Nagpur to host Vidit vs Svidler, Raunak vs Short + 3 tournaments at the Maharashtra Chess Festival 2023

by Shahid Ahmed - 29/05/2023

Nagpur will host an extremely exciting chess festival from the 1st to the 9th of June 2023. It will include 1 GM tournament, 1 below 2000 FIDE rating tournament, 1 below 1600 FIDE rating tournament and two exhibition matches! These 2 exhibitions matches are going to be extremely exciting as Vidit Gujrathi takes on Peter Svidler and Raunak Sadhwani takes on Nigel Short. In this article we bring you all the information about this chess festival. If you are looking for a good chess tournament, then this is your chance. You can play at the festival and then follow these two amazing matches!

2nd Maharashtra Chess festival

After the success of the 1st Maharashtra Chess Festival in 2022 in Pune, the 2nd edition is back! This time it is happening in the city of Nagpur.

2nd Maharashtra Chess Festival will take place from 1st to 9th June 2023

The venue of the Festival will be Hotel Niavedhyam North Star, Koradi Raod, Nagpur (Please note that the venue has been changed recently).

Exhibition matches

There will be two exhibition matches - GM Vidit Gujrathi vs GM Peter Svidler and GM Raunak Sadhwani vs GM Nigel Short. There will be - 4 classical, 4 rapid and 8 blitz games. Scoring system will be Classical - 3 points for the winner, Rapid - 2 points for the winner and Blitz - 1 point for the winner. Draw will get half of the winner's points. If overall points are equal then Armageddon will break the tie.

GM Vidit Gujrathi vs GM Peter Svidler | Photo: Vivek Sohani

This will be a mouthwatering encounter. A few days ago when the match was scheduled, it felt like Vidit was a clear favourite. His Elo was 2731 and Svidler's rating was 2683. At the same time Vidit has been quite active and playing several tournaments, while Svidler has been relatively inactive. However, things have changed in the last month or so. Vidit's performance at the Sharjah Masters 2023 wasn't great. He lost 19 Elo points, while Svidler won the very strong Sigeman & Co. 2023 tournament ahead of Gukesh and Arjun. Things look much more even now. Apart from the fact that he is in good form right now, Svidler is an absolute class act. He has been the Russian champion for a record 8 times. He has played in 3 World Championship tournaments in 2002, 2005 and 2007 and he has also played in three Candidates tournaments in 2013, 2014 and 2016. He has also won the Chess World Cup back in 2011. He has reached a peak rating of 2769 in 2013. It goes without saying that if Svidler brings forth his A game, it would be extremely difficult for Vidit to handle him. On the other hand, Vidit would be motivated that the tournament is happening in his home state - Maharashtra and he will be the crowd favourite. Last time that happened, Vidit performed exceedingly well at the ChessBase India Originals Death Match against Anish Giri.

GM Raunak Sadhwani vs GM Nigel Short | Photo: Vivek Sohani

It's the clash of generations here. 17-year-old Raunak Sadhwani takes on 57-year-old Nigel Short. It's also the first time in several decades that Nigel's rating has fallen down below 2600. But don't be fooled by numbers. Being a former World Championship challenger, three-time Commonwealth Champion and having a career high Elo of 2712, all that Nigel needs is some motivation. And facing one of the biggest talents in the world of chess is good enough motivation! Raunak is surely a slight favourite in the match given that he works very hard on chess and is a very strong rapid and blitz player. However, Nigel cannot be underestimated. If he manages to survive the first few games and get back into the groove, it would be an enjoyable match to follow. It would also provide Raunak with great experience that would definitely come in handy when he will play matches later on in his career.

