Pune : Jalgaon Battlers continued with their winning way and thumped Thane Combatants 4.5-1.5 in the fourth of the 2nd Johnson Tiles Maharashtra Chess league 2014 to virtually seal a place for themselves in the last four knock-out stage.
But it was Mumbai Movers’ Rakesh Kulkarni, who caused a flutter by beating Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte of Ahmednagar Chekers, who eventually lost 5-1.
In other action, Pune Attackers were held to a draw by Pune TruMasters. The fifth and last round scheduled to be played later in the evening promises plenty of fighting battles with the race for the qualifying slots still wide open.
Jalagaon Battlers have 17 points, Mumbai Movers 12.5, Thane Combatants 11.5, Pune Attackers and Ahmednagar Checkers 11 each and Pune Masters 9 points.
The top two teams will fight it out for a slot in the final while the loser will get another chance to enter the final by playing the winner of the battle between the third and fourth placed team.
The first leg of the event is a six team Round Robin league here each team fielded six players, three from Maharashtra and two woman players.
For the Jalgaon Battlers, the GMS B Adhiban and Vidit Gujrathi expectedly have been bang on target but the surprise packet has been untitled Pratik Patil, who has scored a magnificent 3/4 as has Narayanan Srinath.
Rucha Pujari also notched a crucial point for her team while Kiran Manisha Mohanty lost to Abhijeet Gupta.
In the battle between two Pune WGMs, Swati Ghate playing for PuneTruMasters defeated Soumya Swaminathan with black pieces.
Results:
Round 4:
Jalgaon Battlers beat Thane Combatants 4.5-1.5
WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2195) lost to GM Abhijeet Gupta (2636); GM B Adhiban (2575) beat Narayanan Sunilduth Lyna (2413); Pratik Patil (2203) beat IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2403); IM Srinath Narayanan (2484) drew with IM Tania Sachdev (2368); WFM Rucha Pujari (2131) beat Parnali Dharia (1874); GM Vidit Gujrathi (2549) beat IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao (2427).
Pune Attackers drew with Pune Tru Masters 3-3
WGM Soumya Swaminathan (2298) lost to WGM Swathi Ghate (2265); Sagar Shah (2314) drew with GM SP Sethuraman (2579 ); IM Thejkumar MS (2446) beat IM Aditya Udeshi (2420); Supriya Joshi (1814) lost to WGM Mary Ann Gomes (2367); GM MR Lalith Babu (2580) beat Sameer Kathmale (2236); IM Swapnil Dhopade (2377) drew with GM V Vishnu Prasanna (2479).
Mumbai Movers beat Ahmednagar Checkers 5-1
Rakesh Kulkarni (2274) beat GM Abhijit Kunte (2482); IM Himanshu Sharma (2427) beat IM Shardul Gagare (2358); IM Anup Deshmukh (2256) beat Aakanksha Hagawane (1802); IM Eesha Karavade (2437) drew with GM Tejas Bakre (2507); CM Bhakti Kulkarni (2278) beat N Vignesh (2085); GM Parimarjan Negi (2631) drew with WGM Padmini Rout (2367).
Crucial match:
Rakesh Kulkarni (2274) v Abhijit Kunte (2482): 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 bxa3 4.Nxa3 d6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bd3 g6 7.Bb2 Bg7 8.O-O O-O 9.h3 Nbd7 10.e5 dxe5 11.Nxe5 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Bd7 13.Re1 Bc6 14.Qe2 Qd5 15.Qf1 Rfd8 16.Nc4 b6 17.Bc3 e6 18.Ne5 Bb7 19.Bc4 Qd6 20.Nxf7 Kxf7 21.Rxe6 Qxe6 22.Bxe6 Kxe6 23.Re1 Kf7 24.Qe2 Re8 25.Qc4 Nd5 26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Qa4 Re7 28.Qxa7 b5 29.Bxg7 Kxg7 30.Qd4 Kf7 31.c3 h5 32.d3 Rc7 33.c4 bxc4 34.dxc4 Nf6 35.Qf4 Re7 36.Kh2 Re4 37.Qc7 Re7 38.Qb6 Be4 39.f3 Bf5 40.Qd4 Be6 41.g4 hxg4 42.hxg4 Rc7 43.c5 Nd5 44.Kg3 Ne7 45.Qf4 Nf5 46.gxf5 Rxc5 47.fxe6 Kxe6 48.Qe3 Kd5 1-0.
Rankings after fourth round:
1. Jalgaon Battlers 17
2. Mumbai Movers 12.5
3. Thane Combatants 11.5
4. Pune Attackers 11
5. Ahmednagar Checkers 11
6. Pune TruMasters 9
