Divya goes down fighting to 2nd seed GM Luka

After defeating IM Numbair Shah Shaikh on previous day ,WGM Divya Deshmukh lost to second seed GM Luka Paichadze in the ninth round of the 1st Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament which is nearing the concluding stages at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati complex at Balewadi, Pune.

Reigning Women’s champion Divya Deshmukh ended on the losing side after 35 moves. This was a volatile game with both players keeping their King in the centre without castling and attacking aggressively. Divya broke through on the King-side but Luka ‘s queen and bishop combined to trap a rook and surround the King in a checkmating net.

Top seed Farukh Amonatov pressed hard to score a fine win against Boris Savachenko to shoot into sole lead with 7.5 points

GM Deep Sengupta, GM Arjun Kalyan and GM Aleksej Aleksandrov scored thumping victories to follow in jointly follow in second place with 7 points each.

Luka Paichadze, Aditya Mittal, Srihari L R, Boris Savchenko, Neelash Saha, Kiriil Stupak and Mihail Nikitenko follow behind with 6.5 points each.

With just two more rounds remaining, the race for the title is still wide open though Amonatov still looks the favourite at this point.

Pune based Aditya Samant brought of cheer to the hosting city with a fine performance, garnering his third IM norm and with a rating already above 2400 has completed the requirement for the IM title. The 15-year-old youngster playing with a mask and a cap drew with L Srihari to tally 6 points.

21-year-old Sharan Rao from Mangalore made his second IM norm after holding GM Nguyen Van Huy to a draw in 31 moves of a Reti Opening.