Surya Shekhar Ganguly, one of the biggest names in Indian chess, became the most valuable player at the player auction for the Johnson Tiles Maharashtra Chess League.
Ganguly, with a base price of Rs 90,000, was bought by Thane Combatants for Rs 1,15,000, a media release said today.
The MCL, conceptualised on the lines of the Indian Premier League, would be played from April 24 to 29 at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana.
Participating teams are Pune Attackers, Ahmednagar Checkers, Mumbai Movers, Nagpur Royals, Jalgaon Battlers and Thane Combatants. Each team will play the other five teams once, and the top four teams would make it to the semi-finals.
Nashik's Grandmaster Vidit Gujarathi became the second most expensive player, attracting a bid of Rs 95,000 from Jalgaon Battlers.
On the women's side, two Pune girls - Eesha Karavade and Soumya Swaminathan - became the most valuable players, both attracting bids of Rs 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 divided into Grandmasters, Women Grandmasters, International Masters, women players and rated players' categories. 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. Each team was given a total purse of Rs 3,00,000 in which they had to buy a minimum of six players.
