It was a day of mixed fortunes for the two Indian super GMs Vidit Gujrathi and Raunak Sadhwani on Day five of the Maharshtra Challenge Match where two Rapid and 4 Blitz games were played. Raunak defeated Short 14.5-5.5 to win the Maharshtra Challenge Match while Vidit is leading in the second Match against Peter Svidler with a 12-8 score. “ It was a fantastic day for me and I was calculating fast and accurately today, so I am pretty pleased” summed 18-year-old Raunak
Raunak reputed for his prowess in Blitz (3 minutes each plus 2 seconds increment after every move) played brilliantly to win all the four Blitz games against former World Championship Challenger Nigel Short and won a Rapid game (15 minutes each plus 10 seconds increment after every move) and drew the second game to remain the only unbeaten player today. Raunak has tallied a formidable 14.5 points and two Rapid and 4 Blitz games will be played tomorrow. Two points are awarded for a victory in the Rapid and 1 point in Blitz.
Vidit started well with two victories in the Rapid section after Svidler lost way in a good -looking position in the second Rapid game. Things however began disastrously for Vidit in the Blitz section after losing the first game. Vidit was a bit slow on the clock and was under severe time pressure in all the games. Svidler won three and one game ended in a draw. “ If I had managed to convert the second Rapid game into victory, tomorrow it would have been an even fight” rued Svidler later
RAPID RESULTS
MAHARASHTRA CHALLENGE MATCH
GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2731)-9.5 bt GM Peter Svidler (2683)-4.5
GM Nigel Short (2597)-5.5 drew GM Raunak Sadhwani (2627)-8.5
Round 2 Rapid
Peter Svidler (2683)-4.5 lost to GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2731)-11.5
Raunak Sadhwani (2627) -10.5 bt GM Nigel Short (2597) -5.5
BLITZ RESULTS-Round1
GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2731)-11.5 lost to GM Peter Svidler (2683)—5.5
GM Nigel Short (2597)-5.5 lost to GM Raunak Sadhwani (2627)-11.5
Round 2
Peter Svidler (2683)-6.5 bt GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2731) -11.5
Raunak Sadhwani (2627) -12.5 bt GM Nigel Short (2597)-5,5
Round3
GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2731)- 12 drew GM Peter Svidler (2683)-7
GM Nigel Short (2597)-5.5 lost to GM Raunak Sadhwani (2627)-13.5
Round 4
Peter Svidler (2683)-8 bt GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2731) – 12
Raunak Sadhwani (2627)-14.5 bt GM Nigel Short (2597) -5.5
2ND MAHARASHTRA INTERNATIONAL OPEN GRANDMASTER CHESS TOURNAMENT-ROUND 7
Indians continued to impress in the 7th round of the 2nd Maharashtra Grandmaster Open International Chess tournament being played at the Naivedhyam North star, Nagpur. FM Vedant Panesar of Maharashtra, ranked 22nd here and IM Szpar Milosz of Poland ranked 12 have emerged joint leaders with 6 points each.
The game between other overnight leaders IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete and GM Paichadze Luka ended in a draw on the top board after 38 moves of a Caro-Kann advanced Opening when each was left with a rook and minor piece with pawns.
Shete, Luka, Rohit Krishna and IM Kushagra Mohan are trailing behind the leaders with 5.5 points apiece. This event is a 11- round Swiss League one and with four more round to be played, the race for the titles and norms is wide open.
Youngster Rohith Krishna of Tamil Nadu was easily the pick of the players as he defeated top seed Boris Savchenko of Russia. In a Queen’s Indian Defence game, Rohit was crafty enough to trap Savchenko’s knight which had strayed to the side of the game in the Opening stages itself. Savchenko decided to resign on the 25th turn rather than prolong the agony after the queens were exchanged.