MCL Eliminators: Jalgaon Battlers vs. Pune Sangli Navigators!

MCL Eliminators: Jalgaon Battlers vs. Pune Sangli Navigators!

In highly entertaining encounters, Jalgaon Battlers and Pune Sangli Navigators stormed into the finals of the Persistent 4^th Maharashtra Chess League which is in the concluding stages at PYC Hindu Gymkhana. The format of the eliminator round was very similar to the one applied in the Indian Premier League (Cricket).

The top two teams in the league standings face each other in a Qualifier 1 match, the winner getting a direct entry to the Finals. The third and the fourth team in the league standings play an eliminator match, with the loser going out of the tournament and the winner of the Eliminator playing the second qualifier with the loser of the first qualifier. The winner of this second qualifier then proceeds to the finals.

The standings at the end of the league stage (Checkers and Combatants elminated):

Pune TruMasters vs. Mumbai Movers 9 (Eliminator)

The talented Harshit Raja of Pune TruMasters and GM Diptayan Ghosh of Mumbai Movers settled for a draw, and as did WFM Rucha Pujari and Rakesh Kulkarni of Movers. The remaining players traded blows:

White has a pleasant position but here, Mumbai Movers' Vaishali R. noticed that she could pick the e5 pawn with 31. Bxe5. What she had missed was 31... Re8!, losing at least a piece. Pune TruMasters went a point ahead.

IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni was shuffling around in a completely locked position. A draw here would mean that Pune TruMasters qualify to the second qualifier. But Eesha blundered! Vikramadity picked his point, and the match was tied 3.0-3.0!

This meant that an armageddon match would take place between Pune TruMasters and Mumbai Movers to determine who would proceed to the second qualifier. In an armageddon, the white player must win to win the game and has five minutes on his clock, meanwhile, the black player gets four minutes, but a draw would suffice to win the game, and the match!

The situation in the tournament hall was tense. The though on everybody's mind, who would come forward to play the armageddon match? As was expected, Abhijeet Gupta took the responsibility for the Mumbai Movers team, while S.P. Sethuraman came forward to represent the Pune TruMasters.

The players took their seats — Gupta was playing white and had to win with five minutes on the clock while Sethu only needed a draw, but with the black pieces and four minutes to think. The arbiters flagged off the game, and thus began the race against time:

The arbiters informed Gupta that he has lost due to a technicality — as he placed his queen on a6, he out of inertia just pressed the clock while his queen was still had fallen down. He placed the queen properly after pressing the clock. Sethuraman won the game, and Pune TruMaster qualified to the second qualifier, while Mumbai Movers got eliminated.

Jalgaon Battlers vs. Pune Sangli NOK-99 Navigators (Qualifier 01)

The last time these two teams facedin the league stages, the Battlers had handed the Navigaotrs a thrashing. But things became extremely tight in this qualifier match. GM S.L. Narayanan and Mary Ann Gomes fought unil the end but could only draw.

Therefore, the first qualifier, with a direct spot in the finals to the winner, also ended in a tie. the armageddon match was set up and GM B. Adhiban stepped up for the Navigators. He had the white pieces and five minutes on the clock, but he had to win at any cost. For Jalgaon Battlers, the choice was tough but IM N. Srinath decided to take the responsibility of defending the black side with four minutes on the clock, but a  draw sufficing to win the match and qualify for the finals.

Strangely, both the armageddon games were decided by the same technicality. With so much pressure on the players, the time ticking down, and people in such numbers watchingyou live, things can become tricky.

The Jalgaon Battlers, thus, qualified straightaway to the finals. The Pune Sangli Navigators now had to play Pune TruMasters, the winner of the Eliminator. The winner of this second qualifier would book the finals spot to play against the Jalgaon Battlers for the title.

Pune Sangli NOK-99 Navigators vs. Pune TruMasters

The Qualifier 2, in contrast, was a one-sided affair with debutants Pune Sangli Navigators defeating Pune TruMasters 4.5-1.5. Abhijit Kunte, B Adhiban, Mary Ann Gomes and Aditya Udeshi emerged victories while Sethuraman scored the lone victory for Pune TruMasters.

Finals: