Global Chess League 2025: Hou Yifan on comeback trail, Triveni Continental Kings through to third final in a row
One could say Hou Yifan bombed in the first half of the Global Chess League, winning only one of her six games, drawing two more, and losing three.
However, later she went on to win three games on the trot, two of them on Sunday, in front of a capacity crowd at the Royal Opera House.
Her splendid show, with black pieces in both games, has brightened the chances of the Alpine SG Pipers to make it to the final of the third season of the League.
The match against upGrad Mumba Masters pitted Hou against her old rival Koneru Humpy, whom she had beaten for her second World title back in 2011. Then she came across Bibisara Assaubayeva, who has been a solid performer for Fyers American Gambits. The former World rapid and blitz champion hadn’t lost a single game, but she was outwitted by Hou’s endgame.
The two match victories have taken the SG Pipers to the second spot on the table. The team presently has 15 match points and 78 game points, but it is well behind the Triveni Continental Kings. The defending champion, in fact, made it to the final yet again, with a match to spare, after its 14-5 victory against Ganges Grandmasters. It has 21 match points and 92 game points.
Three teams are going into the last day of the League on 12 match points—Mumba Masters (83 game points), Ganges Grandmasters (71), and Alaskan Knights (62).
RESULTS
upGrad Mumba Masters lost to PBG Alaskan Knights 8-10 (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave bt D. Gukesh; Wesley So drew with Arjun Erigaisi; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov lost to Leinier Dominguez; Koneru Humpy drew with Kateryna Lagno; D. Harika lost to Sarasadat Khademalsharieh; Bardiya Daneshvar bt Daniel Dardha)
Fyers American Gambits lost to Alpine SG Pipers 7-8 (Hikaru Nakamura drew with Fabiano Caruana; Vladislav Artmiev drew with Anish Giri; Richard Rapport drew with R. Praggnanandhaa; Bibisara Assaubayeva lost to Hou Yifan; Teodora Injac drew with Nino Batsiashvili; Volodar Murzin bt Leon Mendonca).
Ganges Grandmasters lost to Triveni Continental Kings 5-14 (Viswanathan Anand lost to Alireza Firouzja; Vincent Keymer drew with Wei Yi; Jovakhir Sindarov bt Vidit Gujrathi; Polina Shuvalova lost to Zhu Jiner; Stavroula Tsolakidou lost to Alexandra Kosteniuk; Raunak Sadhwani drew with MarcAndria Maurizzi).
upGrad Mumba Masters lost to Alpine SG Pipers 7-8 (Vachier-Lagrave drew with Caruana; So drew with Giri; Mamedyarov drew with Praggnanandhaa; Humpy lost to Hou; Harika drew with Batsiashvili; Daneshvar bt Mendonca).
(The writer is in Mumbai on the invitation of Tech Mahindra)
Published on Dec 21, 2025