2nd Maharashtra GM 2023 R7: Milosz and Vedant Panesar are the coleaders

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/06/2023

IM Sammed Shete had a well contested draw against GM Luka Paichadze (GEO) in the seventh round of 2nd Maharashtra GM Open 2023. IM Milosz Szapar (POL) defeated GM Levon Babujian (ARM) to stay in the lead 6/7. FM Vedant Panesar continues his fantastic form as he won against the former Asian Junior Open champion, IM Raahul V S in a dominated fashion. Vedant and Milosz are the only two players at 6/7. They will face each other in the eighth round. IM S Rohith Krishna scored a comfortable victory over the top seed GM Boris Savchenko. Sanket Chakravarty missed a great opportunity to beat the in-form IM Viani Antonio Dcunha. Luka, Sammed and Rohith are trailing by a half point at 5.5/7 each. Round 8 starts tomorrow at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Raunak wins the match against Short with a day to spare

GM Raunak Sadhwani has defeated GM Nigel Short by a huge margin 14.5-5.5 and a day to spare. The teenager started the day with a draw in the rapid game. Then he won the next five games - one rapid and four blitz games. Short can score a maximum of eight points tomorrow if he wins all his games but that won't be enough to tie his score. In Cricket terms, it is almost like an innings defeat for the legend. As for Vidit-Svidler, Vidit is currently leading the match 12-8. He needs to bounce back well tomorrow from his three losses in the Blitz.

IM S Rohith Krishna defeated GM Boris Savchenko with ease

FM Vedant Panesar has arrived late in his last three games and manage to score smashing victories in two of them. Perhaps, his mind games before making the first move on the board is turning out to be effective.

IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete - GM Luka Paichadze (GEO): 0.5-0.5

IM Milosz Szapar (POL) defeated GM Levon Babujian (ARM) to stay in the lead 6/7

Vedant Panesar - Raahul

Position after 17...Bc6?

17...Bc6? was the first mistake by Black. It invited 18.d4 exd4 19.cxd4 cxd4 20.N3xd4 Nxd4 21.Qxd4 Ne8 22.Ba3 Bf6? was the second mistake.

Position after 22...Bf6?

23.e5 Bxe5 24.Qh4 g6 25.Rxe5 dxe5 26.Qh6 and Black cannot stop the checkmate threat. This win kept Vedant in the lead and once again, just like the fifth round, his game was the first decisive game among the top boards of the seventh round.

FM Vedant Panesar - IM Raahul V S: 1-0

Rohith - Savchenko

Position after 12...Na5?

11.Nc6? provoked 12.d5 Na5? only worsened it further 13.b3 and now the knight is virtually trapped. It became just a matter of time before it dropped.

Position after 15.dxe6

15...fxe6 still would have continued the fight. 15...dxe6 dropped the knight 16.b4!+- Nxc4 17.Qe2 and Black just lost the knight for zero compensation. White eventually went on to win the game.

IM S Rohith Krishna beats GM Boris Savchenko comfortably! | Video: ChessBase India

IM S Rohith Krishna comfortably defeated the top seed of the tournament GM Boris Savchenko

Sanket - Viani

Position after 53...Bb3

An incorrect pawn push 37...f6 by IM Viani Antonio Dcunha (2417) made things relatively easier for his opponent, Sanket Chakravarty (2389). However, he was unable to make the most out of it. Almost everything is winning for White 54.c4+ Kd6 55.f6 gxf6 56.gxf6 Bc2 57.Kg5 Ke6 and now White needed to play 58.Nd7 to forcefully grab the c5-pawn. An alternative was 54.g6 Kd6 55.Ng4 Ke7 56.Ke5. White missed all his chances and the game ended in a draw.

Sanket Chakravarty had a great opportunity to win against in-form IM Viani Antonio Dcunha

GM Vladimir Burmakin - FM Ayush Sharma (pictured): 0.5-0.5

CM Mayank Chakraborty capitalized on his opponent IM Nitish Belurkar's blunder in the endgame

GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE) - Kaustuv Kundu: 0.5-0.5

FM Goutham Krishna H (pictured) - IM Srihari L R: 0.5-0.5

Arpith S Bijoy (pictured) - IM Rahul Sangma: 1-0

IM David Gochelashvili - Vivaan Vishal Shah (pictured): 0.5-0.5

Vidit - Svidler, Rapid Game 1

Final position after 21.Rxh6

Vidit made a very nice exchange sacrifice in the first Rapid game 21.Rxh6 Bxe4 22.Bxe4 gxh6 23.Bc6 Qc7 24.Qe4 Be7 25.d4 cxd4 26.Qxd4 Bg5 27.Rc4 Qxc6 28.Rxc6 Rxd4 29.Nxd4 White arrived at a winning endgame. He won the next Rapid game, however he only managed one draw out of the four Blitz games, Svidler won three. Vidit is leading the match 12-8 against Svidler heading into the final day.

Peter Svidler plays the Pirc against Vidit Gujrathi - Blitz Game 1 | Video: ChessBase India

Time!! | Peter Svidler vs Vidit Gujrathi - Blitz Game 2 | Video: ChessBase India

Vidit is in a good place to win the match

Peter Svidler checks out the Round 7 pairings of the GM Open event

Raunak Sadhwani won the match 14.5-5.5 against Nige Short with a day to spare

Nigel, that's too slow | Short vs Raunak Sadhwani | Blitz Game 1 | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Vidit-Svidler Rapid Game 1-2 and Blitz Game 1-4

Raunak Sadhwani cruised through the Rapid and Blitz section to win the Match 14.5-5.5 with a day to spare

Replay Raunak-Short Rapid Game 1-2 and Blitz Game 1-4

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

For more GM Round 7 and Match Rapid 1, Rapid 2 photos, please click on the respective links.

