2nd Maharashtra GM 2023 R1: Arya and Goutham score big upsets

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/06/2023

Arya Bhakta and Goutham Krishna H scored big upsets in the first round of 2nd Maharashtra GM 2023. Arya Bhakta used his theoretical knowledge in the Ruy Lopez to gain upper hand. Later he capitalized on his opponent GM Akash G's blunder in time trouble. Goutham Krishna H gained positional advantage in the middlegame against GM Alexei Fedorov. When he was low on time, he blundered in time trouble. Thankfully, his veteran opponent did not notice and he got away with it. Vidit Gujrathi and Raunak Sadhwani are off to a great start as they defeated Peter Svidler and Nigel Short respectively in the first Classical game. Round 2 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Vidit and Raunak win Game 1

A lot of GMs and IMs were held to draws by their lower rated opponents. Kaivalya Sandip Nagare defeated IM Nitish Belurkar.

Arya Bhakta defeated GM FT Akash G

Arya - Akash

Position after 29...dxe4

After getting the upper hand out of the Ruy Lopez opening, GM FT Akash G (2483) managed to equalize. However, in time pressure he blundered 29...dxe4?? and his opponent, Arya Bhakta (2103) had no trouble seizing his opportunity. 30.Qh5 Rxb3 31.Nxb3 Bb6 32.Rg1+ Kf8 33.Qxh6+ Ke8 34.Qh8+ Kd7 35.Rd1+ and it's over.

The Ruy Lopez Rebooted Coauthor Arya Bhakta beats GM Akash G | Video: ChessBase India

Arya Bhakta made the most out of his opportunity against GM FT Akash G

Aleksandrov - Kedar

Position after 31.Rd1

30.Nb3? allowed Black to gain a decisive advantage Nd3 31.Rd1 Nxf4?! 32.Kg3 Ne2+ Black lost the knight and the upper hand. 31...Nxb2 followed by Nxc4 would have given Black great chances to win the game. Soon Black blundered and lost the game.

Kedar Morvekar had good chances against GM Aleksej Aleksandrov

Arjun Tiwari - GM Evgeny Vorobiov: 0.5-0.5

Nitish - Kaivalya

Position after 60.Ke2??

IM Nitish Belurkar (2450) erred in the endgame 60.Ke2?? against Kaivalya Sandeep Nagare (2085). Find out why it is a mistake. 60.c6 bxc6 61.bxc6 would have continued the game.

Kaivalya Sandip Nagare defeated IM Nitish Belurkar

12-year-old Goutham Krishna H outplays veteran GM Alexei Fedorov | Video: ChessBase India

FM Goutham Krishna H - GM Alexei Fedorov: 1-0

IM Milosz Szpar (POL) - Ethan Vaz (pictured): 0.5-0.5

FM Sreyas Payyappat - IM Neelash Saha: 0.5-0.5

Vignesh Advaith Vemula (pictured) - IM Srihari L R: 0.5-0.5

IM Nubairshah Shaikh - CM John Veny Akkarakaran: 0.5-0.5

FM Ritvik Krishnan - GM Manik Mikulas (SVK): 0.5-0.5

WGM Swati Ghate - IM David Gochelashvili: 0.5-0.5

IM P Konguvel - Alekhya Mukhopadhyay (pictured): 0-1

CM Akshay Borgaonkar (pictured) - IM P Saravana Krishnan: 1-0

IM Ratnakaran K - CM Daakshin Arun: 0.5-0.5

Abhay Bandewar - IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni: 0.5-0.5

Arnav Maheswari - IM Rahul Sangma: 0.5-0.5

WIM Arpita Mukherjee - Mukhund Heant Agarwal: 0.5-0.5

Vidit - Svidler, Game 1

Position after 15.c5!

15.c5! is certainly the move of the day. The idea is to maneuver the bishop to c4 via f1. Thus, the clearance of the c4-square. 15...Bxc5 16.Bf1 Re8 17.Bc4+ Kg7 18.Be5 Nc7 19.g4 White got a decisive advantage in less than 20 moves.

Vidit Gujrathi vs Peter Svidler with commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Vidit Gujrathi on how he found the beautiful move c5!! against Peter Svidler in Game 1 | Video: ChessBase India

Vidit Gujrathi scored a sublime victory in the first game against Peter Svidler

Short - Raunak, Game 1

Position after 16...Ndxe4

Raunak Sadhwani got a free pawn at e4. Just like Vidit, he also got a decisive in under 20 moves. It all went downhill for White and eventually White got checkmated in the back rank.

A back rank mate!! Nigel Short vs Raunak Sadhwani - Game 1 | Video: ChessBase India

"I am not too happy about spoiling his birthday, but I had no choice" - Raunak Sadhwani | Video: ChessBase India

Raunak Sadhwani is off to a great start

Replay all Maharashtra Challenge Match games in interactive format and learn from IM Sagar Shah at Chessranga.

