Gukesh vs Hikaru Nakamura (GCL Photo)

NEW DELHI: Mumba Masters secured a commanding victory against Ganges Grandmasters with a score of 17-4, winning four out of six boards on the opening day of the Global Chess League (GCL).At Mumbai’s Royal Opera House, defending champions Triveni Continental Kings began their title defence with a 9-7 victory over Alpine SG Pipers.

The GCL Season 3 opener featured a notable clash between Alireza Firouzja and Fabiano Caruana. Caruana chose an aggressive Sicilian Dragon as Black but the strategy backfired as Firouzja gained control and secured victory in the endgame.Pipers’ Nino Batsiashvili scored the season’s first points by defeating Alexandra Kosteniuk with Black pieces. Kings countered through Wei Yi’s victory over Anish Giri in a Vienna Game.The matches between Vidit Gujrathi and R Praggnanandhaa, Zhu Jiner and World No.1 Hou Yifan, and Marc’Andria Maurizzi and Leon Mendonca all ended in draws. Firouzja earned Player of the Match honours.“I feel happy that we won. Wei Yi also deserves this (MOTM award). I’ll share it when I go back. I remember we had a very good run last year, and we have to defend (the title) now. Our opponents (Pipers) were one of the strongest teams; they have so many great players. To get this win was important,” Firouzja said.In the Mumba Masters versus Ganges Grandmasters match, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Viswanathan Anand playing with Black pieces. Masters gained early advantage when Bardiya Daneshvar won against Raunak Sadhwani. Wesley So and Vincent Keymer’s game ended in a draw with perpetual check. Harika Dronavalli and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov secured wins for the Masters.Polina Shuvalova scored the only win for Grandmasters by defeating Koneru Humpy. Harika and Mamedyarov’s victories sealed the dominant performance for Masters, with GCL newcomer So receiving Man of the Match honours. In the day’s final match, Alaskan Knights faced American Gambits in an intense board-by-board contest.The highlight was the game between Gukesh and Hikaru Nakamura, where Gukesh maintained consistent pressure in a tactical battle, but Nakamura managed to secure a draw.Teodora Injac claimed a crucial victory, while other boards saw close draws.The decisive game featured Leinier Dominguez against Richard Rapport, with Rapport securing the win to give the Gambits an 8-5 victory.Teodora Injac was named Player of the Match for her performance.Monday’s schedule includes American Gambits facing Mumba Masters, followed by SG Pipers versus Ganges Grandmasters. The day will conclude with Alaskan Knights taking on defending champions Triveni Continental Kings.

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NEW DELHI: In every organisation, be it government or private, increment in an employee’s salary is an annual affair. Not in Supreme Court, where CJIs, on the eve of retirement and irrespective of length of tenure, used discretionary powers to sanction multiple increments to a select few employees.Those who had been Chief Justice of India for a short tenure, too, granted two or three increments in addition to the annual one in salaries to employees — mainly the chief justice’s personal staff or those who had performed exceptionally well and displayed organisational skills.While all 2,000-odd employees received at least two to three additional increments in their pay scale in the last four years, there were some lucky ones in CJIs’ good books who earned as many as six additional increments to get 150% of what should have been their salaries in the normal course.To correct the anomaly in pay scales and salaries of employees caused by discretionary sanctioning of increments, former CJI B R Gavai had called a full court meeting of all judges to discuss the issue. Most judges felt neither was SC a kingdom nor CJI a king to distribute increment largesse to a select few.After a detailed deliberation, the full court decided to stop this practice and withdraw discretionary increments given to employees in the last few years. It was also decided that discretionary allotment of increments would henceforth be decided in the full court, sources told TOI.Those who had got additional increments, apart from annual increments given every year, suddenly discovered their salaries had been reduced considerably. It came as a shock to those who had planned their budgets based on the increased salary — like taking house or vehicle loans that had to be repaid through EMIs.Some of those who had put in additional work and performed exceptionally well to get the increments said their monthly salaries were reduced considerably, in some cases up to Rs 40,000, and vented their ire against one or two registrars who, according to them, briefed the then CJI incorrectly on the issue.TOI spoke to a cross-section of employees, the majority of whom said that it would have been better had SC adjusted the additional increments against future annual increments. That would have kept their salaries intact and enabled them to maintain household budgets and investments in houses or vehicles.

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KOLKATA: Hours after the Lionel Messi show at Salt Lake Stadium spiralled into chaos, Kolkata Police on Saturday arrested event organiser Satadru Dutta, stopping him from leaving the city amid mounting anger over the aborted programme and allegations of mismanagement. Police action unfolded at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, where Dutta had accompanied Messi and his Inter Miami teammates ahead of the next leg of the GOAT India Tour 2025.

Senior officers intervened after receiving instructions that the organiser should not be allowed to fly out of Kolkata.Dutta reached the airport around 12.25pm, completed security formalities and boarded the aircraft at 12.40pm. Minutes later, director general of police Rajeev Kumar arrived and directed that Dutta be restrained from leaving the city, officials said.

Image Credit: TOI

Witnesses said Dutta was asked to deplane around 1pm and was kept inside a vehicle on the tarmac as police decided on the next course of action. During this period, he allegedly tried to negotiate with officers, first denying responsibility for the Salt Lake Stadium fiasco and later offering to furnish a personal bond assuring refunds to nearly 60,000 spectators.Also read: Who is Satadru Dutta? Organiser behind Messi’s chaotic Kolkata show“He said the fans would be refunded and insisted he needed to travel with the footballers for the rest of the tour. But police made it clear he would not be allowed to leave,” an official present at the airport said.The Gulfstream executive jet eventually took off at 2.34pm for Hyderabad with seven passengers instead of eight after the pilot declined to delay the flight any longer, air traffic control officials said.

At a press briefing later in the day, ADGP (law and order) Jawed Shamim confirmed police action, saying “processes are on and investigations are on”.‘A Satadru Dutta Initiative’Dutta had promoted the Salt Lake event as “A Satadru Dutta Initiative”. The programme collapsed soon after Messi entered the stadium, with dozens of officials, organisers and selfie-seekers crowding the football star, blocking the view of spectators in the stands.Nearly 60,000 fans, many of whom had paid between Rs 5,000 and Rs 16,000, were left angry and disappointed as Messi exited early. Scenes of disorder followed, with food packets and plastic bottles hurled onto the ground.“When you buy a Rs 16,000 ticket, you expect at least a clear view of Messi. We have been scammed,” said Soumyadeep Ghosh of Kalighat, holding a torn hospitality ticket.As Messi and his teammates flew out of Kolkata, the organiser who had billed the event as his own initiative remained behind — under police custody — as investigators began probing what went wrong.