Ayush Sharma topples Abhijeet Gupta, on the verge of winning 3rd Maharashtra GM

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/04/2025

IM Ayush Sharma defeated the top seed, 'Mr. Commonwealth' GM Abhijeet Gupta in Round 9 of 3rd Maharashtra GM 2025. Abhijeet's knight sacrifice needed precision to draw the game. However, he went for more and ended up losing the game. GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO) and GM Boris Savchenko also won their respective games against IM Nitish Belurkar and GM Deep Sengupta respectively. While Deep blundered in the endgame, Nitish's positional mistake was so minute that it cannot even be called a mistake. Ayush will face GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) in the last round. Pantsulaia and Savchenko will clash on the top board. Ayush not only has the opportunity to win the tournament but also score his final GM-norm. A win should make him the champion and bring close to the GM title. However, tie-breaks might play the spoilsport if Pantsulaia or Savchenko end up having a decisive outcome. Round 10 starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Ayush survives a king hunt by Abhijeet

The measure of success of a GM tournament lies in the fact that how many norms have been scored by the players. The objective of the tournament is to create opportunities for the talented youngsters to earn GM, IM, WGM and WIM-norms and eventually the title. Out of the nine players who had opportunity to score ten different norms, three of them seized their chance. FM Akshay Borgaonkar, FM Ram Aravind L N and Samyak Dharewa have scored an IM-norm each. The tournament is not over yet, so there is a good chance more norms will be scored.

Ayush - Abhijeet: 1-0

IM Ayush Sharma (2485) had faced GM Abhijeet Gupta (2576) only once earlier almost 5.5 years ago at 57th National Championship. Ayush was much lower rated, not even an IM, while Abhijeet was 2600+. Now the gap is much less which has been evident in Ayush's games as well as this one.

Position after 31...Nf3

Abhijeet decided to sacrifice his knight 31...Nf3 Ideally Black should not lose and can easily hold a draw. However, he faltered. Ayush had no choice but to accept the sacrifice 32.gxf3 Qxf3+ 33.Kg1 Qg3+ 34.Kf1 Qxh3+? allowed the king to get into shelter 35.Ke2 Qg4+ 36.Kd3 Qf3+ 37.Be3 soon Black's attack fizzled out and it was White whose attack turned out to be superior.

Final position after 46.Kd1

The finish is absolutely beautiful. It is the white king who is absolutely safe at the middle of the board.

IM Ayush Sharma scored a fantastic victory over GM Abhijeet Gupta

IM Neelash Saha - GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM): 0.5-0.5

Levan - Nitish

Position after 21...Be5?

It is quite difficult to imagine that 21...Be5? is a mistake. The obvious and natural move which makes an attempt un-double the d6-pawn is actually a mistake. White opens the b-file 22.Bxe5 dxe5 23.bxc5 bxc5 24.Rxb8 Rxb8 25.Rb1 Rxb1 26.Qxb1 Nd6 27.Qb8+ Kg7 28.Nf3 and eventually went on to win the game. The computer recommends 21...Bh6 22.Bxh6 Nxh6 23.bxc5 should be met with dxc5. That is absolutely unnatural play, it is very difficult for any human to play like that.

IM Nitish Belurkar suffered a tough loss against GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO)

A blunder in the endgame cost GM Deep Sengupta dearly against GM Boris Savchenko

FM Akshay Borgaonkar made a quick draw against GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO) to secure an IM-norm

Maksim - Sandipan

Position after 56...Rh4

The above endgame can end in a draw with correct play. Try to find out what IM Maksim Schekachikhin (2370) missed and lost his game against GM Sandipan Chanda (2485).

IM Maksim Schekachikhin - GM Sandipan Chanda: 0-1

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy defeated IM Utsab Chatterjee comfortably

FM John Veny Akkarakaran - GM Stany G A: 0.5-0.5

Aakash - Podolchenko

Position after 23.e6

One of the latest IMs of the country, Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi (2366) played fearless chess to beat GM Evgeniy Podolchenko (2307). Instead of cowering to 22...f3, he showed his fearlessness as he played 23.e6! It turned out that the passed e-pawn played a key role in earning the full point.

IM Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi defeated his second GM of the event - Evgeniy Podolchenko in a fantastic way, just like he beat the first one - Boris Savchenko

IM Sambit Panda won the All-Odisha clash against IM Padmini Rout

FM Ram Aravind L N scored his fourth IM-norm after he defeated FM Yash Bharadia

Samyak Dharewa defeated Jai Sankar Subramanian to earn his maiden IM-norm

Top boards in action

For more Round 9 photos, please click here.

Norm chances

GM-norm

IM Ayush Sharma needs to beat GM Manuel Petrosian (ARM)

WGM-norm

WIM Tejaswini G needs a draw against IM Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan (SRI).