Video Gallery

Our younger generation is very strong, many GMs are afraid of losing rating - Bharat Singh Chauhan | Video: ChessBase India

Nigel Short celebrates his 58th birthday in style in Nagpur | Video: ChessBase India

When you come to make one move, but play an entire game | Bawankule vs Svidler | Video: ChessBase India

For more Inauguration Ceremony, GM Round 1 and Below 2000 Round 1 photos, please click at the respective links.

Replay GM Open Round 1 games

Round 1 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	68	AFM	Pawar, Harshit	2115	DEL	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2524	RUS	1
2	2	GM	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V.	2514	FID	0	1 - 0	0		Phatak, Aanjaneya	2115	MAH	69
3	70	FM	Singh, Arvinder Preet	2106	PUN	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Paichadze, Luka	2513	GEO	3
4	4	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2492	RUS	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Deshmukh, Anup	2105	MAH	71
5	72		Arya, Bhakta	2103	WB	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Akash, G	2483	TN	5
6	6	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2473	PSPB	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Ziatdinov, Raset	2101	USA	73
7	74		Kishan, Gangolli	2100	KAR	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.	2469	PSPB	7
8	8	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	2461	BLR	0	1 - 0	0		Morvekar, Kedar	2099	MAH	75
9	76		Tiwari, Arjun	2092	RLYS	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Vorobiov, Evgeny E.	2454	RUS	9
10	10	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	2450	GOA	0	0 - 1	0	CM	Nagare, Kaivalya Sandip	2085	MAH	77
11	78	FM	Goutham, Krishna H	2082	KER	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2449	BLR	11
12	12	IM	Szpar, Milosz	2447	POL	0	½ - ½	0	AIM	Vaz, Ethan	2073	GOA	79
13	80	FM	Sreyas, Payyappat	2070	KER	0	½ - ½	0	IM	Neelash, Saha	2440	WB	13
14	14	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2440	MAH	0	1 - 0	0		Rohit, S	2070	TN	81
15	82		Aniruddh, Chatterjee	2054	WB	0	½ - ½	0	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	2417	KAR	15

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	Rp	K	rtg+/-
1	1	GM	Savchenko, Boris				FID	2524	RUS	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	0,8
	2	GM	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V.				FID	2514	FID	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	0,8
	3	GM	Paichadze, Luka				GEO	2513	GEO	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	0,8
	4	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir				FID	2492	RUS	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	0,9
	7	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.				IND	2469	PSPB	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	1
	8	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej				FID	2461	BLR	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	1
	14	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete				IND	2440	MAH	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	1
	16	GM	Mirzoev, Azer				AZE	2416	AZE	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	1
	20	IM	Rohith, Krishna S				IND	2411	TN	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	0,9
	21		Sanket, Chakravarty				IND	2389	WB	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	20	2
	22	FM	Panesar, Vedant				IND	2387	MAH	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	20	2
	23	GM	Babujian, Levon				ARM	2373	ARM	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	1,1
	24	IM	Barseghyan, Armen Ar.				ARM	2373	ARM	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	1,1
	26		Subhayan, Kundu				IND	2353	WB	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	20	2,4
	27	GM	Teterev, Vitaly				FID	2344	BLR	1	0	0	0,00	0	1	0	10	1,2

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	1	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2524	RUS	1		1	FM	Navalgund, Niranjan	2200	KAR	54
2	56	WIM	Pandey, Srishti	2188	MAH	1		1	GM	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V.	2514	FID	2
3	3	GM	Paichadze, Luka	2513	GEO	1		1	FM	Jaiswal, Rupesh	2146	NEP	63
4	60		Dere, Pushkar	2166	MAH	1		1	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2492	RUS	4
5	7	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.	2469	PSPB	1		1	WIM	Ivana Maria, Furtado	2139	GOA	65
6	64	CM	Mayank, Chakraborty	2141	ASSM	1		1	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	2461	BLR	8
7	66		Nagare, Akhilesh	2139	MAH	1		1	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2440	MAH	14
8	77	CM	Nagare, Kaivalya Sandip	2085	MAH	1		1	GM	Mirzoev, Azer	2416	AZE	16
9	97	CM	Garv, Gaur	2006	HAR	1		1	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	2411	TN	20
10	21		Sanket, Chakravarty	2389	WB	1		1		Anadkat, Kartavya	2130	GUJ	67
11	103		Apoorv, Kamble	1994	KAR	1		1	FM	Panesar, Vedant	2387	MAH	22
12	23	GM	Babujian, Levon	2373	ARM	1		1		Arya, Bhakta	2103	WB	72
13	105		Alekhya, Mukhopadhyay	1993	WB	1		1	IM	Barseghyan, Armen Ar.	2373	ARM	24
14	113	CM	Adireddy, Arjun	1968	TEL	1		1		Subhayan, Kundu	2353	WB	26
15	27	GM	Teterev, Vitaly	2344	BLR	1		1	FM	Goutham, Krishna H	2082	KER	78