Playing together as one unit comes much ahead than individual performances, and the girls in their team have fired like anything.

Tanya Polina Shuvalova and Stavrula Solakidou tremendous, tremendous performers for the Ganges Grandmasters have been Stavrula and Shuvalova. They'll be in action tomorrow, but right now what a day we've had and what a last match we had and incredible performances. By all the players of the Czech Mumba Masters could have gone either way in those final moments. Nerves playing a big role. Arohi, tell us who is the MVP? Who is the player of the match?

What an insane day of chess we've had, and this is probably the league finale. Well, tomorrow we have the finals, but the league stages get done today with this game. Let us call the winners who surprised us all. Who have given us something to smile about? The Czech Mobile Masters. Congratulations, Masters. Maxime, what a turnaround by the team today. If you if you had won it at the third place, you would be playing tomorrow. But then the kind of victory that the team got today, it was very special.

Yeah, absolutely. And my teammates delivered.

I mean, and Javo Kill delivered.

He played an amazing game, so credits to him.

But the most important, we won it and we're gonna face them tomorrow again.

Absolutely. What thoughts on that? I mean, today you beat them, uh, what is going to be the mindset coming in tomorrow? Did you— do you count on today's victory or new day, new approach?

I think new approach because it's also 2 matches and, you know, we'll definitely have you know, great vibes from today, but we'll be focused for tomorrow as well.

Congratulations on today's win though, an exceptional victory. Pranesh, he's saying, oh my God, you played Nihal, got into that time scramble. There was a time when he had the upper hand, but because of— because you flagged him, that's how you won. Talk us through those last minutes— seconds rather.

Like last game when I played with him, I was completely winning, then I blundered mate in one So, I will take this one. So, yeah.

So, you know, everyone's eyes were on that board. We're looking at that because had Nihal won from there, probably the game would have gone away from you. But, you know, tell us from your perspective. You were there. Nihal was right in front of you. He is a speed monster and we all know it. But you flagging him on time, now that's big.

I mean, I have played with him multiple times. So, it's nothing new for me. So—

All right, many more to come.

Yeah.

That is it from talking to the players before we head to the Player of the Match Award, which is going to be given by a special guest today. Let's call upon Mr. Riju Dutta, co-founder, Cashfree. And the Player of the Match Award goes to Karissa Yip. Karissa, congratulations on that win. Dhaneshwar and your win today literally put the team in such a confident spot out there, and it contributed the most to the— it formed the core of the victory today. How do you feel about that?

Yeah, of course, it always feels good to win. I think it's especially good today just to finish up the, uh, this round of matches and then move on to the 3rd and 4th place match.

What are your thoughts on your game? Do you think you played to your potential? Were you playing according to the match situation, or was your preparation scot-free?

Um, I was mostly just trying to play fast and solid, and I think she made a few mistakes I capitalized on. Uh, I knew I was winning when she She exchanged rooks because I think the bishop endgame is just kind of dead lost. But before then, I was a little bit nervous.

Tomorrow when you play the same opponent for the 3rd place, this time so much at stake, how's the approach going to be like?

Um, you know, I don't really like playing the same opponent over and over so much. Kind of like to switch it up a little. But, um, you know, I think it'll be a good match and there will be a lot of fighting.

So I'm always looking forward to that. Congratulations on this win, the Mumbai Masters. Czech Mumbai Masters, everybody give it up for them. They will play the third place game tomorrow against the same opponents, the Fires American Gambits. As of now, let's head back to the comms.

And the Czech Mumbai Masters will be looking for a repeat of their performance, while the Fires American Gambits will be looking for revenge tomorrow. Sagar Shah. What a day we've set ourselves up for. I think Carissa had a fantastic game where she pretty much outclassed Sara in an endgame that was equal, showed some endgame mastery.

Yeah, I think Sara Khadem fought really hard, but Carissa was that fighter approach. She got the win in, which was very, very important. I think we need to look at the move of the match, Tanya. And we looked at all the 6 games, we looked through them, we were like, ah, there should be something. For you know on the Carissa board, there should be something on the Pranesh board because they managed to win on the Bardia board where it was a one move blunder. But I think the really cool move because not just for the victory in the match but on the board, the beautiful move that was played was done by Javakir Sindarov. He played this amazing, amazing move here. It's black to move. Try to figure out what should black do and these are like. Positional chess and tactical chess all rolled into one, Tanya. Look at this move, pawn to c3. And the point here, very beautiful point, if you move the knight, black is already better. But the point was, when you take, knight d5, there is absolutely no way that the queen can protect this bishop here. And once you can't do that, well, you have to take here. And after takes, Bishop takes, knight check, king to the side, rook d8. Black is better, which is the reason why pawn to c3 is a beautifully strong move, and we give it AMD Move of the Match.

