Pune: Jalgaon Battlers battled magnificently when it mattered most to defeat Thane Combatants 4-2 in the final of the 2nd Johnson Tiles Maharashtra Chess League 2014 which concluded at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana on Sunday.

Jalgaon Battlers had dominated the event throughout and had finished in top place in the first stage of the event, which was played as a Round Robin featuring six teams.

In an tough contested final where spectators thronged the playing Hall in large numbers, GM Adhiban captaining Jalgaon Battlers owned by Jain Irrigation Systems used all his experience to wriggle out of an inferior appearing position to turn the tables on SL Narayanan.

He was elated to see his teammates Rucha Pujari and NS Srinath also bringing home full points by defeating Parnali Dharia and Tania Sachdev respectively.

GM Vidit Gujrathi also pitched in by holding GM Abhijeet Gupta to a draw, while the encounters between Prateek Patil and Vikramaditya Kamble ended in a deadlock.

Adhiban, who led from the front with a fantastic 7/8 beamed: “It was a good team effort and I would like to give credit to the entire team and the think tank behind us”.


The highlight of Jalgaon Battlers triumph was the strong performances on their lower boards especially a brilliant 5.5/7 by Prateek Patil, their untitled player.

The team also benefited immensely with some superb off board calculation in fixing the board order for the finals and other rounds by their mentor Moreshwar Bhagwat.

The Thane Combatants, owned by MEP Infrastructure Developers, started sedately, losing the first round but rose magnificently to reach the final.

In the final they were a trifle unfortunate in a couple of games and IM Prasanna Rao logged the lone victory for his team.

In the face off for the third and fourth placing, Ahmednagar Checkers, owned by RBS Sports Ethix, defeated Mumbai Movers, owned by Suburban Mumbai Chess Academy, 3.5-2.5.


Abhijit Kunte and Chinmay Kulkarni notched victories for Ahmednagar Checkers, while Bhakti Kulkarni ended on the losing side.


As for Mumbai Movers Abhishek Kulkar was the only one to notch victory. Parimarjan Negi drew against Tejas Bakre, Eesha Karavade against Padmini Rout and Shardul Gagare against Rakesh Kulkarni.


Final placings:

1. Jalgaon Battlers
2. Thane Combatants
3. Ahmednagar Checkers
4. Mumbai Movers
5. Pune Attackers
6. Pune Tru Masters

The results:
Final Round: Jalgaon Battlers beat Thane Combatants 4-2

IM Srinath Narayanan (2484) beat IM Tania Sachdev (2368); GM B Adhiban (2575) beat IM Snuilduth Lyna Narayanan (2413); Pratik Patil (2203) drew with IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2403); WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2195) lost to IM Raghuram Rao Prasanna (2427); WFM Rucha Pujari (2131) beat Parnali Dharia (1874); GM Vidit Gujrathi (2549) drew with GM Abhijeet Gupta (2636).