2nd Maharashtra GM 2023 R4: Raahul makes an incredible save against Luka

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/06/2023

IM Raahul V S showed gritty defense against GM Luka Paichadze (GEO) in Round 4 of 2nd Maharashtra GM Open 2023. Despite being down by two pawns, the former Asian Junior champion, stormed his king down the board before using his rooks to unsettle his opponent. FM Vedant Panesar, FM Sharan Rao and IM Kushagra Mohan joined the previous round leaders Raahul, IM Sammed Shete, Luka and FM Harshad S at 3.5/4 each. Vidit Gujrathi and Raunak Sadhwani scored emphatic victories against Peter Svidler and Nigel Short to take 2-1 lead. Vidit made a short work of Svidler in just 23 moves. Today is the last double round of the GM tournament and final Classical game of the match. Round 5 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Vidit and Raunak regain their lead

The 2nd Maharashtra GM Open 2023 has no Indian GMs in the lead. There are still seven rounds left. FM Sharan Rao won the longest game of the event so far. He battled for over 5.5 hours in the third round to win against GM Aleksej Aleksandrov.

IM Raahul V S showcased his practical defensive skills

Luka - Raahul

Position after 17...Nxe5

IM Raahul V S (2299) landed himself in deep trouble early in the middlegame. As he mentioned in the post-match interview, he thought that the attack won't work out but it actually did. White got two extra pawns in the resultant double rook endgame after the exchange of pieces. 18.Ngxf7 Nhxf7 19.Nxf7 Qxd1 20.Raxd1 Nf3+ 21.gxf3 Kxf7 22.Rd7+ Kf6 23.fxe4+ Ke5 Raahul made the bold decision to bring his king out in the open as he felt the position was lost, so playing passive does not help. Eventually, his opponent made several inaccuracies in a position where there were multiple winning ways.

"When you have too many options, you tend to make a mistake" | Video: ChessBase India

IM Raahul V S' brave play earned him a half point against GM Luka Paichadze (GEO)

FM Harshad S - IM Sammed Shete: 0.5-0.5

Armen - Zakhartsov

Black to play and save the game

FM Sharan Rao defeated GM Aleksej Aleksandrov after 5.5 hour-long grueling battle

Kushagra - Anirudhha Potawad

Position after 45.d7

After a mistake in the sharp rook and same color bishop endgame by Anirudhha Potawad (1995), he managed to get back in the game against IM Kushagra Mohan (2412). 45.d7 forced Black to give up the bishop Bxd7 46.Rxd7 Rf2 47.e6 g2?? 48.Bxg2 and White went on to win the game. 47...b4 would have given Black another lifeline to continue the fight.

Anirudhha Potawad is playing well at this event, IM Kushagra Mohan is in great form after winning 10th Dhamso International Chess Festival 2023

Kaustuv Kundu - IM S Rohith Krishna: 0.5-0.5

Niranjan - Deep

Can White hold this?

GM Venkatesh M R - Shaik Sumer Arsh: 0.5-0.5

Vorobiov - Rajesh

Position after 20...f3!

18...f4, 20...f3! is a devastating idea. It is difficult for a human to find 21.g4 as the correct continuation. 21.gxf3 Qxh3 22.Qg3 Qe6 23.fxe4 Rg8 24.Qh4 Nxe4?? this is actually a mistake. 25.Nxe4 Bf6 26.Ng5 and White gains the upper hand. As I mentioned earlier, it is not easy for humans to think like, thus the GM faltered. CM Rajesh Nayak's (2168) bold approach worked.