I love that you picked this one, Sagar, and the reason I say that is because Shabakir Sindarov on the Icon board felt a lot of early pressure after the loss that we saw on the Prodigy board. And that c pawn, it was a class pawn. Yes, it went all the way up and only martyred itself when Javakir was guaranteed a win, right? And he pushed it to absolute perfection. So really well played and lots of tactics. Definitely replay that game. But at the end of it, it came down to the Nihal board and so close to getting that win, but a time scramble turned it around. As Pranesh said, from a winning position in their first encounter Pranesh did a one-move blunder, and this time it all changed. Someone was speaking about karma earlier on.

Abhimanyu Mishra was doing that, and now it's time for Pranesh. Let's look at who was today's SBI Bankable Player of the Day, someone whom you could bank upon, and that player was Javokhir Sindarov. I think everyone can just bank upon this guy to score and deliver. And well, very soon he will be playing in the Uzbek team for the Chess Olympiad 2026, maybe on the top board, Tanya. Who knows?

It's 20 game points that Javokir Sindarov has scored in this league for the Firs American Gambit. So definitely the SBI Bankable Player of the Day, it does belong to him. And as you said, I think all of Uzbekistan is banking their hopes with the Olympiad and the World Championship coming next. What a dangerous, dangerous challenger he's proving to be right now, as we see the Czech Mumbai Masters in the middle of celebrations with the fans.

You know, Tanya, today the Alpine APL Pipers, the team of Magnus, Vidit, Anish, and Divya, Humphy, and Murzin, have just announced that they are going to throw a party and they are going to felicitate Pranesh.

Because, well, for the Pipers, maybe the bankable player was Pranesh then to turn it all around.

Sagar, I mean, without Pranesh, they were out. They were out of this. They would have gone into this 3rd place match, but Pranesh was there. And you know, Pranesh was the last minute replacement in this tournament.

Yes. Wow. So Pranesh not only deciding the fate for the Czech Mumba Masters but for the Alpine Pipers as well, giving them a shot. To reach the summit of the Global Chess League Season 4. And this is what we have finally set ourselves up for, Sagar, on the grand final day, the grand finale in Bengaluru. And action starts at 3 PM.

Right, look at that. We have Fyers American Gambits taking on the Czech Mumba Masters. It's the best of 2, not just once they'll play each other, they'll play each other twice. If it is 1-1, we will go into the blitz tiebreaks and eventually Even that, if it is 1-1, there are individual games that will be played. And then at around 6:30, Tanya, we will have the finals between the Ganges Grandmasters versus the Alpine APL Pipers. There are no tickets available here, it's a sold-out auditorium here at the Lalit Ashok, but you could very well follow all the action Online and also from the Tech Mahindra Official Global Chess League app. Tanya, if they download it, they can go to the App Store, download it, guess the moves, guess the results, earn the coins, and get the merch for them or get the prizes. It's actually very nice app.

Do try it out. Chat, absolutely get involved for all the big moments that the Global Chess League Season Four has given us. There's been drama, there's been emotions, there's been over-the-board brilliancies, misses, blunders, chills and thrills. We've had the time scrambles, we've had the flagging, we've had it all. And now we have one last day coming up for all of you, and what a big one that's going to be. It's something you absolutely do not want to miss. It is Championship Sunday here at the Global Chess League as we finally go through the final moments. There, Pranish, he's been the man for the Czech Mumba Masters today. He was the man for the Alpine Pipers.

I just have a feeling, Tanya, that the boy named Pranesh has just become a man named Pranesh now after this tournament. You know, you beat Nihal Sarin, you beat Levon Aronian, you beat Anish Giri, and that too you do it in a matter of 10 days. This is such a huge confidence booster for Pranesh.

Love it. You know, Sagar, what has been the absolutely crazy standout story for me today, that the 3 teams that dominated the league so far coming into the finals— it was the Alpine Pipers, the Ganges Grandmasters, and the FaZe American Gambits— all 3 of them went down to the 3 teams that have been struggling in the league stage. Who could have ever predicted that, chat?

It just means that all the teams are very, very special here And I think it all just is touch and go in at the Global Chess League. You know what they say, Sagar? Yes, what do they say? Yes, at the Global Chess League, expect the unexpected.

Expect the unexpected. And that's what we got today. And the drama, the big grand final coming in tomorrow, chat. We are super hyped about it. Clear your calendars, join us. It's going to be a super Sunday. It's championship Coming up tomorrow, Tanya, Magnus or Nepo?

I'll answer that question tomorrow.

See you here, same time, same place.