1st Maharashtra GM Open 2022 R10: Three-way race between Amonatov, Aleksandrov and Arjun Kalyan

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/06/2022

Top seed of the tournament, GM Farrukh Amonatov (TJK) drew with GM Arjun Kalyan in the penultimate round. GM Aleksej Aleksandrov defeated GM Deep Sengupta. Amonatov and Aleksandrov are at 8/10 each, closely followed by Arjun 7.5/10. Arjun must win the final round game against GM Alexei Fedorov and hope, Amonatov and Aleksandrov draw their game and also tie-break works out in his favor. Only then, Arjun will have a chance of winning the tournament. FM Ram Aravind L N scored his maiden IM-norm. CM Kushagra Mohan is the highest scorer so far who is neither an IM nor GM. Final Round 11 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Ram Aravind earns his maiden IM-norm

FM Ram Aravind L N becomes the third player of the tournament to score an IM-norm. IM Bhakti Kulkarni is having a great tournament among female participants. Prasannaa S and Srihari L are the two highest scorer so far among untitled players at 6.5/10 each.

GM Arjun Kalyan - GM Farrukh Amonatov (TJK): 0.5-0.5| Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Aleksandrov - Deep: 1-0

GM Deep Sengupta (2526) had a tough decision to make in the Rook, Knight and few Pawns endgame against GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (2492).

Position after 30.Kh3

Black had to make an important decision - whether to save the e5-pawn or not. The correct answer would be to let it go. Why? Because defending it via 30...Re6 only hampers the mobility of pieces for Black. 30...Nf6 31.Nxe5 Rh6+ is one of the ways to go about it. Keeping the pieces free to move was a better practical decision. Soon, White got the pawn to c6 and exchanged to rooks to transition into a winning Knight endgame.

GM Aleksej Aleksandrov ended GM Deep Sengupta's unbeaten streak | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Srihari L R - IM Aditya Mittal: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Lalit Rohit - IM Neelash Saha: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Venkatesh M R - IM Bhakti Kulkarni: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Anuj Shrivatri - GM Karthik Venkataraman: 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Kushagra - Ortik: 1-0

CM Kushagra Mohan (2343) first survived a massive tactical shot which his opponent IM Nigmatov Ortik (UZB, 2463) missed.

Position after 25.c3

25.c3 is a big mistake. Find out the winning continuation for Black. The game continued 25...Ba5 and White got another opportunity. Kushagra certainly made the most out of his second chance.

Position after 37...Bf7

In the endgame, Black went wrong 37...Bf7. White played the obvious 38.c5 Ba5 39.c6+ Ka6 40.Ra1 Ba2 41.Re2 and Black resigned in another four moves.

CM Kushagra Mohan is certainly having a good tournament | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Srihari L - GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (VIE): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Azer - Konguvel: 0-1

GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE, 2476) offered too many pieces up for exchange, neglecting an onslaught on the kingside by his opponent, IM P Konguvel (2331).

Position after 23.Nc5

23.hxg4 and Rec2 were better choices, the former was more plausible. 23.Nc5 Bxe5 24.Nxe6 Qxe6 25.dxe5 gxh3 26.Qd3 Qh6 and White's position fell apart in a hurry.

GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE) - IM P Konguvel: 0-1 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Nubairshah - Sharan: 0-1

FM Sharan Rao (2274) did not slow down after scoring his second IM-norm. He kept the momentum going as he beat IM Nubairshah Shaikh (2443).

Position after 20...Nd3

19.Qb2 allowed Black to gain an exchange using tactics 19...Nd3. White had to play 20.Bxb4 to keep the fight going.

IM Nubairshah Shaikh - FM Sharan Rao: 0-1 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Vishnu Prasanna - Kaustuv Kundu: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

CM Aaditya Dhingra - GM Karthikeyan P: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

FM Ram Aravind L N beat WGM Mary Ann Gomes to secure his maiden IM-norm | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Asyl Abdyjapar - Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi (pictured): 0-1 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Game of the Round #3 winner - IM Anup Deshmukh | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Game of the Round #4 winner - IM Aditya S Samant | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Game of the Round #5 winner - FM Jubin Jimmy | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

For more Round 10 photos, please click here.

Reigning Asian Junior champion IM Raahul V S shows his sideline preparations against IM Anup Deshmukh | Video: ChessBase India

How Ilamparthi A R outplayed WGM Srija Seshadri | Video: ChessBase India

A total of 141 players including 20 GMs, 29 IMs, 6 WGM and 9 WIMs are taking part from 13 countries across the world including India. The tournament is organized by Maharashtra Chess Association from 31st May to 8th June 2022 at Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune, Maharashtra. The eleven-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 10 games

Round 10 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	13	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2477	7	½ - ½	7½	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2622	1
2	7	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2492	7	1 - 0	7	GM	Sengupta Deep	2526	5
3	2	GM	Paichadze Luka	2567	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Stupak Kirill	2440	17
4	6	GM	Savchenko Boris	2524	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Nikitenko Mihail	2479	11
5	24	IM	Srihari L R	2404	6½	½ - ½	6½	IM	Aditya Mittal	2490	9
6	3	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2563	6	½ - ½	6½	IM	Neelash Saha	2439	18
7	28	IM	Audi Ameya	2389	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2529	4
8	8	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2490	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2370	31
9	35	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2356	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2480	10
10	40	CM	Kushagra Mohan	2343	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2463	15
11	20	FM	Samant Aditya S	2433	6	½ - ½	6		Prasannaa.S	2164	73
12	71		Srihari L	2178	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Nguyen Duc Hoa	2398	26
13	12	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2478	5½	1 - 0	5½	FM	Rohith Krishna S	2337	42
14	14	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2331	43
15	16	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2443	5½	0 - 1	5½	FM	Sharan Rao	2274	53

Details

Round 11 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2622	8		8	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2492	7
2	4	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2529	7		7½	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2477	13
3	9	IM	Aditya Mittal	2490	7		7	GM	Paichadze Luka	2567	2
4	5	GM	Sengupta Deep	2526	7		7	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2356	35
5	18	IM	Neelash Saha	2439	7		7	GM	Savchenko Boris	2524	6
6	11	GM	Nikitenko Mihail	2479	7		7	IM	Srihari L R	2404	24
7	17	GM	Stupak Kirill	2440	7		7	CM	Kushagra Mohan	2343	40
8	29	IM	Krishna Teja N	2374	6½		6½	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2563	3
9	26	GM	Nguyen Duc Hoa	2398	6½		6½	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2490	8
10	31	IM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2370	6½		6½	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2478	12
11	43	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2331	6½		6½	FM	Samant Aditya S	2433	20
12	73		Prasannaa.S	2164	6½		6½	GM	Nguyen Van Huy	2405	23
13	27	IM	Gusain Himal	2396	6½		6½		Srihari L	2178	71
14	53	FM	Sharan Rao	2274	6½		6	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2437	19
15	10	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2480	6		6	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2308	50

Details

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