Global Chess League: Triveni Continental Kings survive dramatic sudden-death blitz tiebreak to emerge champions

For the Masters, Bjerre — who was one of the most inexperienced players in the tournament and lost most of his games — delivered the crucial victory when it mattered. After suffering a series of four losses to Sindarov, in a drawn-even endgame which the Uzbek player decided to force, Bjerre got the upper hand and won.

“The last game was incredibly tense. It was really exciting. I’m still shivering,” said Bjerre. “Levon (Aronian, team icon player) told me, ‘just fight, if you win this game, you will win the event’”, Bjerre added.

With this crucial victory, Bjerre not only clinched the title for his team but also won the team a $500,000 prize.

Once a king, always a king 👑#GlobalChessLeague #GCL #TheBigMove #GrandFinaleGCLSeason1 #GlobalChessLeagueChamp1on pic.twitter.com/AFFJJBEsXH

— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) July 2, 2023

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Here’s how the rapid matches played out

The finals consisted of two rapid matches. For a team to win, it had to win both of the rapid matches. In case of a draw (each team winning one match), the winner would have been decided in a blitz match. As per regulations, the choice of colours was determined by a coin flip. Triveni Continental Kings won the toss and got to play as white.

In the first match, Triveni Continental Kings emerged victorious after turning around games on two boards, winning by 9:7. The key game of the match was played between Levon Aronian who defeated Maxime Vacheir-Lagrave in a sharp and complicated game. But in the second match, Masters staged a confident comeback. Dominating from the outset, they defeated Kings with a result of 12:3.

Watch out, world! We have our champs 💥 @trivenickings pic.twitter.com/vB2IyAL4mb

— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) July 2, 2023

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Here’s how the tiebreaks panned out

With both sides tied, the grand finale was heading for the two-round blitz tiebreaks, where players had three minutes each, with a two-second increment per move.

Among the 12 players in the finals, four were former world blitz champions: Masters’ Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alexander Grischuk, and Kings’ Aronian and Kateryna Lagno.

Triveni Continental Kings played as white in the first blitz round. In a spectacular performance, the upGrad Mumba Masters dominated across the boards. With confident victories on boards three, five and six, Masters got the first blitz round in the bag early on. The other games ended with two draws (MVL and Lagno drew) while Yu Yangyi defeated Grischuk, helping Kings avoid being completely crushed. The final result was 14:5 for Masters.

In a thrilling blitz showdown, Kings mounted a fierce comeback, seizing the victory from Masters by 13:7 and turning the tide in their favour. With Masters and Kings each claiming a win, the ultimate champion was decided in a sudden-death match.

The sudden death match was to be played on one board, not six. The board was selected by the drawing of cards. As fate would have it, the first board selected was number five: it was a duel between Sara Khadem, who came in as a replacement player, and India’s Harika Dronavalli.

The game between Khadem and Harika was tough. White achieved an extra pawn but it was not enough for a winning advantage. As the game progressed, both sides pushed but, objectively, it should have ended in a draw. But Harika was pressing but with seconds on the clock, the game ended in a draw.

The sudden death match continued. In the second drawing of the cards, board five was not included. The draw saw board two selected, where former world blitz champion Grischuk went up against one of the world’s strongest players, Yu Yangyi.

In a fiercely contested battle, Yu managed to create a 2:1 pawn advantage in a gripping endgame. With victory in sight, Yu pursued the win, but Grischuk was defying the odds and holding. Amidst the ticking clock and mounting pressure, Yu had to settle for a draw just moments away from losing on time.

In the next drawing of cards, with numbers five and two removed board four came up, signalling a duel between 3-time world blitz champion Kateryna Lagno and India’s strongest woman player and the first woman to become a GM, Koneru Humpy. In yet another dramatic game, Humpy got the upper hand against Lagno and entered a winning position. In a desperate scramble, Lagno managed somehow to fight back and draw, to Humpy’s disbelief.

Now, the fourth sudden death pair was to be determined and in the drawing of cards board number six was selected. This pairing strongly favoured upGrad Mumba Masters as Sindarov had won all four games against Kings’ board six Jonas Bjerre.

The game was sharp and saw Sindarov take the upper hand as in previous matches. However, Bjerre managed to hang on. In an even endgame, Sindarov decided to decline a draw and push. In the crucial moments, it backfired and Bjerre ended with the upper hand and won. As Sindarov looked in disbelief, the arena erupted with applause.

Triveni Continental Kings — who hit the bottom of the table at the start of the League and had setbacks with the team — in the end, clinched the title.