Sadhwani, Gujrathi settles for draw in fourth round

Both Vidit and Raunak have tallied 7.5 points apiece while both Svidler and Short trail behind with 4.5 points each. A victory fetches 3 points while 1.5 points are awarded for a draw in the Classical games.

On Monday two Rapid games and 4 Blitz games will be played and on Tuesday on the final day once again two Rapid and four Blitz games will be played. Wins in Rapid will earn 2 points and 1 point will be awarded for a draw. In Blitz, a victory will fetch 1 point while a draw will garner 0.5 point.

Raunak was upset after the game, rueing missed opportunities and commented” Not happy with the game but cannot complain about the result. I probably missed a winning continuation. I want to shrug off this and look forward to the Rapid and Blitz games”.

Six emerge joint leaders

GM Luka Paichadze, FM Vedant Panesar, IM V S Rahul, IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete, IM Szpar Milosz, GM Babujian have emerged joint leaders with 5 points each after the completion of the sixth round of the 2nd Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster Chess tournament. The game between Sanket Chakravarthy and Ritviz Parab was in progress at the time of going to press and a victory by either would have them joining the leaders.

Vedant Panesar of Maharashtra playing on the top board held Luka to a draw in the 6th round and earlier in the morning had defeated top seed Boris Savchenko in just 20 moves to create the biggest upset of the tournament.

All the top four boards featuring the eight leaders provided decisive results, Sammed Jaykumar defeated Sharah Rao and Rahul V had another good outing, getting the better of Kushagra Mohan while Luka Paichadze defeated Harshad in some important results. Panesar, Sammed, Rahul and Kuka emerged a joint leaders with 4.5 points apiece, going into the 6th round.

Savchenko opted for the Sicilian-Najdorf and kept his King in the centre even as Vedant Castled on the queen-side. An opening error by Savchenko had Vedant sacrificing his rook for a knight on the 13th turn. queen, bishops and knights dragged the King out of his safe zone. Savchenko’s undeveloped bishops and rooks could not come to the King’s rescue and prompted his resignation.