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Journalism of Courage
Hands became furious blurs. Game clocks were slapped senseless. Even the wooden pieces probably were left breathless from the constant darting around the chessboard. There were dramatic, lung-bursting races towards the finish line by players. By the end, fates were decided by the new — and rare — no-increment rule which has been adopted for the second edition of the Global Chess League.
Irrespective of the format — classical, rapid and blitz — chess games are usually played with the breathing space of increments, meaning time gets added on the clock each time a player plays a move. But since each day at the GCL has multiple matches happening — with Friday witnessing four matchups — the GCL organisers added a no-increment rule in the second edition, to avoid chess matches stretching on endlessly which could lead to unwieldy broadcast times.
In the process, matches at the GCL have become more frantic and dramatic. Just look at the game between Chess Olympiad gold medal-winning teammates Arjun Erigaisi, playing for Ganges Grandmasters, and Vidit Gujrathi, representing upGrad Mumba Masters, which ended in a draw. Or five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen’s defeat against Alireza Firouzja when Alpine SG Pipers faced Triveni Continental Kings on the second day of the GCL in London’s Friend’s House.
Magnus Carlsen was left frustrated after having a winning advantage on the board from the 26th move itself against Firouzja. But by the 64th move, with less than 30 seconds left on the clock for both players, Magnus Carlsen erred to let his younger opponent off the hook.
Eventually the game was a sprint past the finish line dependent on who would have their clock tick down to zero. On Friday, that player was Magnus Carlsen.
A few hours earlier, Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi had experienced this same feeling of all-or-nothing chess which ended in a draw because both players ran out of pieces on the board to battle on. After his nerve-jangling, punch-drunk draw against Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi’s honest assessment of the frantic final moments of their game was to say that “pieces could have been thrown” around on the board to escape the vice-grip of time.
Their game had all the drama of a heavyweight boxing match with both players raining down haymakers enough to make the other’s knees buckle. The momentum in the game swung like a leaf in the wind, favouring one player first then the other.
“In the opening, Arjun surprised me with a good, practical choice for a rapid game. Especially since there were no increments. So he built up a seven- or eight-minute time advantage. But I think I reacted well over the board and got a very comfortable position. It even looked like I was slightly better at one stage. But Arjun being Arjun made it messy! Then eventually I realised I was very low on time so I have to somehow exchange pieces otherwise it’s going to be tough,” Vidit Gujrathi told The Indian Express later in the day.
By 19 moves, Arjun Erigaisi had a six-minute headstart over the veteran pro. Three moves later, Vidit Gujrathi’s time had eroded to two minutes on the clock. The 57th move was when Vidit Gujrathi had his best chance to snatch victory, thanks to a blunder by Arjun Erigaisi, who moved his king to the d2 square rather than shifting it to f3. Arjun Erigaisi’s move opened up the possibility of Vidit Gujrathi using his knight to clean up the junior star’s pawn by a slick looking fork on the king two moves later. But by that stage, Vidit Gujrathi had just 17 seconds on the clock while Arjun Erigaisi had 33 seconds.
A pawn up, Vidit Gujrathi blundered back on the 64th move with a pawn push on the h file as he tried to promote. Four moves later, the game ended in a draw.
“Arjun told me later he was trying to flag (getting the other player to lose on time), at some point. Then he missed one of my tactics. And that saved me. And then he was on the defensive. I could have won at some stage, I had 45 seconds and a very good position on the board. I allowed him a tactic and then it was drawing. At some point it was just instinct, we were just playing… it could have been worse. Pieces could have been thrown, which is what can happen when you’re playing so fast in a time scramble! There was some dignity maintained,” shrugged Vidit Gujrathi.
Mumba Masters beat Ganges Grandmasters 14-5
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave bt Viswanathan Anand
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi drew with Arjun Erigaisi
Peter Svidler lost to Parham Maghsoodloo
Humpy Koneru bt Vaishali Rameshbabu
Harika Dronavalli drew with Nurgyul Salimova
Raunak Sadhwani bt Volodar Murzin
PBG Alaskan Knights beat American Gambits 14-2
Hikaru Nakamura drew with Anish Giri
Jan-Krzysztof Duda drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Yu Yangyi lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Bibisara Assaubayeva lost to Tan Zhongyi
Elisabeth Paehtz lost to Alina Kashlinskaya
Jonas Buhl Bjerre lost to Nihal Sarin
Triveni Continental Kings beat Alpine Sg Pipers 17-4
Alireza Firouzja beat Magnus Carlsen
Wei Yi beat Praggnanandhaa R
Teimour Radjabov lost to Richard Rapport
Alexandra Kosteniuk drew with Hou Yifan
Valentina Gunina beat Kateryna Lagno
Javokhir Sindarov beat Daniel Dardha
upGrad Mumba Masters lost to PBG Alaskan Knights 5-8
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew with Anish Giri
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Peter Svidler drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Humpy Koneru drew with Tan Zhongyi
Harika Dronavalli drew with Alina Kashlinskaya
Raunak Sadhwani lost to Nihal Sarin
