ACL Challengers League 2018: RKCA and TCW cause major upsets in round 4

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/11/2018

Maestro Chess Academy Attackers and Royal Knight Chess Academy are the sole leaders in ACL Challengers League 2018 at the conclusion of round 4 in unrated and rated category respectively. Round 4 witnessed some major upsets as Royal Knight Chess Academy defeated d'pawn Chess Academy and Telugu Chess Warriors defeated Intermezzo 3-1 each respectively. RKCA maintained their lead, while Intermezzo slipped to the second position. In the unrated section, MCAA maintained their dominance as the sole leader by drawing with CCCB. This report contains the best games of round 4 and photos. Photo: RKCA/TCW

MCAA and RKCA are in the sole lead after round 4

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The logo of Academy Chess League by ChessBase India

The tournament takes place on playchess server

Two massive upsets caused a new leader in the Rated category. First Royal Knight Chess Academy defeated d'pawn Chess Academy and then Telugu Chess Warriors defeated Intermezzo.

Abhinav Dubey set the tone for the day by winning very quickly | Photo: Ravi Kant Tiwari

Abhinav Dubey registered the fastest win for his team in round 4 as his opponent resigned in just 12 moves after he blundered his Bishop in the 11th move which seems like a mouse slip.

Nirmalya Chakraborty registered his first win for his team RKCA | Photo: Ravi Kant Tiwari

Nirmalya's opponent blundered a piece when he could have easily prevented the forthcoming attack.

Mayank Chakraborty defeated much higher rated Prachiti Chandratreya of dpCA | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

In a position where things could have gone either way, Prachiti blundered a whole piece for which she had only one pawn. They both knew that that was not enough for a compensation. The 9-year old kid precisely and converted his winning advantage into a full point.

Prachiti played 20.Nc4 here and it was all over for her. What was a better continuation?

Ravi Kant Tiwari is the leader the team needs

Despite his team being ahead by 3-0 against dpCA, Ravi Kant Tiwari decided not to claim a walk over. Instead he decided to wait almost an hour till his opponent got back from playing a tournament. Ravi lost in the game but he preferred playing a match instead of taking a walk over point.

K Sarath Chandra defended well with Black pieces | Photo: TCW

In Caro-Kann Two Knights variation, Sarath Chandra managed to equalize easily with the black pieces. However in the middlegame Kushagra got a wonderful opportunity which he was unable to seize. Finally Sarath managed get out of the pickle and save the day for himself as well as the team.

After 21...Bxg6, Kushagra played 22.Rad1. What did he miss?

11-year old Kheerthi Ganta defeated reigning National under-17 champion Vedant Panesar | Photo: TCW

Kheerthi Ganta caused the biggest upset of the match when she defeated the reigning National under-17 champion Vedant Panesar despite having a worse position in the middlegame. She wins the surprise prize for the best game of round 4

It is not easy to handle this position when your opponent is 689 points rated higher and current national champion

Vedant went for the flashy 32...Rxd4 when he had a simple way to win. Find out how

14-year old Hari Charan Sai Kalluri did not make things easy for the experienced Amardeep Bartakke | Photo: TCW

Amardeep went for the simple attack on the kingside against Sicilian Dragon which Hari easily resisted and launched a counter attack of his own. They settled for a draw eventually in a Queen ending.

14-year old Snehil Konatham defeated Ketan Boricha after the latter blundered in a strange manner in a Queen's pawn opening.

Round 4 unrated category results:

19th Nov	City Chess Club Bhuj	2-2	Maestro Chess Academy Attackers
	Nirav Ganwani (Dragon emperor789)	1-0	Aryan Tutiki (AryanT2010)
	Daksh Thacker (Dakshthacker8664)	0-1	Dhruvan Reddy (Dhruvan2009)
	Prashant Joshi (Klunger)	1-0	Amulya Bhagavathula (Amulya2009)
	Nakul Manjule (Nakul233)	0-1	Shaurya (Shaurya9)
20th Nov	Bangalore Chess Academy - 1	3-1	Maestro Chess Academy Strikers
	Rahul Badrinath (Bshanmug)	1-0	Nrupad Krishna (Krish10)
	Pranav Kiran Rajaratna (Pranav Kiran Rajarathna)	1-0	Hriday (Mhriday2010)
	Aditya Kamath (Aadik)	1-0	Lohith (Lohith_vadapally)
	Sriram Tangirala (Venkata_tangirala)	0-1	Vedang (Vedangl)
21st Nov	Maestro Chess Academy Fighters	3-1	Dark Knight Chess Academy
	Aahlad Karthik (Karthik2005)	0-1	Shubham Kamble (Srkchess7)
	Shreyas Reddy Palley (Shreyas_palley)	1-0	Shivank Mitra (Shivank_mitra)
	Sahejdeep Kaur (Sdk2603)	1-0	Akshay Joglekar (AkshayJ)
	Amrutha Bhagavathula (Amrutha2007)	1-0	Eshaan Godbole (Eshaan)
22nd Nov	Maestro Chess Academy Warriors	4-0	d'pawn Chess Academy
	Jaya Hari Chandana (Jayahari)	+-	Aastha Borakhade (Aastha_dpawn)
	Chanikya Bellam (Chanikya)	+-	Deepanshu Wagh (Deepw)
	Purav Khandelwal (PURAVK)	+-	Himal Dodeja (MyLovlu)
	Aditya Sreeram (aditya sreeram)	+-	Mahika Dodeja (MyVardhan)

Round 4 rated category results:

23rd Nov	DCA Juniors (1130)	1.5-2.5	d'pawn Chess Academy (1258)
	Babariya Himnish P (Dragon blaster)	0-1	Meet Bhattad (Meet123Bhattad)
	Lakhwani Nandani (Chess__)	0-1	Aarya Borakhade (Arya_dpawn)
	Jethva Krutarth (Kingofsquares)	1-0	Shlok Chandrani (Jack2212)
	Parmar Khush K (Khushparmar)	0.5-0.5	Samruddha Sangai (Samru_dpawn)
24th Nov	d'pawn Chess Academy (2225)	1-3	Royal Knight Chess Academy (1578)
	Prachiti Chandratreya (ChessSuperstar)	0-1	Mayank Chakraborty (Mayank Chkraborty)
	Rahul Verma (Rahul_dpawn)	0-1	Abhinav Dubey (Rakeshdubey)
	Pawan Dodeja (IamnotIM)	1-0	Ravi Kant Tiwari (Rothinchess)
	Himanshu Chhabra (Chhabrachess)	0-1	Nirmalya Chakraborty (Neevjain)
25th Nov	Intermezzo (2149)	1-3	TeluguChessWarriors (1609)
	Amardeep S Bartakke (Aditya2003)	0.5-0.5	Haricharan Sai (Charan_13)
	Vedant Panesar (Brainboy123)	0-1	Kheerthi Ganta (Candybond11)
	Krishnater Kushager (kushu_attack)	0.5-0.5	Sarath Chandra K (def987abc123)
	Ketan Boricha (yoey03)	0-1	Konatham Snehil (Snehilindia)

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 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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