Raunak Sadhwani scores his maiden GM norm at the Aeroflot Open 2019

by Sagar Shah - 27/02/2019

Raunak Sadhwani scored his maiden GM norm at the Aeroflot Open 2019. The youngster from Nagpur scored 5.0/8 against all opponents rated above 2570. Raunak is just 13 years old and he shot into international prominence when he very nearly beat Vishy Anand in round one of the Isle of Man event 2018. Since then Raunak has moved from strength to strength. He missed his GM norms at the Sunway Chess Festival and Gibraltar Masters, but he finally achieved it at the Aeroflot Open 2019 with one round to spare. In this article we acquaint you with further with this young talent and show you two of his impressive games - the first one was the loss against Anand which the boy has annotated himself and the second one is his win against Srinath Narayanan annotated by IM Sagar Shah.

The boy who almost beat Vishy Anand scores his maiden GM norm

Raunak Sadhwani, born in December 2005, is just 13 years and 3 months old. But at the Aeroflot Open 2019 he has already scored his maiden GM norm. It was an extremely solid performance as Raunak remained unbeaten against some very strong GMs.

Raunak's performance at the Aeroflot Open 2019

Raunak is now well known in the chess world as the boy who almost beat Vishy Anand in round 1 of the Isle of Man International 2018. Well, if you are curious to see the game, here's the entire battle against Anand annotated by Raunak himself. Take a note of Raunak's comments and some mind boggling variations.

Anand speaks about the game against Raunak

Anand mentioned a couple of times in the video that Raunak is rated much below than what his level is. And the Indian legend's words did come true as Raunak kept showcasing one powerful performance after another. In fact he missed his GM norm by a whisker at both Sunway Sitges and Gibraltar Masters 2019. Well, at the Aeroflot Open 2019 he more than made up for his misses as he achieved his GM norm with one round to spare. To hold you own and score +1 against all the GMs rated above 2570 is no mean task. Out of the eight rounds that he has played Raunak has one victory and seven draws. His win came against GM Srinath Narayanan which we have annotated here:

Raunak's father Bharat Sadhwani (right) receiving the Shiv Chhatrapati award on his son's behalf. Raunak couldn't attend the ceremony, because he was busy making his GM norm!

Raunak is trained by GM Swapnil Dhopade (left)

While Raunak's play was extremely solid and that helped him to get his maiden GM norm, we cannot help but point out two games where he agreed to very quick draws with the white pieces.

Tournament situation often dictates the decisions you make. Raunak badly wanted to achieve his GM norm, and these draws did help him move closer to the norm. However, with all his tactical ability and talent, it goes without saying that he must fight harder in the next events that he plays. This GM norm is sure to boost his confidence in the right direction.

Check out more about this phenomenal talent in the video where I show Raunak's game against Anand and also his win against GM Alexander Fier (a great game worth watching!)