"I tried my chances and it worked well for me" - CM Rajesh Nayak on beating GM Evgeny Vorobiov | Video: ChessBase India

CM Rajesh Nayak launched a brutal attack to beat GM Evgeny Vorobiov

CM Mayank Chakraborty - GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE): 0.5-0.5

Apoorv Kamble - IM Nubairshah Shaikh: 0.5-0.5

GM Manik Mikulas (SVK) - WGM Swati Ghate: 0.5-0.5

IM David Gochelashvili - Arpith S Bijoy: 0-1

Nithin Babu - IM P Konguvel: 1-0

IM P Saravana Krishnan - Vrashank Chouhan: 0-1

WIM Srishti Pandey - Arnav Maheshwari: 0-1

Mrittika Mallick - WIM Arpita Mukherjee: 1-0

GM Akash G - Uddipan Roy: 0.5-0.5

Round 4 in progress

Vidit - Svidler, Game 3

Position after 18.Na6

Vidit Gujrathi got a nice bind on the queenside after 18.Na6. Black's a8-rook is stuck unless he gives up the b7-pawn by moving his light-square bishop. 18...0-0 19.Bb4 Rd8 20.Rd2 Nd4? 21.Nc7 Rb8 22.Nd5 Bf5? 23.Rxd4 and Black resigned as Bxd4 runs into 24.Ne7+

"This match is like Nepo-Ding Match but I hope to break the trend" - Vidit Gujrathi | Video: ChessBase India

Just 23 moves!? | Vidit Gujrathi vs Peter Svidler | Video: ChessBase India

Vidit Gujrathi has once again taken the lead 2-1

Short - Raunak, Game 3

Position after 18.Qc2

Raunak Sadhwani made an interesting exchange sacrifice 18...Rxf3. 19.gxf3 Qf8 20.Bg2 g5 21.a4 Rb8 22.axb5 axb5 and after a few moves we reached the following position

Position after 30.c4

30.c4? undid White's position 30...bxc4 31.Qxc4 Ne5 32.Rxe5 White had to return the exchange to prevent Nxf3+ finishing the game. 32...Bxe5 33.Ra3 was barely holding things together. 33...Bg7 34.Qe2 Ng6 35.Nh5 Bh8 36.f4 Bxh1 37.Kxh1 Qf5 38.fxg5 d3 39.Qd1 Nh4 40.Ng3 Qd5+ 41.f3 Nxf3 and it's over.

Raunak Sadhwani is back in the lead 2-1

Fun fact: Vidit-Svidler had three 1-0 results and Raunak-Short had three 0-1 results in their first three Classical games.

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

IM Divya Deshmukh's Nagpur recommendations | Video: ChessBase India

For more GM Round 4 and Match Classical Game 3 photos, please click at the respective links.

