ACL 1st Super League 2018: All Semi-finalists revealed

by Shahid Ahmed - 01/08/2018

ICA, MCA, DCA and TCAA are the semi-finalists in Rating 1000-1400 category. The semi-finalists for Rating 1400-1800 category are MCA, MCC, DBCA and ICA. In 1800-2200 category which contains IMs in various teams, the semi-finalists are, PKCCE, DBCA, dpCA and OCR. Reigning National Blitz Champion IM D K Sharma represented PKCCE, IM Abhishek Kelkar played for KCA, IM Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad was in SPACE and IM Swayams Mishra made his ACL debut to cover for his student Sankalp Gupta's absence as a wild card. In this report you will find games, positions and photos of the semi-finalists.

New Delhi, West Bengal, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra teams head into the semi-finals

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Rating 1000-1400 category:

Innovators Chess Academy from Bengaluru, Karnataka, Matrix Chess Academy, New Delhi, Dynamic Chess Academy, Rajkot, Gujarat and Tattva Chess Academy - Achievers are the semi-finalist in Rating 1000-1400 category as they won their respective groups. They will have their semi-finals on 12th August 2018 in a best of two matches.

Semi-finalist #1: Innovators Chess Academy is the Group A winner

When we reached out to Innovators Chess Academy's coach, Sushrutha Reddy, he said, "First objective achieved."

Semi-finalist #2: Matrix Chess Academy is the Group B winner

After Matrix Chess Academy's semi-final berth was confirmed, MCA's head coach, Prasenjit Dutta said, "We all are very happy and now focusing on the next matches. I only want to say that, play your best and enjoy. It is always always great to see players to fight for the honour of their academy. Thanks to ChessBase India."

Semi-finalist #3: Dynamic Chess Academy is the Group C winner

Semi-finalist #4: Tattva Chess Academy - Achievers is the Group D winner

Rating 1400-1800 category:

Matrix Chess Academy from New Delhi, Matrix Chess Club, New Delhi, Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy from Kolkata, West Bengal and Innovators Chess Academy, Bengaluru, Karnataka. These are the semi-finalists in Rating 1400-1800 category. They will play a best of two matches in the semi-finals on 13th and 14th August 2018.

Semi-finalist #1: Group A winner - Matrix Chess Academy

Semi-finalist #2: Group B winner - Matrix Chess Club

Semi-finalist #3: Group C winner - Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy

Semi-finalist #4: Best 2nd place finisher - Innovators Chess Academy

Rating 1800-2200 category:

Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy of Kolkata, West Bengal, Punjab Kesari Centre of Chess Excellence of Punjab, Orange City Rockers of Maharashtra and d'pawn Chess Academy are the semi-finalists in Rating 1800-2200 category. They will play best of two matches on 15th August 2018.

Semi-finalist #1: Winner of Group A - Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy

Semi-finalist #2: Runner-up of Group A - Punjab Kesari Centre of Chess Excellence

Semi-finalist #3: Winner of Group B - Orange City Rockers

Semi-finalist #4: Runner-up of Group B - d'pawn Chess Academy

Game of the week:

That awesome moment when Mr bh6 (IM Swayams Mishra) gets to play Bh3

Mr bh6 (Swayams Mishra) in his debut match for Orange City Rockers, shows beautifully how to slowly crush his opponent ALekhine1 (Harisurya Bharadwaj Gundepudi) of Siva Prasad Academy of Chess Education, using right technique.

The missed moves and ideas:

Cutequeen (Bommini Mounika Akshaya) played 14.Nd2 against ADARSHK-123 (Adarsh Tripathi). What did she miss?

Vinayr (Vinay R Jumani) played 30...Nd6 against Rahul_dpawn (Rahul Verma). What did Black miss here?

Solution:

Aim of the Academy Chess League (ACL):

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 will soon follow, so stayed tuned!