The modest Danish grandmaster Jonas Buhl Bjerre became the hero of the first Global Chess League draw

The debut draw of the Global Chess League, a new competition of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), in which so-called franchises made up of male and female chess stars took part, will be remembered primarily for its exceptionally dramatic ending. The final confrontation reached the stage of “sudden death”, and its hero was the young Dane Jonas Buhl Bjerre, who had been losing game after game, who defeated the Uzbek grandmaster Zhavokhir Sindarov and brought victory to his Triveni Continental Kings team.

An ambitious project with a prize fund of $1 million, launched by the International Chess Federation in partnership with Tech Mahindra, has brought together a lot of players with sonorous names. The debut tournament, which was held in Dubai, featured six “franchise” teams, each with at least two or three real superstars. But after the final, one of the few chess players who participated in the Global Chess League turned out to be in the spotlight, the existence of which before it was hardly known to the average fan, who only follows what is happening at the top level.

Jonas Buhl Bjerre is 19 years old. Formally, of course, he is still very young, but several grandmasters even younger than the Dane played in Dubai at once, but already having a bright track record and constantly competing – and often quite successfully – with the elite.

Bjerre has not had any notable achievements so far, and his rating – 2624 – looked quite clumsy against the background of the ratings of the vast majority of other players.

But he was lucky to find himself in the Triveni Continental Kings team, which in the Global Chess League impressed everyone with its vitality. She got off to a bad start in the preliminary stage, sinking to the bottom of the standings, and in addition she lost an important link. Each “franchise” consisted of six players, among whom there must be two women. In Triveni, these slots were filled by the famous Russian Ekaterina Lahno and the experienced Georgian Nana Dzagnidze. But Dzagnidze withdrew during the tournament due to “personal reasons”, and she had to be replaced by a less experienced Iranian chess player Sarah Khadem. In general, the commentators who worked for the Global Chess League already wanted to bury the six, the leader of which was Levon Aronian, the Armenian grandmaster representing the United States.

But Triveni delivered a splendid preliminary stage finish, winning four matches in a row. And it was not she who was unhooked from the final, but Alpine Warriors, which were quoted much higher with the leader of the world ranking Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, Balan Alaskan Knights with Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, who fought in the last two matches for the world title – with Carlsen and Chinese Ding Liren, Ganges Grandmasters with Carlsen’s predecessor on the chess throne, Indian Viswanathan Anand. And Triveni’s rival in the final confrontation was the UpGrad Mumba Masters team, in which the leading roles belonged to the Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and the Russian Alexander Grischuk, who, as it happened, was forced to compete with his wife Lahno. And here the most interesting thing began, something that, in comparison with which the rather entertaining ups and downs of the preliminary stage could seem like a terrible fresh stuff.

The main part of the final was two meetings in rapid chess – with control, used in the regular season. If someone had the upper hand in both, the next stage would not be needed. But the “franchises” exchanged victories. Consequently, we had to move on to a two-round skirmish already in the blitz. But even here it was a draw. So the matter has reached the final stage, stipulated by the rules.

It was called “sudden death”. But comparisons with a football penalty shoot-out are also suitable – at the moment when the opponents have already dealt five hits and the shootout goes to the first miss. At this stage, in order to determine the pairs of opponents, the numbers of the boards were chosen by lot.

Opening the “tie-break in a tie-break” fell to the fifth numbers – Sarah Khadem and Indian chess player Harika Dronavalli. The party taxied to a peaceful outcome, the round continued. Behind the girls, number two sat down at the board, and Alexander Grischuk saved the most difficult position against the Chinese Yu Yangyi. Then it was the turn of Ekaterina Lahno and Koneru Hampi, Dronavalli’s compatriot. Lahno found herself in a position that was not just difficult, like her husband’s, but practically lost, but she got out. So the lot had to be drawn again, and when it turned out that sixth numbers would play, anyone who watched the final must have decided that Triveni was doomed.

Uzbek grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov is younger than Jonas Buhl Bjerre, he is 17, but his rating is three dozen points higher, and two years ago this chess player made a huge contribution to the triumph of his team at the World Chess Olympiad. But the main thing is that Bjerre lost four times to Sindarov in Dubai.

Then the Dane said that Aronian had cheered him up before the game. “Just fight,” he said to his supposedly no chance, especially in black, partner. And Bjerre fought in the sharp Sicilian Defense.

It came to a tricky endgame that looked equal. In any case, that’s how it was in the opinion of Sindarov, who offered a draw. But Bjerre, for whom a draw was, in theory, for happiness, refused it, shocking all the spectators. And soon Sindarov, rounding his eyes, looked at how his king, wandering to the edge of the board, climbed into a box of other people’s pieces and ran into a mate.

Alexey Dospekhov