Replay GM Open Round 7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	14	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2440	MAH	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Paichadze, Luka	2513	GEO	3	PGN
2	12	IM	Szpar, Milosz	2447	POL	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Babujian, Levon	2373	ARM	23	PGN
3	22	FM	Panesar, Vedant	2387	MAH	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Raahul, V S	2299	TN	34	PGN
4	20	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	2411	TN	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2524	RUS	1	PGN
5	21		Sanket, Chakravarty	2389	WB	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	2417	KAR	15	PGN
6	28	FM	Ritviz, Parab	2340	GOA	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	2412	TEL	19	PGN
7	2	GM	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V.	2514	FID	4	½ - ½	4½	GM	Laxman, R.R.	2299	ICF	33	PGN
8	4	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2492	RUS	4	½ - ½	4	FM	Ayush, Sharma	2312	MP	31	PGN
9	6	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2473	PSPB	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Sharan, Rao	2248	KAR	41	PGN
10	24	IM	Barseghyan, Armen Ar.	2373	ARM	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.	2469	PSPB	7	PGN
11	40	IM	Ratnakaran, K.	2254	RLYS	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	2461	BLR	8	PGN
12	10	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	2450	GOA	4	0 - 1	4	CM	Mayank, Chakraborty	2141	ASSM	64	PGN
13	50	FM	Harshad, S	2211	TN	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2449	BLR	11	PGN
14	113	CM	Adireddy, Arjun	1968	TEL	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Neelash, Saha	2440	WB	13	PGN
15	16	GM	Mirzoev, Azer	2416	AZE	4	½ - ½	4		Kaustuv, Kundu	2242	WB	43	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	Rp	K	rtg+/-
1	22	FM	Panesar, Vedant				IND	2387	MAH	6	26	29	24,50	0	5	2489	20	21,2
2	12	IM	Szpar, Milosz				POL	2447	POL	6	25,5	28,5	24,25	0	5	2506	10	4,5
3	14	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete				IND	2440	MAH	5,5	27,5	30,5	23,25	0	4	2495	10	5,3
4	3	GM	Paichadze, Luka				GEO	2513	GEO	5,5	27,5	29	20,75	0	4	2506	10	0,6
5	20	IM	Rohith, Krishna S				IND	2411	TN	5,5	24,5	27	20,50	0	4	2378	10	1,1
6	34	IM	Raahul, V S				IND	2299	TN	5	30	33	21,50	0	4	2467	10	17
7	64	CM	Mayank, Chakraborty				IND	2141	ASSM	5	28	29,5	19,50	0	3	2503	40	128
8	23	GM	Babujian, Levon				ARM	2373	ARM	5	27,5	31	19,50	0	5	2385	10	4,1
9	28	FM	Ritviz, Parab				IND	2340	GOA	5	27,5	30,5	20,00	0	4	2393	20	16,8
10	33	GM	Laxman, R.R.				IND	2299	ICF	5	26,5	29	19,75	0	3	2421	10	12,8
11	21		Sanket, Chakravarty				IND	2389	WB	5	26	28	19,00	0	3	2348	20	0,8
12	11	GM	Fedorov, Alexei				FID	2449	BLR	5	24,5	26,5	17,00	0	5	2296	10	-9,4
13	6	GM	Sengupta, Deep				IND	2473	PSPB	5	23,5	26	18,00	0	4	2327	10	-8,7
14	8	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej				FID	2461	BLR	5	23	25,5	17,00	0	4	2323	10	-8,7
15	15	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha				IND	2417	KAR	5	23	24,5	17,50	0	3	2313	10	-6,3

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	22	FM	Panesar, Vedant	2387	MAH	6		6	IM	Szpar, Milosz	2447	POL	12
2	3	GM	Paichadze, Luka	2513	GEO	5½		5½	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	2411	TN	20
3	11	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2449	BLR	5		5½	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2440	MAH	14
4	23	GM	Babujian, Levon	2373	ARM	5		5	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2473	PSPB	6
5	33	GM	Laxman, R.R.	2299	ICF	5		5	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	2461	BLR	8
6	13	IM	Neelash, Saha	2440	WB	5		5	FM	Ritviz, Parab	2340	GOA	28
7	15	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	2417	KAR	5		5	IM	Raahul, V S	2299	TN	34
8	19	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	2412	TEL	5		5		Sanket, Chakravarty	2389	WB	21
9	64	CM	Mayank, Chakraborty	2141	ASSM	5		4½	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2492	RUS	4
10	1	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2524	RUS	4½		4½		Garv, Rai	2198	DEL	55
11	43		Kaustuv, Kundu	2242	WB	4½		4½	GM	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V.	2514	FID	2
12	7	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.	2469	PSPB	4½		4½	CM	Vaibhav, Jayant Raut	2237	MAH	47
13	27	GM	Teterev, Vitaly	2344	BLR	4½		4½	GM	Mirzoev, Azer	2416	AZE	16
14	17	IM	Srihari, L R	2416	TN	4½		4½		Anadkat, Kartavya	2130	GUJ	67
15	46	IM	Kulkarni, Vikramaditya	2237	MAH	4½		4½	IM	Barseghyan, Armen Ar.	2373	ARM	24