3rd Maharashtra GM R8: Abhijeet, Ayush and Deep join the leaders to make it nine-way

by Shahid Ahmed - 26/04/2025

GM Abhijeet Gupta, GM Deep Sengupta and IM Ayush Sharma defeated GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, FM Garv Gaur and GM Manik Mikulas (SVK) respectively in Round 8 of 3rd Maharashtra GM 2025. The top seed of the tournament, Abhijeet and Deep won relatively smooth games. However, Ayush had to navigate through complex positions to bounce back with a win. Those three players joined GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM), GM Boris Savchenko, GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO), GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO), IM Nitish Belurkar and IM Neelash Saha to make it a nine-way lead with a score of 6/9. The penultimate Round 9 starts tomorrow at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Ayush wins an extremely complex battle against Manik

Nine different players are eligible for ten different nine-round norms. IM Nitish Belurkar is eligible for a GM-norm. WIM Tejaswini G, FM Mahitosh Dey, Arnav Agrawal, FM Ram Aravind L N, CM Sarveshwaran V, Samyak Dharewa and FM Akshay Borgaonkar can earn an IM-norm. WIM Arpita Mukherjee and WIM Tejaswini G are eligible for WGM-norms. For exact requirements of which player needs a draw or win, it is mentioned at the end of the report.

GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) - GM Boris Savchenko: 0.5-0.5

GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO) - GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO): 0.5-0.5

IM Neelash Saha - IM Nitish Belurkar: 0.5-0.5

Abhijeet - Deepan

Position after 21...Qd6?

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2394) created a battery 21...Qd6? to attack the h2-pawn. However, it is not the best idea as 22.g3 Qg6 23.Qxc6 dropped the first pawn Qg4 24.Rc5 Bd6 25.Ra5 h5 26.Qb5 g6 27.Qg5 Qxg5 28.Rxg5 and soon the game liquidated into a winning double rook endgame for White.

Top seed GM Abhijeet Gupta has joined the lead 6/8

Deep - Garv

Position after 18...d5?

FM Garv Gaur (2366) went for an incorrect break 18...d5? and paid a heavy price for it. 19.fxe4 Bxe4 20.Rf4 Rxf4 21.Bxf4 Rf8 pieces getting exchanged at regular intervals only increased the vulnerability of the king. 22.Re1 Bh7 23.Bf3 Rd8 24.Qe2 dxc4 25.Qe6 Bg8 26.Qxd7 Rxd7 27.Bxc6 White won due to Black's back rank issues.

GM Deep Sengupta has also joined the leaders's group 6/8 with a win over FM Garv Gaur

Ayush - Manik

Position after 18...b4

The above position is quite difficult to evaluate. Whose attack is stronger? 19.axb4 Rxb4 20.exf6+- gave White the decisive advantage. 19...Qxe5 would have given Black the upper hand. The game was extremely complex. IM Ayush Sharma (2485) navigated through the storm to win against GM Manik Mikulas (SVK, 2273).

IM Ayush won an extremely complex game against GM Manik Mikulas (SVK)

IM Utsab Chatterjee - FM Akshay Borgaonkar: 0.5-0.5

Sandipan - Venkatesh

Position after 40.Kd5

Black can hold the above position to a draw. However, it is not easy to do it practically. GM Venkatesh M R (2355) went for the tempting 40...e3?? It turned out to be the move which cost him the game. GM Sandipan Chanda (2485) seized his opportunity 41.Re6+- f4 42.Re4 Kf6 43.g3 Kf5 44.Rxe7 fxg3 45.Rxe3 Kf4 46.Re4+ Kf3 47.Rg4 and White won.

GM Sandipan Chanda got the better of GM Venkatesh M R

GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO) outplayed FM Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi to join the lead

Sammed - John

Position after 14.Nd4?

IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete's (2391) ambitious play did not work out. 14.Nd4? exd5 15.Nc6 Qe8 16.Bxf6 dxe4 17.Ne7+ Kh8 18.Bb5 gxf6 19.Nxc8 Qxc8 20.Bxd7 Qc3 21.Qe2 Bc1 and FM John Veny Akkarakaran (2350) won the game in the next few moves.

IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete imploded against FM John Veny Akkarakaran

WIM Tejaswini G - IM Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi: 0.5-0.5

IM Mayank Chakraborty - GM Marat Dzhumaev (UZB): 0.5-0.5

FM Jai Sankar Subramanian - IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H: 0.5-0.5

IM Ranindu Liyanage Dilshan (SRI) - FM Suyog Wagh: 0-1

FM Daaevik Wadhawan - GM Alexei Fedorov: 0.5-0.5

IM Hari Madhavan N B - FM Anirudhha Potawad: 0.5-0.5

IM Viani Antonio Dcunha lost an exciting game against CM Sarveshwaran V which the former should not have lost

FM Mahitosh Dey - IM Srihari L: 0.5-0.5

For more Round 8 photos, please click here.

Norm chances

GM-norm

IM Nitish Belurkar needs to beat GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO)

IM-norm

WIM Tejaswini G, FM Mahitosh Dey and Arnav Agrawal need to win their respective games against FM Garv Gaur, GM Alexei Fedorov and GM Venkatesh M R.

Ram Aravind L N, CM Sarveshwaran V and Samyak Dharewa need to win against FM Yash Bharadia, IM Hari Madhavan N B and Jai Sankar Subramanian respectively to score an IM-norm each.

FM Akshay Borgaonkar needs a draw against GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO).

WGM-norm

WIM Arpita Mukherjee need to score a victory over GM Van Huy Nguyen (VIE) to score a WGM-norm.

WIM Tejaswini G needs a draw against FM Garv Gaur.

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.		White	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Typ	Rtg	Club/City
1	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel		2544	ARM	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Savchenko, Boris		2459	RUS
2	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		2448	GEO	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		2532	GEO
3	IM	Nitish, Belurkar		2441	GA	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Neelash, Saha		2460	RSPB
4	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet		2576	PSPB	5	1 - 0	5½	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		2394	RSPB
5	GM	Sengupta, Deep		2506	PSPB	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Garv, Gaur		2366	HR
6	IM	Ayush, Sharma		2485	MP	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Manik, Mikulas		2273	SVK
7	IM	Utsab, Chatterjee		2299	WB	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Borgaonkar, Akshay		2418	MH
8	GM	Chanda, Sandipan		2485	WB	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.		2355	PSPB
9	IM	Padmini, Rout		2354	PSPB	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Stany, G.A.		2454	KA
10	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete		2391	MH	4½	0 - 1	4½	FM	John, Veny Akkarakaran		2350	KL
11	IM	Harsh, Suresh		2389	TN	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Vaibhav, Jayant Raut		2327	MH
12	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		2307	BLR	4½	½ - ½	4½	FM	Harshad, S		2388	TN
13	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh		2370	MH	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Ram, Aravind L N		2245	TN
14	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann		2284	PSPB	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		2370	FIDE
15	WIM	Tejaswini, G		2272	TN	4½	½ - ½	4½	FM	Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi		2366	MH
16		Madhesh, Kumar S		2183	PY	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Shahil, Dey		2360	AS
17	IM	Soham, Kamotra		2422	JK	4	0 - 1	4½	IM	Gochelashvili, David		2227	RUS
18	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty		2444	AS	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat		2352	UZB
19	FM	Jai, Sankar Subramanian		2316	TN	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.		2418	RSPB
20	IM	Liyanage, Ranindu Dilshan		2398	SRI	4	0 - 1	4	FM	Wagh, Suyog		2289	MH

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	14	IM	Nitish, Belurkar		IND	2441	GA	6	38	42,5	30,50	5
2	4	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		GEO	2532	GEO	6	36,5	40	29,25	4
3	7	IM	Ayush, Sharma		IND	2485	MP	6	36	39,5	27,75	5
4	3	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel		ARM	2544	ARM	6	35,5	39	28,50	4
5	12	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		GEO	2448	GEO	6	35	37,5	27,00	4
6	8	IM	Neelash, Saha		IND	2460	RSPB	6	34,5	37,5	27,50	4
7	9	GM	Savchenko, Boris		RUS	2459	RUS	6	33,5	37	26,25	5
8	1	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet		IND	2576	PSPB	6	32	34,5	25,50	4
9	5	GM	Sengupta, Deep		IND	2506	PSPB	6	31,5	34	25,00	5
10	17	FM	Borgaonkar, Akshay	PO12612_PUNE_20	IND	2418	MH	5,5	36,5	39	25,25	3
11	6	GM	Chanda, Sandipan		IND	2485	WB	5,5	35,5	39	25,00	5
12	22	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2394	RSPB	5,5	35	38	24,50	4
13	31	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh	PO1194_THAN_202	IND	2370	MH	5,5	34,5	36,5	22,25	4
14	60	IM	Utsab, Chatterjee		IND	2299	WB	5,5	33,5	36	23,00	4
15	88	IM	Gochelashvili, David		RUS	2227	RUS	5,5	32,5	36	22,75	4
16	32	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		FID	2370	FIDE	5,5	32,5	34,5	21,50	4
17	27	IM	Harsh, Suresh		IND	2389	TN	5,5	29,5	33	22,25	4
18	45	FM	John, Veny Akkarakaran		IND	2350	KL	5,5	29,5	31,5	21,25	3
19	37	IM	Shahil, Dey		IND	2360	AS	5,5	28,5	31,5	21,25	4
20	55	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		BLR	2307	BLR	5	37,5	41,5	24,25	3

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.		White	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Typ	Rtg	Club/City
1	IM	Ayush, Sharma		2485	MP	6		6	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet		2576	PSPB
2	IM	Neelash, Saha		2460	RSPB	6		6	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel		2544	ARM
3	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		2532	GEO	6		6	IM	Nitish, Belurkar		2441	GA
4	GM	Savchenko, Boris		2459	RUS	6		6	GM	Sengupta, Deep		2506	PSPB
5	FM	Borgaonkar, Akshay		2418	MH	5½		6	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		2448	GEO
6	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		2370	FIDE	5½		5½	GM	Chanda, Sandipan		2485	WB
7	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		2394	RSPB	5½		5½	IM	Utsab, Chatterjee		2299	WB
8	IM	Shahil, Dey		2360	AS	5½		5½	IM	Harsh, Suresh		2389	TN
9	IM	Gochelashvili, David		2227	RUS	5½		5½	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh		2370	MH
10	FM	John, Veny Akkarakaran		2350	KL	5½		5	GM	Stany, G.A.		2454	KA
11	IM	Panda, Sambit		2391	OD	5		5	IM	Padmini, Rout		2354	PSPB
12	FM	Harshad, S		2388	TN	5		5	FM	Wagh, Suyog		2289	MH
13	FM	Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi		2366	MH	5		5	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		2307	BLR
14	FM	Garv, Gaur		2366	HR	5		5	WIM	Tejaswini, G		2272	TN
15	GM	Manik, Mikulas		2273	SVK	5		5	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei		2358	KGZ
16	CM	Sarveshwaran, V		2234	TN	5		4½	IM	Hari, Madhavan N B		2393	TN
17	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		2556	ARM	4½		4½	FM	Jinan, Jomon		2311	KL
18	WIM	Velpula, Sarayu		2302	TG	4½		4½	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty		2444	AS
19	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.		2418	RSPB	4½		4½	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann		2284	PSPB
20	GM	Fedorov, Alexei		2396	BLR	4½		4½	FM	Mahitosh, Dey		2226	OD

Details

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