Global Chess League: Magnus Carlsen gets better of Sindarov

Bengaluru: Two-time champions Triveni Continental Kings, who featured in the finals of all the three previous editions of the Global Chess League (GCL), crashed out of the fourth edition on Friday. They remained at the bottom of the standings in the six-team league.Led by Alireza Firouzja, the youngest player to reach Elo rating of 2800 in 2021, the Kings were expected to put up another spirited fight but they lost their way early in the Garden City. On Friday, they took down the V Anand-led PBG Alaskan Knights 13-7 which ensured the Knights also went out of the reckoning.The win, powered by the women - Zhu Jiner and Alexandra Kosteniuk - together with Pranav Venkatesh on the prodigy board, was only their third in nine matches which sealed their fate. Last season, the Kings won eight out of their 10 matches.CheQ Mumbai Masters (12 match-points), with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on the icon board, are also out of the final reckoning. Ganges Grandmasters, Alpine AL Pipers (18 each) and Fyres American Gambits (15) are the only three teams remaining in contention. The top-two teams make it to the Sunday's two-set final after Saturday's last day of the league phase.Carlsen beats SindarovWorld No. 1 Magnus Carlsen began to shift gears as the tournament neared the business end. He took down world championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov with white pieces that helped Alpine Pipers edge Fyers American Gambits 9-7. Carlsen gave away his Player of the Match award to teammate Vidit Gujrathi after the latter defeated the Norwegian's former second Daniil Dubov of Russia.Pipers are now level with Grandmasters but dropped to second with 82 game-points compared to Ganges' 88. Ganges stormed to the top of the table after thrashing Mumba Masters 16-1.Margins are small: Van WelyKings' coach Loek van Wely was at a loss for words. He told TOI, "It's really hard to say (now) what went wrong. We need to evaluate when the dust settles, we need to analyze. "Against Ganges (Grandmasters), we should have won both matches. Sometimes, the margin is very small. The match can look very good and then in the final two minutes everything will change. The higher the level, the differences are getting smaller."Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.