Replay Round 9 games

Round 9 results

Bo.		White	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Typ	Rtg	Club/City
1	IM	Ayush, Sharma		2485	MP	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet		2576	PSPB
2	IM	Neelash, Saha		2460	RSPB	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel		2544	ARM
3	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		2532	GEO	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Nitish, Belurkar		2441	GA
4	GM	Savchenko, Boris		2459	RUS	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Sengupta, Deep		2506	PSPB
5	FM	Borgaonkar, Akshay		2418	MH	5½	½ - ½	6	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		2448	GEO
6	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		2370	FIDE	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Chanda, Sandipan		2485	WB
7	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		2394	RSPB	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Utsab, Chatterjee		2299	WB
8	IM	Shahil, Dey		2360	AS	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Harsh, Suresh		2389	TN
9	IM	Gochelashvili, David		2227	RUS	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh		2370	MH
10	FM	John, Veny Akkarakaran		2350	KL	5½	½ - ½	5	GM	Stany, G.A.		2454	KA
11	IM	Panda, Sambit		2391	OD	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Padmini, Rout		2354	PSPB
12	FM	Harshad, S		2388	TN	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Wagh, Suyog		2289	MH
13	FM	Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi		2366	MH	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		2307	BLR
14	FM	Garv, Gaur		2366	HR	5	1 - 0	5	WIM	Tejaswini, G		2272	TN
15	GM	Manik, Mikulas		2273	SVK	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei		2358	KGZ
16	CM	Sarveshwaran, V		2234	TN	5	0 - 1	4½	IM	Hari, Madhavan N B		2393	TN
17	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		2556	ARM	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Jinan, Jomon		2311	KL
18	WIM	Velpula, Sarayu		2302	TG	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty		2444	AS
19	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.		2418	RSPB	4½	1 - 0	4½	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann		2284	PSPB
20	GM	Fedorov, Alexei		2396	BLR	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Mahitosh, Dey		2226	OD

Details

Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	7	IM	Ayush, Sharma		IND	2485	MP	7	45,5	49	36,25	6
2	4	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		GEO	2532	GEO	7	45	49	37,75	5
3	9	GM	Savchenko, Boris		RUS	2459	RUS	7	43	46,5	34,25	6
4	3	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel		ARM	2544	ARM	6,5	47	51	35,75	4
5	8	IM	Neelash, Saha		IND	2460	RSPB	6,5	44,5	47,5	33,25	4
6	12	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		GEO	2448	GEO	6,5	44	46,5	32,25	4
7	6	GM	Chanda, Sandipan		IND	2485	WB	6,5	43,5	48	33,00	6
8	22	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2394	RSPB	6,5	43,5	46,5	32,25	5
9	37	IM	Shahil, Dey		IND	2360	AS	6,5	36	39	27,75	5
10	14	IM	Nitish, Belurkar		IND	2441	GA	6	50	54,5	34,25	5
11	17	FM	Borgaonkar, Akshay	PO12612_PUNE_20	IND	2418	MH	6	46,5	50	32,25	3
12	31	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh	PO1194_THAN_202	IND	2370	MH	6	45,5	48	29,50	4
13	34	FM	Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi	PO6790_THAN_202	IND	2366	MH	6	44,5	48,5	30,25	5
14	88	IM	Gochelashvili, David		RUS	2227	RUS	6	43	47	29,00	4
15	5	GM	Sengupta, Deep		IND	2506	PSPB	6	43	46	29,00	5
16	1	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet		IND	2576	PSPB	6	42,5	45,5	28,75	4
17	45	FM	John, Veny Akkarakaran		IND	2350	KL	6	39,5	42,5	28,00	3
18	35	FM	Garv, Gaur		IND	2366	HR	6	38,5	41	27,00	4
19	24	IM	Panda, Sambit		IND	2391	OD	6	38	41	25,75	4
20	68	GM	Manik, Mikulas		SVK	2273	SVK	5,5	45,5	49,5	29,50	3

Details

Round 10 pairings

Bo.		White	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Typ	Rtg	Club/City
1	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		2532	GEO	7		7	GM	Savchenko, Boris		2459	RUS
2	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel		2544	ARM	6½		7	IM	Ayush, Sharma		2485	MP
3	GM	Chanda, Sandipan		2485	WB	6½		6½	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		2448	GEO
4	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		2394	RSPB	6½		6½	IM	Neelash, Saha		2460	RSPB
5	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet		2576	PSPB	6		6	FM	Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi		2366	MH
6	GM	Sengupta, Deep		2506	PSPB	6		6	FM	John, Veny Akkarakaran		2350	KL
7	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh		2370	MH	6		6	IM	Nitish, Belurkar		2441	GA
8	FM	Garv, Gaur		2366	HR	6		6	FM	Borgaonkar, Akshay		2418	MH
9	IM	Gochelashvili, David		2227	RUS	6		6	IM	Panda, Sambit		2391	OD
10	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei		2358	KGZ	5½		5½	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		2556	ARM
11	GM	Stany, G.A.		2454	KA	5½		5½	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.		2355	PSPB
12	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.		2418	RSPB	5½		5½	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat		2352	UZB
13	IM	Utsab, Chatterjee		2299	WB	5½		5½	GM	Fedorov, Alexei		2396	BLR
14	IM	Hari, Madhavan N B		2393	TN	5½		5½	FM	Daaevik, Wadhawan		2311	DL
15	IM	Harsh, Suresh		2389	TN	5½		5½	GM	Manik, Mikulas		2273	SVK
16	FM	Ram, Aravind L N		2245	TN	5½		5½	FM	Harshad, S		2388	TN
17	FM	Wagh, Suyog		2289	MH	5½		5½	IM	Srihari, L		2377	PY
18	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		2370	FIDE	5½		5½		Samyak, Dharewa		2209	WB
19	CM	Harshit, Ranjan Sahu		2140	OD	5½		5½	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy		2363	VIE

Details

Related news:

	3rd Maharashtra GM R8: Abhijeet, Ayush and Deep join the leaders to make it nine-way @ 26/04/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Maharashtra GM R7: Half a dozen players catch up with Nitish at the top @ 25/04/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Maharashtra GM R6: Nitish and Ayush stay ahead of the pack @ 24/04/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Maharashtra GM R5: Nitish Belurkar conquers Sandipan Chanda, maintains his sole lead @ 24/04/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Maharashtra GM R3-4: Nitish Belurkar emerges sole leader @ 22/04/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Maharashtra GM R2: Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy outplays Stany @ 21/04/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Maharashtra GM R1: Priyanshu, Samyak, Aanjaneya, Venkata, Priyanka and Ajay beat IMs @ 20/04/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)