Georgian Luka takes sole lead; Anup Deshmukh, 10 others in joint 2nd at Maharashtra International Open GM Chess tournament

Luka Paichadze shot into the sole lead at four points after the end of the fourth round of the 1st Maharashtra International Open Grandmasters Chess tournament in Pune on Thursday.

The Georgian Grandmaster, rated second, notched up his fourth successive win at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Stadium in Balewadi.

In the fourth round, Luka defeated GM MR Venkatesh. The all-GM encounters between overnight leaders Boris Savchenko and Arjun Kalyan as well as V Karthik and Aleksej Alexandrov ended in deadlocks.

Anup Deshmukh holds top seed GM Farrukh Amonatov to a draw

Overnight leader IM Anup Deshmukh played another superb match to hold top seed Farrukh Amonatov to a draw. Nagpur-based International Master (IM) Anup Deshmukh is trailing half a point behind the leader along with 10 others.

GM Nguyen Duc Hoa upset a much higher-ranked Alexei Federov in 51 moves with a King’s Indian defence.

Atharva Godbole kept up the good work by holding highly-rated GM Nguyen Van Huy to a draw.

IM Bhakti Kulkarni was easily the pick of the women's players as she notched up three points by defeating Anustoop Biswas. Mary Ann Gomes has tallied 2.5 points while the other women's WGMs in the fray are collectively finding the going tough in this 11-round Swiss League event.

GM Paichadze Luka of Georgia (L) beat Indian GM Venkatesh MR to jump to sole lead on Thursday. (Picture credit: AICF)

Anup Deshmukh stuns GM Azer Mirzoev in third round

On Wednesday evening, the mercurial Anup Deshmukh was at his scintillating best as he shocked GM Azer Mirzoev to win the Brilliancy prize for Round 3. Top seed Amonatov, the only player rated above 2600 in the tournament, had to concede a draw to Aditya Samant after 100 hard-fought moves.

The Tajikistan GM, though disappointed with the outcome, shrugged it off saying “I believe there is a certain element of luck in games. Sometimes you are unable to convert winning positions and at times you even end up on the losing side, so I accept the draws in the right spirit”.

In the 4th round, Anup opened the English way against top seed Amonatov and the game became exciting after the players were castled on opposite flanks.

Anup opted for castling on the Queen’s side. He was surprised when, on the 23rd turn, Amonatov sacrificed his rook to clear the way for his pawn to advance all the way to the last rank. Anup was forced to give up his rook for one of the queens. A few exchanges later, the players exchanged rooks and minor pieces, ending with an extra pawn for Amonatov.

The 55-year-old Anup, however, played comfortably in the end and peace was signed on the 45th turn in a dead equal position.

In a Caro-Kann Exchange game between Gusain Himal and Lalith Babu, the former made multiple attempts to launch aggressively on the king’s side but could not find the right way. Lalith then craftily forced an exchange of queens and netted a couple of pawns to pocket a point after 60 moves.

“I thought I was better in the opening, but I misplayed to give initiative. However, after the exchange of queens, it was easy for me to convert,” said Lalith Babu.

With the half-way stage approaching, there are several players in contention for the crown.

Results (Round 4)

GM Paichadze Luka (GEO) (4) bt GM Venkatesh MR (IND) (3)

GM Savchenko Boris (RUS) (3.5) drew with GM Arjun Kalyan (IND) (3.5)

GM Karthik Venkataraman (IND) (3.5) drew with GM Aleksandrov Aleksej (BLR) (3.5)

IM Anup Deshmukh (IND) (3.5) drew with GM Amonatov Farrukh (TJK) (3.5)

IM Gusain Himal (IND) (2.5) lost to GM Lalith Babu MR (IND) (3.5)

GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (VIE) (3.5) bt GM Fedorov Alexei (BLR) (2.5)

IM Rahul VS (IND) (2.5) lost to GM Deep Sengupta (IND) (3.5)

IM Ameya Audi (IND) (3) drew with IM Aditya Mittal (IND) (3)

Gaurav Kumar (IND) (2.5) lost to GM Vishnu Prasanna V (IND) (3.5)

FM Samant Aditya S (IND) (3.5) bt IM Krishna Teja N (IND) (2.5)

IM Srihari LR (IND) (3.5) bt FM Sharan Rao (IND) (2.5)

IM Saravanan V (IND) (2) bt GM Nikitenko Mihail (BLR) (3)

GM Mirzoev Azer (AZE) (2.5) drew with FM Abdurakhmonov Mukhammadali (UZB) (2.5)

IM Nigmatov Ortik (UZB) (2.5) drew with WIM Priyanka Nutakki (IND) (2.5)

IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh (IND) (3) bt WGM Srija Seshadri (IND) (2)

IM Sangma Rahul (IND) (2.5) drew with GM Stupak Kirill (BLR) (2.5)

IM Neelash Saha (IND) (3) bt Barath Kalyan M (IND) (2)

GM Hossain Enamul (BAN) (3) bt FM Ayush Sharma (IND) (2)

Atharva Godbole (IND) (2.5) drew with GM Nguyen Van Huy (VIE) (2.5)

Anustoop Biswas (IND) (2) lost to IM Bhakti Kulkarni (IND) (3).