City Chess Club Bhuj and Telugu Chess Warriors wins ACL Challengers League 2018

by Shahid Ahmed - 23/12/2018

Maestro Chess Academy Attackers needed to win with a margin of 2.5-1.5 against Dark Knight Chess Academy. However they lost by 1-3. That opened the window of opportunity for City Chess Club Bhuj. CCCB defeated Maestro Chess Academy Strikers 4-0 and became the ACL Challengers League 2018 champion in the unrated category. In the rated category, Telugu Chess Warriors played with only three members as Sarath Chandra was unable to recover before the finals. Still they played fantastic and beat much stronger team on the paper, d'pawn Chess Academy by 3-1 to clinch the title. The report contains the final round games, best game prize winners list, photos and many more.

CCCB and TCW wins the crown

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The logo of Academy Chess League by ChessBase India

The tournament takes place on Playchess server

City Chess Club Bhuj's ascension

After Dark Knight Chess Academy defeated Maestro Chess Academy Attackers by 3-1, that gave team CCCB a golden opportunity. First to win for CCCB was Prashant Joshi (Klunger) against Lohith (Lohith_vadapally)

Prashant Joshi picked up a quick win, just what his team CCCB needed | Photo: CCCB/Nirav Ganwani

Nirav Ganwani not only put the team together but he also performed when he was needed to | Photo: CCCB/Nirav Ganwani

Nakul Manjule had a topsy-turvy tournament but he won when it mattered the most | Photo: CCCB/Nirav Ganwani

Daksh Thacker has been the anchor of the team. He played some solid chess in all his games | Photo: CCCB/Nirav Ganwani

Despite having an unstable internet in the final match, Daksh did not give up and played till the end secure the much needed win for the team.

Round 7 results in unrated category:

9th Dec	Maestro Chess Academy Attackers	1-3	Dark Knight Chess Academy
	Dhruvan Reddy (Dhruvan2009)	0-1	Akshay Joglekar (AkshayJ)
	Amulya Bhagavathula (Amulya2009)	0-1	Shivank Mitra (Shivank_mitra)
	Aryan Tutiki (AryanT2010)	+-	Ashwath Viswanath (Ashwath Viswanath)
	Shaurya (shaurya9)	0-1	Eshaan Godbole (Eshaan)
10th Dec	Maestro Chess Academy Strikers	0-4	City Chess Club Bhuj
	Nrupad Krishna (Krish10)	0-1	Nirav Ganwani (Dragon emperor789)
	Srivallabhaditya Garimella (Adityagm)	0-1	Daksh Thacker (Dakshthacker8664)
	Lohith (Lohith_vadapally)	0-1	Prashant Joshi (Klunger)
	Hriday (Mhriday2010)	0-1	Nakul Manjule (Nakul233)
11th Dec	Maestro Chess Academy Fighters	3.5-0.5	d'pawn Chess Academy
	Aahlad Karthik (Karthik2005)	+-	Aastha Borakhade (Aastha_dpawn)
	Shreyas Reddy Palley (Shreyas_palley)	0.5-0.5	Deepanshu Wagh (Deepw)
	Amrutha Bhagavathula (Amrutha2007)	1-0	Mahika Dodeja (MyVardhan)
	Eshwar S Pratap (eshwars2009)	1-0	Himal Dodeja (MyLovlu)
12th Dec	Maestro Chess Academy Warriors	1-3	Bangalore Chess Academy - 2
	Jaya Hari Chandana (Jayahari)	-+	Sidhant V Vernekar (Sidhantvv)
	Chanikya Bellam (Chanikya)	0-1	Sai Krishna (Saikrish)
	Vansh Kabra (Vanshkabra21)	1-0	Ranak Saxena (Ranak)
	Aditya Sreeram (aditya sreeram)	0-1	Vedanth V Vernekar (Vedantha)

City Chess Club Bhuj's individual performance:

Nirav Ganwani - 5.0/7

Daksh Thacker - 5.0/7

Prashant Joshi - 6.0/7

Nakul Manjule - 3.0/6

Maestro Chess Academy Attackers started well but two draws and a loss in the last round cost them championship whereas Maestro Chess Academy Fighters fought back in the last three round and finished draw and two consecutive wins to finish at second position.

