Viswanathan Anand rarely plays chess these days: he is more of a mentor and now the interim president of FIDE. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen, who dethroned Anand as the World champion in 2013, has relinquished his crown.
Still, when the two all-time greats come across a chessboard, there is a buzz. That was quite palpable at the Lalit Ashok on Monday. They played some interesting chess too on the third day of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, but Anand was unlucky, as he lost on time from an equal position.
The five-time World champion from Chennai, however, could afford to forget his defeat, as his team, PBG Alaskan Knights, won the match against Alpine APL Pipers 9-7. That, in fact, was the first loss in the tournament for Carlsen’s team after winning both their matches.
A little later, however, the defending champion bounced back, scoring a crushing 15-3 win against Fyers American Gambits. Carlsen was held to a draw by Javokhir Sindarov, but Koneru Humpy, Vidit Gujrathi and Volodar Murzin won their games, with black pieces, to ensure that their team would score heavily.
The Pipers are on top of the points table after four rounds. They have nine match points, and 43 game points. As many as four teams are on six points – Mumba Masters (36 game points), American Gambits (34), Alaskan Knights (30) and Ganges Grandmasters (28). Two-time champion Triveni Continental, which finally managed a victory, has three points.
“The team is doing fantastic,” Carlsen said. “Three wins out of four is great. My performance has been a bit underwhelming, but since the team is doing well, I am happy… And it is nice to see good crowds here. Chess in India is massive.”
The results:
PBG Alaskan Knights bt Alpine APL Pipers 9-7 (Viswanathan Anand lost to Magnus Carlsen; Arjun Erigaisi drew with Anish Giri; Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus bt Vidit Gujrathi; Kateryna Lagno drew with Divya Deshmukh; Nino Batsiashvili bt Koneru Humpy; Abhimanyu Mishra drew with Volodar Murzin).
Cheq Mumba Masters bt Ganges Grandmasters 12-3 (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi; M. Pranesh bt Levon Aronian; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew with Leinier Dominguez Perez; D. Harika drew with Polina Shuvalova; Carissa Yip bt Stavroula Tsolakidou; Abhimanyu Mishra bt Bardiya Daneshvar).
Fyers American Gambits lost to Alpine Pipers 3-15 (Javokhir Sindarov drew with Carlsen; Nihal Sarin drew with Giri; Daniil Dubov lost to Vidit; Bibisara Assaubayeva drew with Divya; Sarasadat Khademalsharieh lost to Humpy; MarcAndria Maurizzi lost to Murzin).
Triveni Continental Kings bt PBG Alaskan Knights 11-6 (Alireza Firouzja drew with Anand; Wei Yi bt Arjun; Aravindh Chithambaram bt Erdogmus; Zhu Jiner lost to Lagno; Alexandra Kosteniuk bt Batsiashvili; V. Pranav drew with Abhimanyu).
Published on Sep 07, 2026
