Triveni Continental Kings win Tech Mahindra Global Chess League

The finals consisted of two rapid matches wherein the finalists had to take both of them. Image: Twitter @Tech Mahindra

Triveni Continental Kings won the grand finale of the inaugural edition of Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, which took place at the Le Meridien Hotel in Dubai on July 2. In a nail-biting event, the winner was decided through three stages of tie-breakers.

The champion was decided between with Triveni Continental Kings and upGrad Mumba Masters in rapid, blitz and even sudden-death matches. Jonas Bjerre, a Danish 19-year-old grandmaster brought victory for Triveni Continental Kings after defeating Javokhit Sindarov, a 17-year-old prodigy from Uzbekistan.

Bjerre is otherwise one of the most inexperienced players in the tournament who, despite losing most of his games, emerged victorious when it was time. He suffered four losses to Sindarov in a draw-even endgame, but Bjerre got the upper hand.

“The last game was incredibly tense. It was really exciting. I’m still shivering”, said Bjerre after his victory. “Levon (team captain) told me - just fight; if you win this game, you will win the event,” he further added.

The finals consisted of two rapid matches wherein the finalists had to take both of them. Triveni Continental Kings won the first match, winning by 9:7. In the second round, upGrad made a comeback by defeating Triveni by a score of 12:3.

With both sides in a tie-up, the finale had to head for the two-round blitz tiebreak wherein both the players had three minutes each with a two-second increment per move. Triveni finally seized the title by turning 13:7 against Mumbai.

With this victory, Bjerre not only won the title for his team but also received a prize of $5,00,000. The overall fund for the tournament was $1 million.