Chess Global Chess League
In a fabulous battle of nerves, the Continental Kings are crowned champions
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Jonas Bjerre’s spectacular final victory in the video
The Triveni Continental Kings are crowned the first champions of the Global Chess League. The decision against the Upgrade Mumba Masters is only made in the fourth Sudden Death duel. Watch the video of match winner Jonas Bjerre’s final game here.
The first season of the Global Chess League has found a surprising winner. Very few chess fans had expected the Triveni Continental Kings. In a spectacular finale, Lewon Aronian’s team triumphed over the Upgrade Mumba Masters.
Superstar Magnus Carlsen was world champion for ten years before he decided he no longer wanted to defend his title. The Norwegian superstar took the chess crown in 2013 by beating Vishwantan Anand, probably the best Indian player of all time. The legends met again at the first edition of the Global Chess League – and both surprisingly missed out on the finals, despite the fact that the teams of Carlsen (SG Alpine Warriors) and Anand (Ganges Grandmasters) led the table for a long time.
Instead, the Triveni Continental Kings around Lewon Aronian celebrated winning the new franchise league after a spectacular battle of nerves against the Upgrade Mumba Masters. At the start of the final, the Continental Kings showed themselves in brilliant shape with the white pieces. Aronian dominated on the legend board against Maxim Vachier-Lagrave, Wei Yi also won his match against Vidit Gujrathi and thus compensated for the loss of youngster Jonas Bjerre. With a 9:7 victory we went into the second leg.
Triveni Continental Kings win the final first leg
The Triveni Continental Kings beat the Upgrade Mumba Masters in the first leg of the final. Lewon Aronian and Wei Yi win their matches, compensating for Jonas Bjerre’s bankruptcy and leading their team to their first win.
However, with their backs to the wall and white pieces, the Mumba Masters pulled off an impressive turnaround. Without a single loss and thanks to the victories of Harika, Grischuk and Sindarov, the team saved themselves in a round of blitz chess, which further increased the pressure on both teams. Instead of the 15 minutes plus ten seconds credit per move, players now only had three minutes plus two seconds per move.
Upgrade Mumba Masters win Finals second leg
The Upgrade Mumba Masters salvage their way into the Blitz tiebreak with an impressive win in the finals second leg. With the white pieces, the team around Vachier-Lagrave does not concede a single defeat. Grischuk, Sindarov and Harika make the comeback perfect.
The decision is made in sudden death
The Continental Kings were allowed to start with the white pieces, but this time they couldn’t use the small advantage and conceded three bankruptcies in the six parallel matches played before the drama went into the next round. In the second leg of the blitz round, the Continental Kings triumphed with the black pieces and saved themselves in a sudden death.
Triveni Continental Kings celebrate a nerve-racking comeback in the blitz duel
The title decision goes into an all-important Sudden Death round. The Mumba Masters win the first leg of the blitz round with the white pieces, but the Triveni Continental Kings prevent the preliminary decision in the second leg.
The organizers had come up with a special blitz mode for the all-important round. Instead of six games played at the same time, a game table was drawn by lot. The first round between Sara Khadem and Dronavalli Harika ended in a draw. The duels between Yu Yangyi and Alexander Grischuk and Kateryna Lagno against Humpy Koneru did not produce a winner either. Then the previously weak Jonas Bjerre (four defeats on the final day) took on the youngster duel – and thanks to a serious mistake by Javokhir Sindarov, he became the celebrated hero for the Triveni Continental Kings.
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“There was so much tension in the game. I tried not to think too much. I was nervous, but I’m very happy to have made the difference for the team,” said an overjoyed Bjerre after his triumph.
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Impressive catch-up
In the star-studded field of participants, very few had expected the team around former blitz and rapid chess world champion Aronian to triumph – especially since the team was still trailing behind at the bottom of the table after the sixth day of play. With an impressive comeback and thanks to the mistakes of the competition, the Continental Kings still qualified for the final.
On the way there, Aronian eliminated heavyweights such as Carlsen and Vice World Champion Ian Nepomniachtchi with strong performances. Sara Khadem, who replaced the ailing Nana Dzagnidze in the middle of the tournament, turned out to be a decisive factor in the team’s spectacular comeback after her defeat at the start with three wins and one draw.
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Confidence grew from win to win from the seventh day of play and the Continental Kings showed great cohesion within the team – no matter how difficult the situation was and how well-known the opponents were. Regardless of the starting position in the table, the players propagated unity and support within the team like a prayer wheel after each match and actually crowned themselves the winners at the end of a crazy tournament.
