Emphatic start for Maha’s best

Nagpur: Maharashtra’s best Grandmasters Vidit Gujrathi and Raunak Sadhwani gave an emphatic start to their Challenge Match in Maharashtra chess festival against overseas GMs Peter Svidler and Nigel Short on Thursday.While 28-year-old Vidit, ranked third in India, utilized his opening advantage with the white pieces well to get the better of former World Cup winner Svidler in a quick 30-move battle, Maharashtra’s youngest GM Raunak defended well with the black pieces to stun Nigel Short in just 28 moves.Both the Indian challengers Vidit and Raunak took a three-point lead in the 16 game Challenger tie where four classical, four rapid and eight blitz games will be played.Opting for an English opening, Vidit surprised Svidler in his very first move as the queen were the first pieces to be exchanged on the seventh move. With Vidit castling on the queenside and Svidler refraining from it, an attacking game was anticipated. However, Svidler played an inaccurate 14th move while a brilliant pawn sacrifice on the 15th turn by Vidit allowed his pieces to occupy strategic squares. Vidit then laid a trap on Svidler’s un-castled King and the Russian was left with no option but to sacrifice his rook for a bishop. On the 19th move, Vidit craftily advanced his pawns on the king-side and forced Svidler to resign in the 30th move.An excited Vidit said, “This is quite simply one of my best games in recent times and it gave me joy.”Within minutes Nagpur’s first GM Raunak Sadhwani took just 28 moves to checkmate Nigel Short on his 58th birthday. “The position was complicated, but I had an advantage throughout,” said Raunak. Short failed to take advantage with his white pieces and played couple of inaccurate moves on the 15th and 17th turn. Thereafter, Raunak gained the advantage and outplayed his mentor in the 28th move.UPSETS GALORE ON DAY 1 OF GM INTL OPENThe opening round of Maharashtra GM international open at the Naivedhyam Northstar hall saw the toppling of some seeded masters. Unseeded Arya Bhakta stunned fifth seeded Indian GM Akash G in 35 moves as National U-12 champion Goutham Krishna surprised 11th seeded Belarus GM Federov Alexei.