Global Chess League: Gulf Titans brush aside Mumba Masters

The upGrad Mumba Masters were the slight favourites. The team led by Maxime-Vachier Lagrave was always around the top but slipped in the final days. Chingari Gulf Titans were on the bottom of the board and struggling. Still, they had the advantage of white pieces.

The first good sign for Chingari occurred early on as Vidit Gujrathi made a blunder giving a dominant position to Dubov who soon converted this into a victory, after just 23 moves. Before that game ended, two heavyweights, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk, drew their game. By this point, the result was 4:1 for the Titans.

More bad news followed for team Mumba as Alexandra Kosteniuk and Polina Shuvalova defeated their opponents, bringing another six points to the Titans. With the score 10:1, the Tinas had the match in the bag as, even if Mumba scored a victory on the remaining two boards, that would not change the result. Despite best efforts by team Mumba, the remaining two games ended in draws.

With a result of 12:3, Chingari Gulf Titans have staged a huge upset, wrecking the hopes of upGrad Mumba Masters reaching the finals.

Global Chess League Media Release