Bengaluru, Sep 12 — Defending champions Alpine APL Pipers and Ganges Grandmasters will face each other in the Season 4 finale of the Global Chess League (GCL) in Bengaluru despite both the teams losing their final league clash but advancing to the title clash as the result of the third match went their way.
Both Alpine APL Pipers and Ganges Grandmasters went into the final round-robin matches with 18 match points, and a win against teams who were at the bottom of the standings would have been enough for them to ensure a final berth.
However, two-time champions Triveni Continental Kings threw the race to the final wide open as they became the first team in Season 4 to win both the matches against the Pipers, winning 11-6 in the first match of the day. Their loss meant that Ganges Grandmasters needed to score just one game point against PBG Alaskan Knights with black pieces to advance to the final on better game point score.
That target was achieved with Ian Nepomniachtchi drawing against Viswanathan Anand on the icon board and Stavroula Tsolakidou defeating Nino Batsiashvili to put the Grandmasters ahead.
But Player of the Match Abhimanyu Mishra got the better of Luke Leon Mendonca in 32 moves on the prodigy board, and Grandmasters’ Leinier Dominguez Perez lost on time in a time scramble when he knocked off a few pieces while trying to play fast.
FYERS American Gambits then had to beat CheQ Mumba Masters and also score a minimum of nine points to advance to the final ahead of the Pipers.
Led by Candidates 2026 winner Javokhir Sindarov on the icon board, the Gambits looked on course despite Marc’Andrea Maurizzi losing after a blunder against Bardiya Daneshvar on the prodigy board and Carissa Yip beating Sara Khadem.
Sindarov was clearly in a winning position against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Nihal Sarin was also looking good to beat M Pranesh, and two wins with black pieces could have seen their team through.
But Nihal made an error under pressure and lost on time, thereby reducing Sindarov’s victory to merely a consolation win as they lost the match 11-6.
The two teams will now once again face off on Sunday in the third-place play-off.
Earlier, Alpine APL Pipers looked on course in the first few minutes of the match before Aravindh Chithambaram began tightening the noose around Vidit Gujrathi’s white king. Despite the time scramble in the endgame, Aravindh managed to convert the position and won the match in 36 moves.
But it was Alireza Firouzja who ultimately put the brakes on Pipers' march as the Frenchman forced world number one Magnus Carlsen to resign after 49 moves. This was Carlsen’s first loss in the competition and Firouzja's first win, keeping alive his team’s hopes of at least making it to the third-place play-off.
Volodar Murzin’s win over Pranav V on the prodigy board meant that Pipers at least scored six points and kept their chances of making it to the final alive.
“It was a good game, and after a sharp opening I found some good moves, and when we went through time trouble, I managed to put pressure and win the game,” said Firouzja.