Replay GM Open Round 4 games

Round 4 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	3	GM	Paichadze, Luka	2513	GEO	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Raahul, V S	2299	TN	34	PGN
2	50	FM	Harshad, S	2211	TN	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2440	MAH	14	PGN
3	1	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2524	RUS	2½	1 - 0	2½	FM	Goutham, Krishna H	2082	KER	78	PGN
4	24	IM	Barseghyan, Armen Ar.	2373	ARM	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V.	2514	FID	2	PGN
5	33	GM	Laxman, R.R.	2299	ICF	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2492	RUS	4	PGN
6	41	FM	Sharan, Rao	2248	KAR	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	2461	BLR	8	PGN
7	19	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	2412	TEL	2½	1 - 0	2½		Potawad, Anirudhha	1995	MAH	102	PGN
8	43		Kaustuv, Kundu	2242	WB	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	2411	TN	20	PGN
9	21		Sanket, Chakravarty	2389	WB	2½	½ - ½	2½		Setumadhav, Yellumahanthi	1954	AP	117	PGN
10	121		Vivaan, Vishal Shah	1931	GUJ	2½	0 - 1	2½	FM	Panesar, Vedant	2387	MAH	22	PGN
11	54	FM	Navalgund, Niranjan	2200	KAR	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2473	PSPB	6	PGN
12	7	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.	2469	PSPB	2	½ - ½	2	CM	Shaik, Sumer Arsh	2211	TEL	51	PGN
13	9	GM	Vorobiov, Evgeny E.	2454	RUS	2	0 - 1	2	CM	Nayak, Rajesh	2168	ODI	59	PGN
14	60		Dere, Pushkar	2166	MAH	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	2450	GOA	10	PGN
15	11	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2449	BLR	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Jaiswal, Rupesh	2146	NEP	63	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	Rp	K	rtg+/-
1	14	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete				IND	2440	MAH	3,5	8,5	10	8,25	0	3	2534	10	3,7
	34	IM	Raahul, V S				IND	2299	TN	3,5	8,5	10	8,25	0	3	2567	10	12,4
3	3	GM	Paichadze, Luka				GEO	2513	GEO	3,5	8,5	9,5	7,75	0	3	2559	10	1,8
4	50	FM	Harshad, S				IND	2211	TN	3,5	8,5	9	7,25	0	3	2443	20	26,4
5	22	FM	Panesar, Vedant				IND	2387	MAH	3,5	7,5	9,5	8,25	0	3	2316	20	-3,4
6	1	GM	Savchenko, Boris				FID	2524	RUS	3,5	7,5	8,5	7,00	0	3	2529	10	0,9
7	41	FM	Sharan, Rao				IND	2248	KAR	3,5	7	8	7,00	0	3	2428	20	15,4
8	19	IM	Kushagra, Mohan				IND	2412	TEL	3,5	6,5	7	6,75	0	3	2351	10	-1,5
9	28	FM	Ritviz, Parab				IND	2340	GOA	3	9	11	7,50	0	3	2292	20	0,4
10	24	IM	Barseghyan, Armen Ar.				ARM	2373	ARM	3	8,5	9,5	6,25	0	2	2457	10	5,9
11	117		Setumadhav, Yellumahanthi				IND	1954	AP	3	8	10	7,25	0	2	2479	40	98,8
12	4	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir				FID	2492	RUS	3	8	10	7,00	0	2	2433	10	-1,7
13	21		Sanket, Chakravarty				IND	2389	WB	3	8	8	5,00	0	2	2345	20	0
14	23	GM	Babujian, Levon				ARM	2373	ARM	3	7,5	9	5,50	0	3	2362	10	0,4
15	2	GM	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V.				FID	2514	FID	3	7	8,5	6,25	0	2	2339	10	-4

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	22	FM	Panesar, Vedant	2387	MAH	3½		3½	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2524	RUS	1
2	50	FM	Harshad, S	2211	TN	3½		3½	GM	Paichadze, Luka	2513	GEO	3
3	14	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2440	MAH	3½		3½	FM	Sharan, Rao	2248	KAR	41
4	34	IM	Raahul, V S	2299	TN	3½		3½	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	2412	TEL	19
5	2	GM	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V.	2514	FID	3		3	GM	Teterev, Vitaly	2344	BLR	27
6	4	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2492	RUS	3		3	IM	Barseghyan, Armen Ar.	2373	ARM	24
7	6	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2473	PSPB	3		3	FM	Ayush, Sharma	2312	MP	31
8	10	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	2450	GOA	3		3	GM	Laxman, R.R.	2299	ICF	33
9	28	FM	Ritviz, Parab	2340	GOA	3		3	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2449	BLR	11
10	12	IM	Szpar, Milosz	2447	POL	3		3		Kaustuv, Kundu	2242	WB	43
11	59	CM	Nayak, Rajesh	2168	ODI	3		3	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	2417	KAR	15
12	20	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	2411	TN	3		3		Dhyey, Agarwal	2004	GUJ	99
13	115		Koustuv, Dash	1965	ODI	3		3		Sanket, Chakravarty	2389	WB	21
14	117		Setumadhav, Yellumahanthi	1954	AP	3		3	GM	Babujian, Levon	2373	ARM	23
15	78	FM	Goutham, Krishna H	2082	KER	2½		2½	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.	2469	PSPB	7