Nagpur, Oct 24
In a major boost to the state chess fraternity, Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA) is pondering reviving the franchise-based chess league' Maharashtra Chess League (MCL) and the discussion in this regard was held in an executive committee meeting of the association at Pune on Sunday.
It may be mentioned here that Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA) was the first chess body in the entire country that introduced the franchised-based chess league on the line of Indian Premier League (IPL) to add some glamour to the game of wit. It was successfully continued for four years till 2016 but then due to disaffiliation and dispute in the state body, the tournament didn't take place. As far as Nagpur is concerned, on its debut year, Gaikwad Patil Group had fielded the team 'Gaikwad Patil Nagpur Royals' in 2013 comprising GM Sahaj Grover, Abhishek Kelkar, Chinmay Kulkarni, Soumya Swaminathan, Swapnil Dhopade, Shweta Gole and Tejas Bakare. After that, there was no team from the Orange City that had participated in the league. However, the revival of the tournament can give a good opportunity to the city chess players like GM Raunak Sadhwani, WGM Divya Deshmukh, IM Sankalp Gupta who are at present doing well at international-level.
During the meeting, the discussion was also held on GM tournament which has been allotted to Maharashtra. Pune is likely to host the tournament.
As per information, during the meeting, the stress was given on organizing more and more on-board chess tournaments since there is no Covid curbs in the state. For one and half years the online chess activities were organised but since the situation has improved a lot, the MCA executive committee has appealed to the district units to conduct offline tournaments. The coaching camps with the help of All India Chess Federation (AICF) will be conducted in all the parts of the district.
Best opportunity to upcoming players: GM Kunte
Senior vice-president of the MCA GM Abhijit Kunte has confirmed the development and said the MCL will offer a good opportunity to the upcoming players. While talking to Lokmat Times he said, “ More than experienced players the league will be beneficial for upcoming players because they will get the chance to play with star players.”. Kunte said the format of the tournament will be rapid and there may be some minor changes in rules and regulations. He also appreciated the performance of Nagpur players who are doing well at internaitonal-level.
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