India – September 10, 2026: The group stage of fourth season of the Global Chess League (GCL), a joint initiative of Tech Mahindra and FIDE, in Bengaluru is heading to a nail-biting finale with just one game point separating the top three teams with just two rounds left to play.
Defending champions Alpine APL Pipers , FYERS American Gambits and Ganges Grandmasters now have 15 Match Points after 8 rounds with the first two slight ahead with 73 Game Points while the Grandmasters on 72.
Pipers and Grandmasters had a chance of taking sole lead on Thursday as they were scheduled to play two matches each.
Ganges Grandmasters began the day with a convincing 12-4 win over the Alpine APL Pipers with black pieces but went down 13-5 in the last game against the American Gambits.
Pipers went on to beat PBG Alaskan Knights 11-6 and CheQ Mumba Masters kept their chances of making the final alive with a 14-5 win over Triveni Continental Kings. They now have 12 Match Points and 73 Game Points to show for their effort.
The day began with the Ganges Grandmasters beating the Pipers without dropping a game.
Stavroula Tsolakidou began the Grandmasters march by inflicting a second loss of the tournament on Koneru Humpy. On the Superstar men’s board, two-time world cup winner Levon Aronian turned the tables on Anish Giri by making the most of an additional knight in the end game to win in 61 moves.
_“I got lucky, very lucky. But I always believed that that I can find the best moves despite playing very badly in the start. May be not losing the game was what I deserved but winning of course is a huge luck,”_ said *Aronian*, who was also adjudged the Player of the Match.
Aronian made it a double when he defeated Nihal Sarin of FYERS American Gambits in the last match of the day but his team lost four of the six matches and surrendered the advantage.
On the icon board, Candidates 2026 winner Javokhir Sindarov defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi, Daniil Dubov outplayed Leinier Dominguez Perez, Bibisara Assaubayeva handed Polina Shuvalova her first loss of the competition and Marc’andria Maurizzi claimed three points after Luke Leon Mendonca ran out of time on the prodigy board.
Earlier, Pipers had bounced back immediately after the reversal against the Ganges Grandmasters with world number one Magnus Carlsen proving too strong for Viswanathan Anand with white pieces. Koneru Humpy then registered her fourth win of the tournament, handing Nino Batsiashvili her first loss of Season 4.
Volodar Murzin then defeated Abhimanyu Mishra on the prodigy board in a time scramble to put the result beyond doubt. Only 15-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus managed to score four points for a win with black for the Alaskan Knights as Vidit Gujrathi ran out of time on the Superstar men’s board.
In the day’s other match, CheQ Mumba Masters kept their hopes of reaching the final alive with a thumping win over Triveni Continental Kings.
Playing black, the Mumba Masters won three of the six games with Alexandra Kosteniuk winning the only game for the Continental Kings. On the icon board, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave outplayed Alireza Firouzja and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Aravindh Chithambaram on the Superstar men’s board.
With Bardiya Daneshvar also winning on the prodigy board, the Mumba Masters took their game points tally to 73 from 8 matches with four wins.
Schedule for Friday, September 11:
5.00 PM: Triveni Continental Kings vs PBG Alaskan Knights
6.30 PM: Alpine APL Pipers vs FYERS American Gambits
8.00 PM: Ganges Grandmasters vs CheQ Mumba Masters
