TN will benefit from an MCL-style league

: At the best and worst of times, International Master V. Saravanan is a straight-talking, no-nonsense gentleman.

So when he goes gaga over the Rs. 5 lakh-Maharashtra Chess League (MCL), the fourth edition of which concluded last month, one is bound to take notice. Indeed, so impressed was the All India Chess Federation president Venkatrama Raja that, during the World junior chess championship two years back in Pune, he suggested other States follow suit.

A similar league in Tamil Nadu, for instance, could benefit the State’s chess players, but it does not seem a priority at the moment.

“It was so much fun, unpredictability and colour,” says the 45-year-old Saravanan, who was in charge of MCL’s publicity department. “Moreover, the exposure it gave the young rated players was amazing,” says Saravanan. “There was a high demand for WGMs and IMs during the auction and imagine the exposure if a youngster plays Koneru Humpy.”

Saravanan reiterates that the best part of the league was the organisation and the prize money, which the players might not have otherwise received anywhere else in the country. “For the sake of employment and exposure, TN should have a similar league and I am sure that the event will be a success given the abundance of talent here. TN players in MCL got the money they deserve,” says Saravanan.

The auction, attended by Viswanathan Anand, MCL’s brand ambassador, saw K. Sasikiran fetching the highest purse (Rs. 1.7 lakh). Among women, Padmini Rout attracted the highest price (Rs. 1, 61,000). India’s top woman player Humpy fetched Rs. 1.38 lakh while Esha Karavade got Rs. 1.58 lakh. One of the most promising women players, R. Vaishali, got Rs. 1.03 lakh.

Apart from Maharashtra, the biggest beneficiary of the MCL was Tamil Nadu. Four GMs, B. Adhiban (Rs. 1.5 lakh), Arvindh Chitambaram (Rs. 85,000), S.P. Sethuraman (Rs. 1,08,900) and Vishnu Prasanna (Rs. 50,000), received sizable offers while youngsters Vaishali (Rs. 1,03,000), V. Varshini (Rs. 26,000) and N. Srinath (Rs. 30,000) got good deals as well.

Six teams, each having a GM, Woman GM, IM, woman player and two rated players, contested the tournament, played along the lines of the Indian Premier League. The final was a breathtaking affair with the match going to the tie-breaker (Armageddon) and Pune Sangli Nok-99 Navigators emerging the champion. But the restriction on the number of outstation players per team (three) meant that Chennai’s M.R. Venkatesh and Murali Karthikeyan, the reigning National champion couldn’t find a place.

A league in Tamil Nadu could ensure fewer players are left behind financially. There certainly is a need for it, with job opportunities for chess players growing scarcer. Saravanan says 10 years ago being a GM would have been enough to land a job. “It is not so anymore,” he says.

“Ideally a league held in several cities will throw up new young players, apart from promoting the sport. And, in the process, it might address the job issue, too,” he says.

In a message to The Hindu , Anand said the MCL can be expanded to form a National league, describing it as a springboard for talent. “MCL in a way is pan-National. The teams comprise players from all over. The same league can be scaled up to form a National League. I am very happy to be keenly involved and be part of the MCL family.”