Sammed Shete dominates Shri Maheshwaranand Saraswati Memorial Rapid Rating Open 2023

by Shahid Ahmed - 06/03/2023

IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete scored 8.5/9 and remained undefeated to win Shri Maheshwaranand Saraswati Memorial Rapid Rating Open 2023. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. FM Ritviz Parab and IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni scored 8/9 each. They were placed second and third according to tie-breaks. Both took a no-draw approach and suffered a loss each. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹160000. The top three prizes were ₹50000 + trophy, ₹25000 and ₹15000 each respectively. This was Sammed's third consecutive Rapid tournament triumph, first rating event victory of the year. Photo: Prakash Kunte

Sammed's first rating tournament triumph of 2023

The last rating tournament IM Sammed Shete won was in April 2022. However, he is off to a great start in 2023 as he has already won three consecutive tournaments he took part in. Two of them were non-rated events, the third one is this event where Sammed scored eight consecutive victories and gained full point lead heading into the final round. He drew his final round game against IM Ameya Audi to become a clear champion. The champion defeated the eventual runner-up, FM Ritviz Parab in the seventh round. Buddhibal Kreeda Trust is organizing this event for more than a decade. The first rapid rating edition of this event was in 2012, the second one was last year, the third one being the recently concluded one in February 2023.

Champion - IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete 8.5/9 | Photo: Prakash Kunte

Runner-up - FM Ritviz Parab 8/9 | Photo: Prakash Kunte

Second Runner-up - IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni 8/9 | Photo: Prakash Kunte

Sammed Shete scored 8/8 and drew his last game to become a clear champion, gained 29.6 Elo rating points

4th IM Krishnater Kushager 7.5/9 | Photo: Prakash Kunte

5th IM Ameya Audi 7.5/9 | Photo: Prakash Kunte

Various prize winners | Photo: Prakash Kunte

India's fourth GM in history, Abhijit Kunte delivers his speech next to his father and the Tournament Director, Prakash Kunte | Photo: Prakash Kunte

A total of 274 players including six IMs participated in this two-day nine-round Swiss league Rapid Rating tournament which was organized by Buddhibal Kreeda Trust, Pune on 18th to 19th February 2023 in Pune, Maharashtra. The time control for the event was 25 minutes + 5 seconds increment.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp
1	4	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2308	8,5	51,5	55,5	51,75	2356
2	7	FM	Ritviz, Parab	2248	8	52,5	57,5	49,50	2127
3	8	IM	Kulkarni, Vikramaditya	2242	8	46	50,5	45,50	1827
4	1	IM	Krishnater, Kushager	2310	7,5	52	56,5	45,25	2065
5	3	IM	Audi, Ameya	2309	7,5	49,5	53,5	43,50	1892
6	17		Dere, Pushkar	2014	7,5	49	54	44,00	1731
7	6	FM	Wagh, Suyog	2251	7	52,5	57,5	42,50	1930
8	15		Gaurav, Rajesh Zagade	2082	7	52,5	56,5	42,00	1757
9	11	FM	Dixit, Nikhil	2206	7	51	55	39,50	1879
10	12	FM	Bhambure, Shantanu	2197	7	50,5	54,5	39,00	1852
11	14		Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi	2183	7	49,5	54,5	40,50	1759
12	21		Tamhankar, Siddhant	1766	7	49,5	53,5	38,50	1816
13	5	IM	Abhishek, Kelkar	2256	7	49	52,5	39,00	1805
14	18		Phatak, Aanjaneya	2002	7	48	52,5	38,50	1599
15	58		Patil, Harshal U	1349	7	46,5	49,5	35,75	1698