IMAGE: Nino Batsiashvili powered Alpine SG Pipers into title contention. Photograph: Alpine SG Pipers/X
A clinical performance on the prodigy board by GM Leon Luke Mendonca and a last-gasp victory by Nino Batsiashvili powered Alpine SG Pipers into title contention as they beat Fyers American Gambits 10-4 to register their second consecutive win in the Global Chess League in Mumbai on Wednesday.
In another match, upGrad Mumba Masters registered a dominating 18-2 win over PBG Alaskan Knights.
In the first clash of Matchday 4, Alpine SG Pipers once again chose to play white after winning the toss for the second straight match, looking to build on their victory over overnight leaders upGrad Mumbai Masters.
There was not much to separate the two teams on the top four boards but Mendonca came up with another clinical performance to beat World Rapid Champion Volodar Murzin on the prodigy board to give his team the advantage.
Opting for a Closed Catalan, the GM from Goa gained the upper hand with a bishop sacrifice on the 18th move and maintained the pressure and his Russian opponent ran out of time on move 46.
In the women’s clash between Nino and Injac Teodara, the former was under pressure for a major part of the 61 move clash but turned things around with three advancing pawns and forced Teodara to resign and take her team to the top of the table for a brief period.
Nina, who registered her third win in four matches, said, “I played all in and pushed my pawn and at some point (I had a chance to win).”
Later, upGrad Mumba Masters rode on wins from Koneru Humpy and D Harika to register a dominating win over PBG Alaskan Knights with black pieces to cement their place on the top of leaderboard.
Humpy lived dangerously against Kateryna Lagno but pounced on her opponent’s mistake as the Russian failed to correctly follow up after sacrificing her queen and resigned after 33 moves.
On the adjacent board, Harika defeated Sara Khadem in 43 moves while Alaskan Knights’ Arjun Erigasi lost to Wesley So after running out of time.
On the icon board, world champion D Gukesh’s wait for a win got longer after he was held to a draw by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 31 moves.
Bardiya Daneshvar completed Mumba Masters tally with a win over Daniel Dardha.
In the last match of the day, Triveni Continental Kings defeated Ganges Grandmasters 11-6 after Alireza Firouzja beat Viswanathan Anand in the icon clash and GM Wei Yi got the better of Vincent Keymer on the second board.
2024 World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov pulled things back for Ganges Grandmasters by beating Vidit Gujarathi with black pieces to earn four game points but that was not enough for his team to save the match.
