Global Chess League: Continental Kings edge Gulf Titans

BOTH THE TITANS and the Kings started round eight at the bottom of the scoreboard, struggling in the league. Both teams had won two matches each, but the Titans had an additional match draw, giving them a total of seven match points, one more than the Kings.

The previous match between these two teams ended in a draw. This was one of the last chances for the Kings team to turn their fortune around and they had to do it with black pieces.

After about thirty minutes of play with mostly balanced positions, the tide started to turn.

First Titans’ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Yu Yangyi as Black, after the Chinese Grandmaster made an error in the middlegame and had to exchange his queen entering a completely lost position. Then, Nihal Sarin defeated Jonas Buhl Bjerre after White made a mistake in the endgame, bringing the Titans’ advantage to eight points.

It seemed like the Kings were once again heading towards a difficult situation. However, fortune smiled upon them as Levon Aronian seized his advantage against Duda and confidently brought his opponent to defeat. After a mistake in the early stages of the middlegame by Kings’ Dubov, Wei Yi got the initiative and eventually ended up with as many as four free pawns on the queenside, and won the game.

Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lagno drew their game, bringing the score to 9:7 in favour of the Chingari Gulf Titans. The fate of the match rested on the game between Sara Khadem and Polina Shuvalova. The Kings needed a win to secure the match, while a draw would be sufficient for the Titans.

Luckily for the Kings, Sara Khadem (who came in as a replacement for Nana Dzagnidze who left the event for personal reasons) scored a confident – and, as it turned out - crucial victory, bringing the result to 10:9 for the Kings. A well-deserved triumph for the Triveni team.

“We just told ourselves that we haven’t been playing well. We should win every single match but let’s go match by match”, said team leader Levon Aronian in the post-game interview. Still, a tough path lies ahead for both teams.