In the latest round of the Global Chess League (GCL), the Alpine APL Pipers secured their position at the top of the standings, even after experiencing a split in their matches on Monday. The defending champions faced the PBG Alaskan Knights first, where they suffered a 7-9 defeat. However, they quickly rebounded with a convincing 15-3 victory over the FYERS American Gambits, allowing them to rise to the leaderboard’s summit. Meanwhile, the CheQ Mumba Masters and PBG Alaskan Knights showed signs of resurgence on day three of the competition.
Magnus Carlsen’s win was not enough for the Pipers to avoid their first loss in the competition as both Vidit and Humpy, who had won their earlier two games, went down against PBG Alaskan Knights.
Vidit Gujrathi and Koneru Humpy were once again the stars of the team as they registered their third win in four matches. On the prodigy board, Volodar Murzin outplayed Marc’andria Maurizzi to make it three wins for the team. “In the morning game it was equal but I got a time pressure. Bardiya Daneshvar then secured three more game points for his team as Leon Luke Mendonca ran out of time on the prodigy board to take the Mumba Masters at the top of the leader-board till the next game between FYERS American Gambits and Alpine APL Pipers.
In the other match of the day, Mumba Masters registered a dominant 12-3 win over Ganges Grandmasters to move up to second spot. Vidit was clinical in dismantling Daniil Dubov despite being under time pressure while Humpy defeated Sara Khadem in 29 moves. Carrisa Yip began Mumba Masters’ march with a win over Stavroula Tsolakidou and then Player of the Match M Pranesh kept his cool during the last-minute scramble to force the experienced Levon Aronian to resign after 65 moves.
There was pressure in the second game but I am happy that I could win,” said Player of the Match Vidit after the win.
