1st Maharashtra GM Open 2022 R7: Deep, Arjun Kalyan and Aditya Mittal in pursuit

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/06/2022

GM Farrukh Amonatov (TJK) halted IM Srihari L R's fantastic run at 1st Maharashtra GM Open 2022. The top seed and GM Mihail Nikitenko currently share the lead 6/7. They are followed by a pack of six players in the chase at 5.5/7 each. Among them, there are three Indians - GM Deep Sengupta, GM Arjun Kalyan and IM Aditya Mittal. Deep and Arjun will face each other in the eighth round, while Aditya will face GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (VIE). Former National Under-17 Open champion, FM Vedant Panesar and FM Sharan Rao scored big wins over GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and GM Enamul Hossain (BAN) respectively. Round 8 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Amonatov and Nikitenko are the coleaders

Kaustuv Kundu is currently the highest scorer 5/7 among untitled players. He will face the reigning National Junior (Under-20) Open champion IM Neelash Saha in Round 8. Current National Women champion and a member of Indian Olympiad Women's team member WGM Divya Deshmukh, current National Junior Girls champion, WGM Priyanka Nutakki and Indian Olympiad Women's team member IM Bhakti Kulkarni, all three are at 4.5/7 each.

GM Deep Sengupta drew with GM Boris Savchenko in Round 7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Amonatov - Srihari: 1-0

IM Srihari L R (2404) was playing well against the top seed of the tournament, GM Farrukh Amonatov (TJK, 2622). A blunder in the relatively equal Rook and Pawn endgame cost the teenager the game.

Position after 58.Ke2

It is quite difficult for White to push either of the pawns or make progress. While White is threatening Kf2, it is nothing but a phantom threat. Black just needs to keep the king cutoff in the third rank. If the distance between the g-pawn and the king is quite a bit, then the rook can go and attack the g-pawn. It is all easier said than done when there is no clock ticking down. Black blundered 58...e4 59.Rxe4 Kxb6 60.Kf2 and it's all over for Black.

IM Srihari L R put up a very good fight against GM Farrukh Amonatov | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Kaustuv Kundu - GM Karthik Venkataraman: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Vedant Panesar - Deepan: 1-0

FM Vedant Panesar (2337) got a pleasant position out of the Exchange Grunfeld opening against GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2478).

Position after 20.d7

20.d7 costs Black the bishop due to the threat of Rxb7 pinning the bishop against the king at g7 looming large. 20...Re7 21.Rfd1 it was possible to take on c8 immediately b6 22.dxc8Q +-. White went on to convert his advantage into a win comfortably.

FM Vedant Panesar scored an emphatic victory over GM Deepan Chakkravarthy | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

WGM Divya Deshmukh - GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Final moments: WGM Divya Deshmukh vs GM Azer Mirzoev | Video: ChessBase India

FM Aaryan Varshney - IM Nubairshah Shaikh: 0.5-0,5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

FM Sharan Rao - GM Enamul Hossain (BAN): 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

FM Sharan Rao after winning against his second GM of the event | Video: ChessBase India

Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi - IM Ameya Audi: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Alexei Fedorov - CM Aaditya Dhingra: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

FM Ram Aravind L N (pictured) - IM V Saravanan: 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Raahul V S - Srihari L: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Top 3 boards | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

The Playing Arena at Weightlifting Hall, Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune, Maharashtra | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

"You have to work hard over the board" - WGM Swati Ghate | Video: ChessBase India

"I could not sleep when my students were at the National Championships" - FM Siddhant Gaikwad | Video: ChessBase India

For more Round 7 photos, please click here.

A total of 141 players including 20 GMs, 29 IMs, 6 WGM and 9 WIMs are taking part from 13 countries across the world including India. The tournament is organized by Maharashtra Chess Association from 31st May to 8th June 2022 at Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune, Maharashtra. The eleven-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2622	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Srihari L R	2404	24
2	11	GM	Nikitenko Mihail	2479	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Paichadze Luka	2567	2
3	5	GM	Sengupta Deep	2526	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Savchenko Boris	2524	6
4	13	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2477	5	½ - ½	4½	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2492	7
5	3	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2563	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Nguyen Van Huy	2405	23
6	9	IM	Aditya Mittal	2490	4½	1 - 0	4½		Utsab Chatterjee	2403	25
7	45		Kaustuv Kundu	2327	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2480	10
8	17	GM	Stupak Kirill	2440	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2370	31
9	26	GM	Nguyen Duc Hoa	2398	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2437	19
10	41	FM	Panesar Vedant	2337	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2478	12
11	47	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2317	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	14
12	50	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2308	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2443	16
13	54	FM	Jain Kashish Manoj	2271	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Neelash Saha	2439	18
14	53	FM	Sharan Rao	2274	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Hossain Enamul	2413	22
15	103		Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi	2074	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Audi Ameya	2389	28

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	11	GM	Nikitenko Mihail	2479	6		6	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2622	1
2	13	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2477	5½		5½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2526	5
3	6	GM	Savchenko Boris	2524	5½		5½	GM	Stupak Kirill	2440	17
4	9	IM	Aditya Mittal	2490	5½		5½	GM	Nguyen Duc Hoa	2398	26
5	2	GM	Paichadze Luka	2567	5		5	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2356	35
6	24	IM	Srihari L R	2404	5		5	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2563	3
7	7	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2492	5		5	FM	Panesar Vedant	2337	41
8	10	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2480	5		5	FM	Sharan Rao	2274	53
9	18	IM	Neelash Saha	2439	5		5		Kaustuv Kundu	2327	45
10	23	GM	Nguyen Van Huy	2405	5		4½	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2437	19
11	8	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2490	4½		4½	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2331	43
12	14	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	4½		4½	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2308	50
13	16	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2443	4½		4½	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2317	47
14	20	FM	Samant Aditya S	2433	4½		4½	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2303	52
15	25		Utsab Chatterjee	2403	4½		4½	CM	Nayak Rajesh	2179	69

Details

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