Champion - City Chess Club Bhuj

1st runner-up - Maestro Chess Academy Fighters

2nd runner-up - Maestro Chess Academy Attackers

Final Standings in Unrated category

Telugu Chess Warriors' domination

Kheerthi Ganta played some phenomenal chess in the league. In the final against Himanshu Chhabra of d'pawn Chess Academy, she managed to pick up the first win of the round and give the team a much needed momentum. TCW was playing with three members as Sarath Chandra was still suffering from illness.

Kheerthi Ganta maximized the opportunity of ACL as she beat a lot of strong players | Photo: TCW

If you get this position with white pieces in a final match, you are bound to feel that this position is lost, except Kheerthi did not feel so. She went on to not only save the game but also win from a losing position

Snehil Konatham scored an important victory and gave the team 2-1 lead when he defeated Pawan Dodeja of d'pawn Chess Academy | Photo: TCW

Black played 31...Rge7 to attack the e2 pawn. How would you react?

The captain of the team, Hari Charan Kalluri brought the title home when he defeated Akhilesh Nagare and secured a 3-1 victory for the team | Photo: TCW

Akhilesh played 8...Qa5 believing it to be a novelty which his opponent Hari Charan refuted properly

The d-pawn is in serious jeopardy. How should white react?

Hari Charan Kalluri played some fine chess to win the final round and the championship for the team. Hari gets the 'Best game of the round' prize for this game.

Results of final in Rated category:

13th Dec	TeluguChessWarriors (1609)	3-1	d'pawn Chess Academy (2225)
	Kheerthi Ganta (Candybond11)	1-0	Himanshu Chhabra (Chhabrachess)
	Sarath Chandra K (def987abc123)	-+	Rahul Verma (Rahul_dpawn)
	Haricharan Sai (Charan_13)	1-0	Nagare Akhilesh (Nagareakhilesh)
	Konatham Snehil (Snehilindia)	1-0	Pawan Dodeja (iamnotIM)

Telugu Chess Warriors' individual performance:

Kheerthi Ganta - 5.0/7

Sarath Chandra K - 1.5/6

Haricharan Sai Kalluri - 4.0/7

Snehil Konatham - 4.0/7

Champion - Telugu Chess Warriors

1st runner-up - d'pawn Chess Academy

2nd runner-up - Royal Knight Chess Academy

Best game of the round prize winners get 1 month ChessBase Premium account. The winners are:

Round 1 - Akhilesh Nagare of dpCA

Round 2 - Aakash-Dalvi Sharadchandra of Intermezzo

Round 3 - Hari Charan Kalluri of TCW

Round 4 - Kheerthi Ganta of TCW

Round 5 - Daksh Thacker of CCCB

Round 6 - Pawan Dodeja of dpCA

Round 7 - Hari Charan Kalluri of TCW

Fun fact: Both CCCB and TCW played the league with only 4 members and they did not substitute any of the team members for a single round.

Aim of the Academy Chess League:

There are many chess academies all over the world. However, in terms of playing practice and partners they are bounded by geographical limitations. The Academy Chess League by ChessBase India wants to overcome these limitations and barriers and ensure that academies, schools and institutions situated in one part of the world can compete against teams anywhere on the planet. The aim is to play high quality chess and that's why the time control of 45 minutes + 10 seconds has been decided. ACL is an initiative by ChessBase India that will be played online on the Playchess platform. Over 300 players from 50 institutions have registered with us for the 1st Super League that has begun from the 1st of July. The second league witnessed 15 teams consisting of about 100 players. ACL 2nd Super League will soon follow, so stayed tuned!

Want your team to take part in the next edition of ACL?

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