Maharashtra Chess League: Goel Ganga's Pune Attackers Wins Title

Pune Attackers, owned by the Goel Ganga Group, clinched the inaugural Johnson Tiles Maharashtra Chess League 2013 by defeating Jalgaon Battlers owned by Jain Irrigation 3.5-2.5 in the finals here today.

Aggressive play and some smart board order had the Pune Attackers cruising comfortably without any hiccups.  The six-team event, which was played at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana, started as a round robin league and saw Pune Attackers, Jalgaon Battlers, Ahmednagar Checkers and Nagpur Royals advancing to the semi-finals.

In the knock-out stage Pune Attackers and Jalgaon Battlers triumphed to reach the finals. Pune Coach IM D V Prasad fielded Padmini Rout, Lalith Babu and Amardeep Bartakke with white pieces, while Jalgaon Battlers opted to field their stronger players with the whites. 

Lalith Babu opened the Pune account with a decisive victory against WGM Meenakshi S wnning after 45 moves. Padmini Rout also scored a superb hit with the White pieces, defeating Sameer Kathmale after 59 moves of a Caro-Kann Defence. 

Akshayraj Kore, Pune's star player interestingly played with blacks against talented teenager N Srinath and the game ended in a draw after 95 moves. 

Swati Ghate also rose magnificiently to the occasion with the black pieces and held higher ranked S Narayanan to a draw after 56 moves. In fact the only move that backfired for the Pune Attackers was the loss of Himashu Sharma with the lack pieces to young GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi. Amardeep Bartakke also helped Pune's cause by holding higher rated IM Eesha Karavade to a draw after appearing in an inferior position for most part of the game. The award for the Best Player of the League was won by Ahmednager Checkers player, GM M R Venkatesh, who scored a superb 7/7, which was a fine achievement considering the presence of high elo and titles in the event. Teenage WGM Padmini Rout (photo left) of Pune Attackers was adjudged the best woman player. (PTI)

Team Pune Attackers: Introduction

The team is led by 20-year-old Commonwealth Chess Champion Lalith Babu (2565) hailing from Andhra Pradesh. Pune also bid to obtain 24-year-old IM Akshayraj Kore (2512), 19-year-old Padmini Rout (2347), former women's national champion 33-year-old Swati Ghate (2260), Himanshu Sharma (2403) and Amardeep Bartakke. Pune had six players without any reserve so their team members had to play all the rounds. It was compulsory to field two women players in each team, so Pune Attackers did well to have two WGMs.

Murlimohan Chess Benefit Tournament u1800 May 3-7

The Tamil Nadu State Chess Association is organising Muralimohan Benefit All India FIDE Rating Chess Tournament (for Below 1800 Rating) at Velammal School, Mogappair, Chennai-37 from 4th to 7th May 2013. The Total prize fund is Rs.3,00,000/-. Entry fees Rs.2000/2300/2500. Out station players will be provided free lodging, like dormitory type class rooms. 

 This is a benefit tournament for Mr.K.Muralimohan (former TNSCA general secretary, international arbiter, renowned chess player, chess coach and chess author. He is suffering from cancer. The TNSCA is organising the tournament to benefit him with his treatment, recover and return to chess. We request all chess lovers to try and participate in this tournament. Read the complete prospect at this link.

Mah. Chess League from April 24

Maharashtra Chess League owners with World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly, one of the biggest names in Indian chess, became the most valuable player at the player auction for the Johnson Tiles Maharashtra Chess League. Ganguly, with a base price of Rs 90,000, was bought by Thane Combatants for Rs 1,15,000, a media release said today. The MCL, conceptualised on the lines of the Indian Premier League, would be played from April 24 to 29 at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana.

Participating teams are Pune Attackers, Ahmednagar Checkers, Mumbai Movers, Nagpur Royals, Jalgaon Battlers and Thane Combatants. Each team will play the other five teams once, and the top four teams would make it to the semi-finals. The MCL will be played on a rapid-chess format with games lasting for just 25 minutes. 

G Akash of Chess Gurukul, Chennai is Youngest-Ever National Chess Champion; Breaks Vishy Anand's Record!

KOLKATA: Untitled G Akash, who celebrated his 16th birthday on October 1, the opening day of the Tata National Premier Chess Championship, is the country's youngest-ever national chess champion. He earned the title with a draw against GM Deep Sengupta in the final round on Sunday. He tallied 9 points out of a possible 13, and at 16 years and 14 days became the youngest-ever champion in the tournament's history. 

Vidit, Akash and Arun on the podium. others from left: IM Atanu Lahiri, Sec. WB Adhoc Committee, R. Anantharam Chief Arbiter, PK Bannerjee former foot ball olympian, Hon. Commerce Minister Partho Chatterjee, DV Sundar, FIDE Vice President, GM Dibyendu Barua, Ambar Singh from TATA

G Akash studies chess at Chess Gurukul in Chennai. The chess school is nurtured by GM RB Ramesh and his wife WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy. In fact, Ram Aravind of Chess Gurukul has also won the National 9 with a perfect 10/10 score. He won the title with a round to spare. 

Eye Hospital Conducts Free Surgeries in World Chess Champion Anand's Honour

CHENNAI: In a unique honour for five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, a private eye hospital of the city has conducted 100 cataract operations on needy patients in the name of the chess wizard. During the felicitation function, Anand was visibly flattered by the honour.

"This initiative is of a different level compared to my world champion crown of the elite game of 64-squares," he said. "But, I want to say that this is almost a bit flattering to have this done in my name, because, I think you cannot even compare what happiness we provide in sports and what they (hospital) have done."

Anand was emotionally overwhelmed and said: "It's an incredible honour to know that I have some connection and a personal touch with these 100 people. I am very glad." Talking about the initiative of Agarwal Eye Hospitals here, the chess prodigy said, "I think it isremarkable that they (the hospital authorities) are doing this for so many decades. That is fantastic commitment. We need many many more such initiatives."

Rucha Pujari Wins National Junior Girls Chess Championship 2012 in Ajmer

National Junior Girls
Chess Champion 2012: Rucha Pujari

Ajmer, Rajasthan - WFM Rucha Pujari of Maharashtra won the 27th National Junior girls Chess Championship which was held in Ajmer from September 2-11, 2012. Rucha scored nine points out of eleven rounds, half point ahead of her nearest rivals. She lost one game, drew two and won eight games including her victory over top seed WGM Padmini Rout of Orissa.

She won the tournament convincingly taking the lead from the beginning. Rucha told Chess Magazine Black & White: "This title means a lot to me. After nine rounds I was leading the field with 1.5 points and then I lost and everything came down to one game. The last game was decisive and I managed to keep calm and to win the game and title." Rucha is also an Asian junior chess bronze medallist and former national challengers champion. 

Bhakti Kulkarni is Goa's First WGM

Bhakti Kulkarni became Goa's first Woman Grandmaster (WGM) after the World Chess Federation officially cleared her title at 83rd FIDE Congress in Istanbul. 

Bhakti secured three norms, necessary to qualify for the coveted title, through Marienbad Open in Czech Republic in January last year, Asian Junior Girls under-20 at Sri Lanka in June 2011 and Caissa International in Hungary in September last year.

"I am very happy to become Goa's first Woman Grandmaster," an elated Bhakti said. "It's a dream of every chess player to achieve this feat and I am glad that I could finally do it. "I will now strive hard to achieve IM (International Master) and IGM (International Grandmaster) titles," Bhakti said.