Andrey Esipenko, far left in yellow, and Bella Khotenashvili on the adjoining table, proved to be the stars for Ganges Grandmasters. Courtesy GCL

The reason behind Ganges Grandmasters’ steady run at the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League came in full display on Day 8 of the inaugural tournament when the balanced side showed depth and strength to nudge out Balan Alaskan Knights 8-7 on a day of two close matches. In a see-saw battle for the top position with SG Alpine Warriors, the win for GG on Thursday evening put the onus back on the former.

In the earlier match of the day, Triveni Continental Kings turned the tables on Chingari Gulf Titans with their first win of the tournament – by a 10-9 margin – in heartbreak timing for their rivals, who also were looking to bounce after their first triumph from two nights ago, and that was against Vishwanathan Anand’s Grandmasters.

The Grandmasters were dominating the league from the outset but then suffered two consecutive defeats, leaving them on 12 match points and in second place. The Knights started the round in the middle of the standings, on six match points. With a two-match winning streak behind them, and playing with white pieces in this match they had to push themselves further.

In a match where both sides held their own for a long time, the positions gradually started to look more favourably for Balan Alaskan Knights, but the team of Ganges Grandmasters were fighting back on all boards.

Anand got into a somewhat uncomfortable situation on board one against Ian Nepomniachtchi. The two-time candidate for world champion managed to create two free pawns on the queenside but then came a pawn exchange where White ended a pawn up. Still, it was even and in the end, the honours were split.

Hou Yifan and Tan Zhongyi drew their game, and so did Teimour Radjabov and Leinier Dominguez. In the duel of prodigies, Andrey Esipenko of GG gained more initiative and had a rook for a knight against Raunak Sadhwani. Esipenko created a passed pawn on the queenside. In time trouble, Sadhwani could not keep on holding and the game went to team Ganges.

However, Nodirbek Abdusattorov struck one back for the Knights in a sharp game against the usually reliable Richard Rapport. The former ended with two pawns up and secured three important points for BAK.

For the second time in the day, the outcome of the match depended on the final table left. BAK’s Nino Batsiashvili took the early initiative against her compatriot from Georgia, Bella Khotenashvili. In the end game, Khotenashvili had an extra pawn after the exchanges but both could not force the momentum to go each’s way.

Chingari Gulf Titans (w) vs Triveni Continental Kings (9-10)

The Titans had sparked a revival by beating the formidable Ganges Grandmasters on Tuesday. They had two quick wins on the board with Black through Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Nihal Sarin, and it looked ominous for the Kings as Alexandra Kosteniuk of Titans drew with Kateryna Lagno. And then came the fightback.

“We knew we had to go all out. We are very low on game points so there is no option but to win all our games and see how it plays out,” said the Kings’ icon player Levon Aronian, who beat his counterpart Jan-Krzyztof Duda.

Then Wei Yi brought the Kings within striking distance with his win against Daniil Dubov. After a mistake in the early stages of the middlegame by Dubov, Yi got the initiative and ended up with as many as four free pawns on the queenside, and won the game.

At 7-9, all eyes from the Kings camp fell on substitute Sarasadat Khademalsharieh. Better known as Sara Khadem, she was playing her second game of the tournament as a late replacement for Nana Dzagnidze, who had to withdraw on health grounds.

In true spirit of the team’s approach, Khadem went in for the kill in the endgame against Polina Shuvalova and forced the result in her favour. “We have been lucky that we got a good replacement such as Sara and we must take it one game at a time from here,” Aronian said.

Sara Khadem did the star turn for Triveni Continental Kings after the substitute player’s victory gave the Kings a lift off the bottom of the table. Courtesy GCL