Nagpur News: Giving importance to Vidarbha players in team formation Nagpur’s Gaikwad-Patil Royals bagged IM Swapnil Dhopande and budding Shweta Gole during the auction of Johnson Tiles Maharashtra Chess League on Saturday.
Nagpur Royals team comprises GM Sahaj Grover, Abhishek Kelkar, Chinmay Kulkarni, Soumya Swaminathan, IM Swapnil Dhopade, Shweta Gole and Tejas Bakare.
Surya Shekhar Ganguly, one of the biggest names in Indian chess, became the most valuable player at the player-auction.
Ganguly, with a base price of ` 90,000, was bought by Thane Combatants for ` 1,15,000. On the women’s side, two Pune girls, Eesha Karavade and Soumya Swaminathan became the most valuable players, both attracting bids of ` 60,000 each. Jalgaon Battlers came up with the highest bid for Karavade, while Nagpur Royals’ came up with the winning bid for Swaminathan.
The players were devided in Grand Masters, Women grandmasters,International Masters, women players and rated players category. Each team had to buy at least one GM, one WGM one IM, and a minimum of two women players. Teams also need to have at least three Maharashtra players playing in each Match, comprising six boards.
Amongst International Masters category, Akshayraj Kore and Swapnil Dhopade attracted big bids. Kore, who has completed all the GM norms, and is awaiting the official confirmation from the FIDE for his GM title, was bought by Pune Attackers for Rs 83,000, while Dhopade was bought by Nagpur Royals for Rs 81,000. The prices at which Kore and Dhopade went were a lot higher than the prices of some of the GMs in the auction.
￭ GM Sahaj Grover
￭ IM Swapnil Dhopade
￭ Soumya Swaminathan
￭ Shweta Gole
￭ Chinmay Kulkarni
￭ Ashishek Kelkar
￭ Tajas Bakare