We asked GM Abhijit Kunte, the chairman and chief coach of the selection committe in AICF and MCA Vice President about how the idea of the match came about. He said, "While doing the Maharashtra Chess Festival we were thinking about how we could give top Indian and Maharashtra players maximum exposure. That is how the idea of the match came about. In future you can expect us to hold more matches, or event a Round Robin event." Related to how the opponents of Vidit and Raunak were chosen, Abhijit replied, "Nigel wanted to come to India and we felt that he would be a wonderful opponent for Raunak. As for Peter Svilder, he was Vidit's choice. Vidit was given the option to choose his opponent. I am glad that both Svidler and Short have agreed. It is going to be an extremely fun event." When speaking about the people who have made this possible, Kunte says, "A lot of people have put in their efforts to make this possible. A special mention has to be made about the MCA President Parinay Fuke. He agreed to the idea of the matches and has helped tremendously with the funds. A special shoutout to the Nitin Kareer, former MCA President and Government of Maharashtra. I would also like to thank all the Vice presidents of Maharashtra Chess Association for their unconditional support."

President of the Maharashtra Chess Association Dr. Parinay Fuke is also a member of the Legislative Council from Bhandara-Gondia Constituency. He is one of the big reasons for such a massive chess festival taking place in Nagpur.

Saurabh Gadgil, MD and CEO of PNG Jewellers is a key element of the Vidit vs Svidler match

Half of the prize fund for the Vidit vs Svidler match is being sponsored by PNG Jewellers. We asked him the reason for supporting chess and Vidit and this is what Saurabh had to say, "PNG Jewellers has always been supporting the game of chess in India. PNG Jewellers has also been organizing a chess tournament in Sangli for over 50 years now. Over and above, chess has been my favorite game since the very beginning, having represented our great state of Maharashtra in chess tournaments in the past. We believe that it is time for India to produce its next champion after Viswanathan Anand! Vidit is an exceptionally talented chess player and we are supporting him for his match with Svidler in the coming days which will be held in Nagpur where PNG Jewellers will also be launching its second store in Itvari! PNG already has a store in Bajaj Nagar area in Nagpur. We hope that Vidit will make our nation proud and become the champion we believe he already is!"

The PNG Jewellers store in Bajaj Nagar, Nagpur. Very soon a second store is to be launched in Itvari.

2nd Maharashtra International Open GM tournament 2023

Players list:

No.		Name	ID	FideID	FED	Rtg	sex	Typ	Gr	Club/City
1	GM	Savchenko, Boris	8	4147332	FID	2529				RUS
2	GM	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V.	10	4115333	FID	2514				FID
3	GM	Paichadze, Luka	13	13602934	GEO	2513				GEO
4	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	5	4105109	FID	2496				RUS
5	GM	Akash, G	57942021	5040299	IND	2483				TN
6	GM	Vorobiov, Evgeny E.	9	4121341	FID	2483				RUS
7	GM	Sengupta, Deep	66182021	5008352	IND	2473				PSPB
8	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.	0	5005779	IND	2469				AICF Pending
9	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	4	13500139	FID	2459				BLR
10	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	6	13500465	FID	2452				BLR
11	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	45002021	5084768	IND	2450				GOA
12	IM	Szpar, Milosz	16	1184989	POL	2447				POL
13	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	66282021	5073421	IND	2440				MAH
14	IM	Neelash, Saha	64812021	5094160	IND	2436				WB
15	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	74082021	5027330	IND	2417				KAR
16	GM	Mirzoev, Azer	3	13400304	AZE	2416				AZE
17	IM	Srihari, L R	29062021	46617116	IND	2416				TN
18	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh	996252021	5053196	IND	2415				MAH
19	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	27252021	25033638	IND	2400				TEL
20	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	30682021	46617051	IND	2385				TN

All players

Schedule:

The 2nd Maharashtra GM tournament will take place from 1st to 9th June 2023. Double rounds are on 2nd and 4th June.

2nd Maharashtra GM tournament schedule

Eligibility, Time Control and System of Play

The 2nd Maharashtra GM Open tournament is valid for players who have a FIDE rating of 2000 and above as per the June 2023 FIDE rating list.

Eligibility, System of Play and Time Control for 2nd Maharashtra GM Tournament .

Entry fee

There is no entry fee for GMs, IMs, WGMs, WIMs, and foreign players rated above 2000. For everyone else, check out the fee structure below:

Entry fee structure for 2nd Maharashtra GM Tournament. You can register here.

