Vedant Panesar triumphs at Motilalji Firodiya Rating Open 2025

by Shahid Ahmed - 07/06/2025

FM Vedant Panesar and IM Rahul Sangma scored 8/9 each at Motilalji Firodiya Rating Open 2025. Vedant won the tournament due to better tie-break scores, Rahul secured second place. Viresh Sharnarthi, IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni, IM N Krishna Teja and Indrajeet Mahindrakar scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed third to sixth respectively. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹502500. The top three prizes were ₹101000, ₹71000 and ₹51000 along with a trophy each. The five-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Ahmednagar District Chess Circle at Saptak Sadan in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra from 7th to 11th May 2025. This is Vedant's fourth rating tournament triumph of the year. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Vedant's fourth rating tournament triumph of the year

The winner of the tournament, FM Vedant Panesar shared the following with us - This tournament honestly wasn’t part of the plan. It was more of a spontaneous decision during a training camp I was having with Suyog Wagh, Indrajeet Mahindrakar, and a certain GM (whose name I’ll keep a mystery for now). Suddenly the thought came that why not just play this tournament for fun? So I ended up playing two rounds a day while still keeping the main focus on the camp. Most of our work sessions went deep into the night sometimes even till 4 AM. I wasn't really preparing seriously for this tournament and spent most of my energy for the training camp Not the most conventional way to play a tournament but definitely one of the most memorable.

Champion - FM Vedant Panesar (sitting) 8/9 with his good friends - Indrajeet Mahinrakar and FM Suyog Wagh (center) | Photo: Vedant Panesar

One of the goals was to get better at handling worse positions. So the idea was to deliberately play offbeat or frankly, trash openings from both sides. I even started games with 1.b4 as White. It helped build resilience and also had the bonus of not needing to worry about opponents prepping for you. - Vedant added.

Vedant Panesar during one of his games | Photo: Ahmednagar District Chess Circle

FM Vedant Panesar scored an unbeaten 7.5/8, won the tournament on tie-breaks and gained 1.8 Elo rating points

Inauguration ceremony | Photo: Ahmednagar District Chess Circle

Players, parents and accompanying persons | Photo: Ahmednagar District Chess Circle

A total of 304 players including three IMs took part from all over the country. The five-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Ahmednagar District Chess Circle at Saptak Sadan in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra from 7th to 11th May 2025. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

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Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	1	FM	Panesar Vedant	IND	2455	MH	8	54,5	58,5	51,00	7	4
2	6	IM	Sangma Rahul	IND	2115	RSPB	8	53,5	58	50,00	8	3
3	4		Sharnarthi Viresh	IND	2220	MH	7,5	55,5	61	49,25	7	4
4	5	IM	Kulkarni Vikramaditya	IND	2156	MH	7,5	54	59	48,00	7	2
5	3	IM	Krishna Teja N	IND	2303	AP	7,5	53,5	57	45,00	7	2
6	8		Mahindrakar Indrajeet	IND	2055	MH	7,5	50,5	55	43,75	7	4
7	7		Bhosale Shriraj	IND	2110	MH	7	53,5	58,5	43,00	7	2
8	13		Arnav Mahesh Koli	IND	1976	MH	7	52	57	41,50	7	3
9	12		Chaudhari Ashish	IND	1980	MH-Nagar	7	51,5	56,5	42,25	6	2
10	20		Apurv Shekhar Desmukh	IND	1766	MH	7	50	52,5	38,50	7	4
11	18		Tikam Aradhya	IND	1774	MH	7	49	52	37,00	7	3
12	2	FM	Arun Kataria	IND	2353	RJ	7	48	55	40,00	7	3
13	14		Badole Shaunak	IND	1968	MH	7	46,5	51	37,00	6	2
14	9		Bartakke Aditya	IND	2044	MH	7	46	51	37,75	6	2
15	11		Ghadge Harsh	IND	2012	MH-Nagar	7	46	49,5	36,00	7	2
16	19		Ayya Ayush Umesh	IND	1771	MH-Nagar	7	46	47	35,25	6	1
17	10		Soni Atharv	IND	2032	MH	6,5	54	57,5	38,50	6	3
18	38		Ghorghate Sahil	IND	1623	MH	6,5	51,5	55	37,00	6	2
19	21		Bhuvan Suhas Shitole	IND	1749	MH	6,5	50,5	54	35,75	6	2
20	15		Chaitanya V Gaonkar	IND	1834	GA	6,5	48	51,5	34,00	6	3