GCL: Gukesh draws with Nakamura as his team loses
Posted on: Dec 15, 2025 03:20 IST | Posted by: Hindustantimes
bombay:D Gukesh, the 19-year-old reigning classic domain defend, walked into the royal stag Opera House on Sunday evening to chants of “Gukesh, Gukesh, Gukesh” from fans who had assembled at the city’s cultural heritage spot to catch a glimpse of the country’s chess star.
Seated inside the theatre turned chess arena for the Global Chess League (GCL), Gukesh glanced around for a few seconds ahead of his game in what was a new setting for the young Indian to ply his trade.
The world champion’s opening act in the third season of the GCL, held in India for the first time, ended in a draw with Hikaru Nakamura. The Indian, 10th in the FIDE rankings currently, played out a 34-move draw with the world No.2 American.
Gukesh’s team, PBG Alaskan Knights, lost to the Hikaru-led American Gambits 8-5 in the day’s final match. Of the six games in the contest, five ended in draws, including the one between Arjun Erigaisi and Vladislav Artemiev. The decisive swing towards the Gambits was engineered by 2025 female European champion Teodora Injac, who beat Iranian-Spanish Sara Khadem 3-0.
But the result of the opening day was delivered by the upGrad Mumba Masters, who got four wins across the six boards and routed Ganges Grandmasters 17-4.
Playing with black, Masters’ Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat Grandmasters’ Viswanathan Anand, which set the tone for the tie. Masters also seized early momentum on the prodigy board, where Bardiya Daneshvar capitalised on an error from Raunak Sadhwani to claim a decisive win and put the hosts 4-0 ahead.
Wesley So and Vincent Keymer played out a draw, but Harika Dronavalli came up with a victory against Stavroula Tsolakidou. It meant that despite Koneru Humpy losing her match, the Mumbai-based franchise wrapped up the contest with a big win.
In the day’s other match, reigning champions Triveni Continental Kings set about their title defence with a 9-7 win over Alpine SG Pipers. The anticipated all-Indian battle between Vidit Gujrathi and R Praggnanandhaa ended in a hard-fought draw, as did the women’s high-profile clash between Zhu Jiner and rapid world No.1 Hou Yifan.
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