Prizes

The total prize fund is ₹25,00,0000.

Main Prizes

Cateogry and special Prizes

Maharashtra Chess Festival Below 2000 FIDE rating

No.	Name	ID	FideID	FED	Rtg	sex	Typ	Club/City
1	Ayush, Jugele	276622021	5007275	IND	1958			MAH
2	Sudhanshu, Ranjan	1796602023	45073228	IND	1938			BIH
3	Umashankar, A	39882021	35009931	IND	1891			PON
4	Nitish, Das	1927942023	25089315	IND	1880			ASSM
5	Sudarshan, Malga	1936182023	5028736	IND	1875			MP
6	Mithun, Anand V	991902021	35040448	IND	1871			TN
7	Rao J., Malleswara	219902021	5010926	IND	1870			AP
8	Chandan, Mandal	25142021	5031109	IND	1858			DEL
9	Om, Nagnath Lamkane	894632021	25620592	IND	1858			MAH
10	Nirgun, Keval	255912021	35099957	IND	1844			MAH
11	Gaikwad, Manas	506692021	25912410	IND	1814		U13	MAH
12	Md Rabiul, Hossain	10	10227776	BAN	1800			BAN
13	Basak, Bishal	221082021	45049599	IND	1788			WB
14	Sharnarthi, Viresh	584672021	25978055	IND	1783		U13	MAH
15	Himanshu, Ranjan	246072021	45072981	IND	1782			BIH
16	Shadat, Kibria Ayaan	18	10237755	BAN	1775			BAN
17	Ajay, Virwani	6842021	5001188	IND	1773			MP
18	Aritrya, Pal	292532021	25612093	IND	1757			WB
19	Jai, Sankar Subramanian	527292021	25931970	IND	1755			TN
20	Anurag, Jaiswal	3162021	5017858	IND	1745			WB

Complete list

Maharashtra Chess Festival Below 2000 Rating tournament schedule

Eligibility, System of Play, Time Control and Fair Play for 1st Maharashtra Chess Festival Below 2000 Rating tournament

Entry fee structure for 1st Maharashtra Chess Festival Below 2000 Rating tournament . Fill in the form here.

Prizes:

Main Prizes

Category prizes I

Category Prizes II

Maharashtra Chess Festival Below 1600 FIDE rating

No.	Name	ID	FideID	FED	Rtg	sex	Typ	Club/City
1	Sparsh, Yadav	430622021	25742310	IND	1597			UP
2	Kaushik, Chowdhury	8	10215964	BAN	1590			BAN
3	Raghul, Saro S	212282021	45043647	IND	1583			TN
4	Nusrat, Jahan Liza	11	10222952	BAN	1566	w		BAN
5	Gaurav, Sharma	267362021	35058096	IND	1560			DEL
6	Vispute, Mayur	176362021	46625313	IND	1557			MAH
7	Safayat, Kibria Azaan	14	10245502	BAN	1551		U09	BAN
8	Gunawardhana, Devindya Oshini	3	29941482	SRI	1530	w	U11	SRI
9	Md., Tayabur Rahman	9	10206213	BAN	1529			BAN
10	Saket, Kumar	66752021	5018358	IND	1493			BIH
11	Rayan, Rashid Mugdho	12	10253424	BAN	1487		U09	BAN
12	Pal, Vedika	666422021	25147986	IND	1482	w	U11	MAH
13	Dilip, Ranjan Chakraborty	793312021	25081527	IND	1466		S60	WB
14	Shibin, K Benny	21732021	35040715	IND	1455			KAR
15	Sayam, Vishvesh	400632021	25711571	IND	1451			MAH
16	Kabnurakar, Rushikesh	1142022021	33434247	IND	1431			MAH
17	Ramteke, Sumedh	993712021	46629939	IND	1426			MAH
18	Sovna, Sonali Jena	9112021	5084253	IND	1422	w		ODI
19	Sresth, Yadav	1143942021	33469172	IND	1421			UP
20	Gagan, Kumar Sahu	881412021	33396183	IND	1390		U15	CG