It was the smiles that spoke a thousand words. Elite chess players are notorious for their poker faces. But on Thursday, the pair of Gukesh Dommaraju and Arjun Erigaisi returned to their team hotel after their match against Alpine SG Pipers sporting grins that stretched as wide as the Queen’s Necklace.
It was that kind of an occasion: for the first time since the Global Chess League (GCL) began five days ago, Gukesh and Arjun had won. Their team, the PBG Alaskan Knights, too, had won its first match of the third edition of the GCL after four defeats in a row that had left it moored to the bottom of the standings and had left it in a must-win situation. In fact, Thursday saw the first wins for any player of the PBG Alaskan Knights franchise.
In the previous four rounds, Gukesh had lost to Alireza Firouzja and Viswanathan Anand while being held to draws by Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on the Icon board, while Arjun had been held to draws by Vladislav Artemiev, Wei Yi, and Vincent Keymer before losing to Wesley So on the male superstars board. But on Thursday, Gukesh took down Fabiano Caruana while Arjun defeated Anish Giri.
Not just Gukesh and Arjun, there were other winners for the Knights team as well, with Leinier Dominguez Perez defeating Praggnanandhaa, and Kateryna Lagno taking down former women’s world champion and current women’s world no 1 Hou Yifan. The Pipers did win two clashes, with Nino Batsiashvilli and Leon Luke Mendonca claiming some consolation points for the star-heavy team.
Crowd erupts as @DGukesh beats Fabi
By @adityasurroy21#chess #gukesh #chessbaseindia pic.twitter.com/5dJgkEv9rE
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) December 18, 2025
Marine Drive walk
The comeback for the Knights started with the team taking a walk down the famous Marine Drive promenade in front of the team hotel, Gukesh revealed after the victory on Thursday.
“After a tough day, it was nice to just forget about chess for a while. We went out together as a team and reminded ourselves that we win and lose as a group. We spoke about different things, relaxed, and I genuinely had a lot of fun,” said the world champion to a gaggle of journalists in the mixed zone at Mumbai’s Opera House on Thursday.
“It’s a very special feeling to get my first win. From the start, we felt we were in control, but towards the end, a few things became tricky. When I looked at the other boards, I felt from the start that Lagno and Arjun were going to win, though I didn’t expect Daniel Dardha to lose. Dominguez’s game seemed about evenly poised, so I knew I had to push for a win. By then, I already had good chances, and my opponent was running low on time.”
That team walk down the Marine Drive had eased frayed nerves among the top stars of the team, Gukesh and Arjun, so much so that they were even sharing jokes before the clash against Alpine SG Pipers. Plenty of fans had come to the Opera House to catch the clash between the teams spearheaded by Gukesh and Arjun on one side and Pragg on the other side.
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“The cheering from fans today (before and after the match) was incredibly loud — louder than any other day so far. Seeing so many kids in the crowd really motivated me. I felt I couldn’t afford to play below my level. A lot of coaches had come with their students from different academies. Before the game, Arjun and I even joked that since so many people were here, it was time to start winning.” And that’s exactly what Gukesh, Arjun, and the PBG Alaskan Knights did.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd