Erstwhile bot bottom dwellers Chingari Gulf Titans made a big move up the Global Chess League standings beating co-leaders Ganges Grandmasters in their return match on Tuesday to rise to fourth place with seven points after six rounds of intense action in the at the Le Meridien hotel.

However, Ganges Grandmasters held on to the lead despite the loss, with 12 points, to tie with GM Magnus Carlsen’s SG Alpine Warriors.

In the second match of the day, the UpGrad Mumba Masters reasserted their dominance over the Triveni Continental Kings, once again prevailing in their second meeting in the tournament to move up to second place with 10 points.

The Gulf Titans scored a thrilling 11-6 victory to avenge their opening-day loss to the Ganges Grandmasters, with GM Daniil Dubov and International Master (IM) Polina Shuvalova, who both scored their first wins in the tournament, leading the way.

GM Viswanathan Anand scored Ganges’ consolation lone win, his third straight, registering a repeat victory over an out-of-form GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Dubov, renowned for being one of the most creative players in the professional chess circuit, had a crushing attack against GM Leinier Dominguez, but his 47th move turned out to be a blunder that would have allowed the Cuban to equalise. Dominguez, however, ran out of time as he was about to execute his move, allowing Dubov to score his first win after four draws and a loss in the first half of the tournament.

Shuvalova, who was likewise chasing her first full point after also starting the tournament with four draws and a loss, outplayed GM Bella Khotenashvili in a game that featured chances for both sides. Khotenashvili was unable to punish Shuvalova’s errant 25th move, which would have resulted in white’s rook being trapped in the middle of the board.

Playing under severe time pressure, Khotenashvili compounded her woes after blundering a pawn and a knight in quick succession a few moves later, forcing resignation on the 32nd move.

GM Harika Dronavalli and GM Javokhir Sindarov provided the crucial wins to power the Mumba Masters to victory. Dronavalli spoiled the debut of IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, a replacement for GM Nana Dzagnidze, who had to leave the tournament for health reasons, grinding out a 68-move win in an English Opening.

GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre had a big chance to equalise for Triveni after winning an exchange and building a strong attack against GM Javokhir Sindarov, but the Danish youngster stumbled as

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Sindarov launched a counterattack and gradually wrested the initiative on the way to a 61-move victory.

GM Alexander Grischuk could have added another win for the Mumba Masters in a rook endgame against GM Yu Yangyi, but the Russian gave away his advantage on the 45th move when he allowed Yu to win his passed pawn on the a-file. Grischuk still had material advantage after the mishap with three pawns against Yu’s two, but the game was objectively equal as all pawns were on the same side and the Chinese did not have any problems holding the draw.

The Continental Kings dropped to last place after the loss with six points, alongside the Balan Alaskan Knights.

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