Overview of Indian performances in A group of Aeroflot 2019

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts.	Rk.	Group
11	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2678	IND	1	1	1	1	1	½	0	½		6,0	2	Open A
14	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2651	IND	½	1	0	½	½	½	½	0		3,5	69	Open A
18	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2636	IND	1	½	½	½	½	0	½	1		4,5	35	Open A
38	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2601	IND	1	1	0	0	0	½	1	1		4,5	33	Open A
42	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2593	IND	1	1	½	½	0	1	0	½		4,5	29	Open A
45	GM	Nihal Sarin	2578	IND	1	1	0	½	½	0	1	½		4,5	27	Open A
47	GM	Vaibhav Suri	2575	IND	0	½	1	1	½	1	½	½		5,0	17	Open A
49	GM	Narayanan Srinath	2572	IND	½	0	0	1	½	0	½	0	0	2,5	98	Open A
55	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2560	IND	½	0	1	1	½	0	½	1		4,5	26	Open A
57	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2556	IND	0	0	½	1	½	½	½	1		4,0	59	Open A
63	GM	Aryan Chopra	2540	IND	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	0		3,5	61	Open A
65	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2538	IND	½	0	1	½	½	1	0	0		3,5	62	Open A
67	GM	Debashis Das	2532	IND	½	1	½	½	½	0	0	½		3,5	63	Open A
68	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2532	IND	0	1	0	½	1	½	0	1		4,0	54	Open A
71	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2524	IND	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	1		3,5	80	Open A
74	IM	Gukesh D	2508	IND	0	0	1	½	0	½	½	½		3,0	89	Open A
78	GM	Gagare Shardul	2495	IND	0	0	½	1	½	½	½	½		3,5	67	Open A
79	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2494	IND	0	½	0	0	1	1	½	0		3,0	85	Open A
84	IM	Iniyan P	2480	IND	½	½	0	½	½	½	1	½		4,0	50	Open A
87	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2471	IND	1	½	0	0	½	½	½	½		3,5	66	Open A
88	IM	Prithu Gupta	2470	IND	0	½	0	½	1	½	½	½		3,5	72	Open A
91	CM	Aditya Mittal	2454	IND	½	0	1	0	½	0	1	0		3,0	86	Open A
93	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2448	IND	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½		4,5	43	Open A
94	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2444	IND	½	½	0	½	0	0	½	½		2,5	91	Open A
95	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2443	IND	0	0	1	½	½	½	½	½		3,5	77	Open A

Standings after round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	62	GM	Kulaots Kaido		EST	2542	6,0	5	2651
2	11	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan		IND	2678	6,0	4	2594
3	28	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.		ARM	2616	6,0	3	2557
4	43	GM	Tabatabaei M.Amin	U18	IRI	2590	5,5	4	2600
5	3	GM	Wang Hao		CHN	2714	5,5	4	2597
6	41	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.		ARM	2595	5,5	4	2594
7	21	GM	Sarana Alexey		RUS	2630	5,5	4	2566
8	25	GM	Khismatullin Denis		RUS	2621	5,5	4	2524
9	30	GM	Chigaev Maksim		RUS	2613	5,5	3	2579
10	35	GM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	U18	ROU	2603	5,0	4	2651
11	32	GM	Lupulescu Constantin		ROU	2610	5,0	4	2636
12	52	GM	Petrosyan Manuel		ARM	2564	5,0	4	2614
13	1	GM	Wei Yi		CHN	2733	5,0	4	2591
14	29	GM	Zhou Jianchao		CHN	2615	5,0	4	2587
15	9	GM	Korobov Anton		UKR	2687	5,0	4	2580
16	7	GM	Inarkiev Ernesto		RUS	2692	5,0	4	2579
17	47	GM	Vaibhav Suri		IND	2575	5,0	4	2563
18	12	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham		IRI	2666	5,0	4	2559
19	15	GM	Anton Guijarro David		ESP	2642	5,0	4	2556
20	13	GM	Sjugirov Sanan		RUS	2663	5,0	4	2554

Related news:

	Raunak Sadhwani wins FIDE World Junior Rapid 2023 Open, Second in Blitz @ 17/10/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Nikolas Theodorou triumphs at Summer Chess Classic 2023, Raunak Sadhwani second @ 02/09/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Maharashtra Chess Festival brings forth two world class matches @ 01/06/2023 by Sagar Shah (en)
	Nagpur to host Vidit vs Svidler, Raunak vs Short + 3 tournaments at the Maharashtra Chess Festival 2023 @ 29/05/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Raunak Sadhwani dominates 3rd La Nucia Open 2022 @ 17/10/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Raunak Sadhwani: The strongest under-16 player in the world @ 11/11/2021 by Saishyam Srikanth (en)
	रौनक साधवानी - भारत के भविष्य की एक और उम्मीद @ 08/08/2020 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Lucena in Lockdown #6 : GM Raunak Sadhwani @ 25/04/2020 by Avathanshu Bhat (en)
	Talent Test with GM Raunak Sadhwani @ 15/11/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	The ingredients that helped Raunak Sadhwani become the 65th GM of India @ 30/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	Breaking news! Raunak Sadhwani is India's 65th GM @ 18/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	12-year-old Raunak Sadhwani is just 22 Elo points away from becoming an IM @ 12/05/2018 by Sagar Shah (en)