Abhimanyu Mishra commented on his time loss to Leon Luke Mendonca at the Global Chess League 2026. Mishra says he had an advantage in the game, and notes that Leon apologized to him.

Abhimanyu Mishra

Abhimanyu Mishra

American GM

“I had two or three seconds after I captured his Rook with a Queen promotion. When I promoted, I took the Queen and put it on the square, but somehow the Rook was still in that area.

The move wasn’t entirely completed. I had to retry with one second left, and I flagged.

I saw the entire line… I won the Queen. If I won this game, we would’ve won the match as well. It was a very drawn position earlier, and I managed to start an attack. It really sucks. It hurts. What can I say?

Leon apologized. This is not how anyone wants to win a game.”

Abhimanyu Mishra and Leon Luke Mendonca played in the first round of the 4th day. Mishra wanted to make a Queen promotion with a capture on move 48. He had 1 second left on his clock. In a rush, Abhimanyu made an illegal move. He dropped a captured rook onto the board and placed his new Queen on the wrong square.

Leon noticed the illegal move and called the arbiter. The arbiter ruled the move invalid and removed Mishra’s +2 increment for the move. This left Abhimanyu with 1 second on his clock to fix the move. Mishra did not manage to complete the Queen promotion in 1 second and lost on time.

Mishra’s loss proved decisive in the match between Ganges Grandmasters and PBG Alaskan Knights. Ganges Grandmasters won the match with a score of 12-8.

The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League 2026 takes place from September 5 to 13 in Bengaluru, India. Time control for the event is Rapid 20+0, with a 2-second increment from move 41.

Credit: ChessBase India X