Chess Super League Playoffs: Kingslayers, Pivotal Pawns To Clash In Sunday's Final
The Kingslayers and Pivotal Pawns will play the finals of the Chess Super League on Sunday. Two more teams were eliminated from the event: the Brutal Bishops and Ruthless Rooks ended their campaigns in third and fourth positions respectively.
The games of the Chess Super League can be found here as part of our live events platform.
Qualifier 1: Kingslayers vs. Pivotal Pawns: 4-3 (After Armageddon)
| Bo. | Fed | 1 | Pivotal Pawns | Rtg | 3 - 3 | 2 | Fed | The Kingslayers | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Ding, Liren | 2799 | 1 - 0 | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | 2620 | ||
| 1.2 | GM | Gupta, Abhijeet | 2628 | ½ - ½ | GM | Giri, Anish | 2774 | ||
| 1.3 | GM | Abdumalik, Zhansaya | 2507 | 1 - 0 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | 2524 | ||
| 1.4 | IM | Kulkarni, Bhakti | 2388 | 0 - 1 | IM | Soumya, Swaminathan | 2351 | ||
| 1.5 | GM | Arjun, Kalyan | 2537 | 0 - 1 | GM | Gukesh, D | 2640 | ||
| 1.6 | WIM | Savitha, Shri B | 2281 | ½ - ½ | WIM | Arpita, Mukherjee | 2229 |
The Kingslayers and Pivotal Pawns played Qualifier 1, meaning the winning team heads straight to the final while the losing team gets a second chance in the second semi-final. This topsy-turvy match had plenty of action moments with each team having an upper head at some stage. After the smoke had settled, the match ended in 3-3, meaning that we needed armageddon to decide the first finalist.
In the tiebreaker, GM Sethuraman SP of the Kingslayers beat the birthday boy GM Abhijeet Gupta to ensure their final progression and forcing the Pivotal Pawns to another match.
Eliminator: Brutal Bishops vs. Ruthless Rooks: 3.5-2.5
| Bo. | Fed | 4 | Brutal Bishops | Rtg | 3½ - 2½ | 3 | Fed | Ruthless Rooks | Rtg |
| 2.1 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2726 | 1 - 0 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | 2630 | ||
| 2.2 | GM | Wang, Hao | 2744 | 0 - 1 | GM | Radjabov, Teimour | 2763 | ||
| 2.3 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2518 | 1 - 0 | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | 2511 | ||
| 2.4 | IM | Karavade, Eesha | 2345 | 0 - 1 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2533 | ||
| 2.5 | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | 2555 | 1 - 0 | IM | Raja, Harshit | 2494 | ||
| 2.6 | WFM | Tarini, Goyal | 2164 | ½ - ½ | WFM | Salonika, Saina | 2206 |
The Brutal Bishops and the Ruthless Rooks ended in third and fourth places after a 3-3 tie in the last league match. They clashed again in the eliminator. The winner would face Pivotal Pawns while the loser is eliminated.
The Rooks made a swap while the Bishops played their starting line-up. An exciting match saw the Bishops qualifying with the smallest of margins:
Qualifier 2: Pivotal Pawns vs. Brutal Bishops: 4-2
| Bo. | Fed | 1 | Pivotal Pawns | Rtg | 4 - 2 | 4 | Fed | Brutal Bishops | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Gupta, Abhijeet | 2628 | 0 - 1 | GM | Wang, Hao | 2744 | ||
| 1.2 | GM | Ding, Liren | 2799 | ½ - ½ | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2726 | ||
| 1.3 | IM | Kulkarni, Bhakti | 2388 | 1 - 0 | IM | Karavade, Eesha | 2345 | ||
| 1.4 | GM | Abdumalik, Zhansaya | 2507 | 1 - 0 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2518 | ||
| 1.5 | GM | Arjun, Kalyan | 2537 | ½ - ½ | GM | Sadhwani, Raunak | 2555 | ||
| 1.6 | WIM | Savitha, Shri B | 2281 | 1 - 0 | WFM | Tarini, Goyal | 2164 |
After all the earlier tension and drama, this match would decide the second finalist. The importance and coverage of this match were enhanced when the 13th world champion Garry Kasparov himself joined the live stream to provide his thoughts.
The Pivotal Pawns cashed in their second chance thanks to their top-two finish in the league stage, while the Brutal Bishops had momentum on their side having won the eliminator just 10 minutes earlier. The Pawns' women boards were pivotal for the win as all three of them scored wins in spite of being underrated on every board!
All games day 6
The Chess Super League will continue with the playoff and finals on Saturday and Sunday. The games are played with a time control of 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment. The total prize fund of the event is Rs.40 lakh (U.S. $54,000).
Previous posts:
- Chess Super League R5: Krazy Knights, Quintessential Queens Knocked Out
- Chess Super League R4: Draw Drama
- Chess Super League R3: 3-Way Tie For 1st Place
- Chess Super League R2: Brutal Bishops Take Slim Lead
- Chess Super League Gets Underway With Sparkling Indian Vibe
- Chess Super League To Start October 11 On Chess.com
Rakesh Kulkarni is the Director of Indian Social Media for Chess.com and a correspondent on chess in India.
Rakesh has earned the International Master title and is a former Commonwealth Blitz Champion and a Commonwealth Bronze medallist in the junior category. Rakesh has a Masters of Commerce degree in Management & Business administration. He now is a professional chess player and trains young talents across the globe on chess.com
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