Pune: Some of the biggest names in Indian chess will go under the hammer during the 2014 Johnson Tiles Maharashtra Chess League Player Auction, on Friday.


Notable players from the Rest of India include; Asian Continental Championship silver medalist GM B. Adhiban (Tamil Nadu) and Former World Junior Champion & India No. 4 Parimarjan Negi (New Delhi). Both GMs are among the 32 players drawn from across the length and breadth of the country, informed Mr. Anniruddha Deshpande, President of Pune District Chess Circle & Mr. Niranjan Godbole, Secretary, PDCC.


A 63-strong list is drawn up for the second edition of the championship, includes Pune-based Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte who leads a pack of 35 Maharashtra players. Kunte had given the MCL a miss in 2013.


The GM Category this year brings value to tournament with five Top-15 India players in fray. The players are No. 6 Abhijeet Gupta (Rajasthan), No. 11 S.P Sethuraman (TN), No. 15 Deep Sengupta (West Bengal) apart from No 5 Adhiban and Negi.


The tournament is sponsored by Johnson Tiles and moved by Amanora Knowledge Foundation & UFO Digital Cinema. The Hospitality partner is Hyatt Pune, Kalyaninagar and venue partner is PYC Hindu Gymkhana, Pune.


Defending champions Pune Attackers Team owned by Goel Ganga Group, Thane Combatants Team owned by MEP Infrastructures, Ahmednagar Checkers Team owned by RBS Sportethics, while runners-up Jalgaon Battlers owned by Jain Irrigation Systems Pvt. Ltd. and Mumbai Movers owned by South Mumbai Chess Association, while new entrant Pune Tru Masters owned by Tru Space.


The MCL will be played on a Round-robin, Rapid Chess Format and is scheduled from 11th June to 15th June, 2014. The tournament is conducted under the aegis Maharashtra Chess Association and organized by Pune District Chess Circle (PDCC).


Compared to last year’s auction, the player pool for the 2014 MCL has been widened by 28 players handing the six franchisees variety. Last year 42 players were listed, while this year the number is 70 (including 7 retained players).


Defending champions Pune Attackers owned by Goel Ganga Gruop, Thane Combatants owned by MEP Infrastructures and Ahmednagar Checkers owned RBS Sportethics, will look to add five players each, while runners-up Jalgaon Battlers owned by Jain Irrigation Systems Pvt. Ltd. and Mumbai Movers owned by South Mumbai Chess Association, four each and set themselves for the challenge ahead.


Seven players have been retained by the franchisees and include; GM R. Lalith Babu by Pune Attackers, Abhimanyu Puranik (Thane Combatants), IM Shardul Gagare (Ahmednagar), IM Narayanan Srinath, Pratik Patil (Jalgaon Battlers) and IM Anup Deshmukh and Rakesh Kulkarni (Mumbai Movers). Each team based on Player Retention Policy can keep 2 players from the previous year roster.


The auction, however, will have one notable absentee with the inaugural MCL Highest Paid Player GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of West Bengal deciding to skip the championship.


The onus will be on new challengers Pune Tru Masters who look to build their team from scratch seek. This year Pune Tru Masters replaces Nagpur Royals. As per the Player Auction Policy the newcomers owners will look to have onboard - 1 Grandmaster, 1 International Master, 2 Woman players (includes Woman Grandmaster/ Woman player) and 2 rated players to total six (maximum is 8). By policy, each team must have three players (any category) from Maharashtra, who in turn have to play each and round.


All in all the 63-players will be vying for the 29 minimum slots (excluding 7 retainees) available.