Maharashtra Chess League to begin from June 11 in Pune

NAGPUR: The third edition of the Maharashtra Chess League (MCL) will be held from June 11 to 16 at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana in Pune. Six franchise teams will vie for top honours in the week-long competition.
Two teams from Pune, one each from Mumbai, Jalgaon, Thane and Ahmednagar will compete in the lucrative tourney, organized by the Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA).
Jalgaon Battlers were the champions last year beating Thane Combatants in the final, while Ahmednagar Checkers had finished third.
For the second consecutive year there will be no team from Nagpur. In the inaugural edition in 2013, MCL had Nagpur team, owned by Gaikwad-Patil Group. But this year there was no taker for Nagpur franchise despite MCA trying hard for it.
MCA secretary Dilip Pagay is not happy with the fact that there is no city team in MCL. Being a Nagpurian, he wanted one team from his home city.
"I am totally disappointed with the way our so called super rich sports organizers and businessmen treated us. They are not bothered about developing chess in Nagpur. They make big talk but when sponsoring the sport events are concerned they just refuse to give money," said Pagay.
He added that Koneru Humpy got the maximum price as Mumbai Movers shelled out Rs 1.52 lakh for her. Jalgaon Battlers paid Rs 1.33 lakh for young Vidit Gujarathi during the auction held in Mumbai.
Vidarbha's Swapnil Dhopade got a good price of Rs 79,200. He will represent Pune Attackers. Grandmasters MR Venkatesh, International Masters Padmini Rout and MS Tejkumar will be his teammates.
The 24-year-old Amravati youngster, who got Rs 72,900 last year, was retained by his franchise as he played well last year.
"The team manager asked me if I want to play for them this year too. I agreed to their proposal. I'm happy that I was the highest paid among the IMs. I will give my best and try to live up to the expectations of my owners," said Dhopade, who is an employee of Railways.
Dhopade, who is trying hard to become GM, has three GM norms and has Elo rating of 2453. "I need another 47 points necessary to become GM. I am trying to earn some vital points during the Mayor's Cup international chess tournament which will be held Mumbai's Goregaon Sports Club from June 2 to 9," said Dhopade.
Lat year, Dhopade's Pune Attackers did not qualify for semifinals and finished fifth. He got a chance to play in three matches. He drew two and won one.
The Six MCL Teams
Mumbai Movers: GM Koneru Humpy, GM Vaibhav Suri, IM Diptayan Ghosh, IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni, Rakesh Kulkarni, Shyalmali Gagare.
Pune Truemasters: GM Abhijeet Kunte, GM SP Seturaman, WGM Swati Ghate, WGM: Merry Ann Gomes, IM Swayams Mishra, Abhishek Kelkar, Shashikant Kutwal.
Jalgaon Battlers: GM Vidit Gujarathi, GM B Adhiban, IM Srinath Narayanan, WGM Kiran Mohanty, Nubershah Shaikh, Rutuja Bakshi.
Ahmednagar Checkers: GM Abhijit Gupta, GM M Shyamsunder, IM SL Narayanan, IM Shardul Gagare, Rucha Pujari, Akansha Hagavane, Pratik Patil, NR Vignesh.
Pune Attackers: GM MR Venkatesh, IM Padmini Rout, IM Swapnil Dhopade, IM MS Tejkumar, Pranali Dhariya, Aniruddha Deshpande.
Thane Combatants: WGM Isha Karawade, GM Arvind Chidambaram, GM MR Lalitbabu, WGM Soumya Swaminathan, IM K Ratnakaran, Abhimanyu Puranik, Chinmay Kulkarni.