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Nitish or Viani - who will win the 1st Indore International GM Open?

by Himank Ghosh - 08/04/2023

The penultimate round of the 1st Indore International GM Open was very intense - no less than 7 players were fighting to get the sole lead! Two players succeeded in their pursuit, while others drew their games. IM Viani D'Cunha took down the tournament top seed Levan Pantsulaia, and IM Nitish Belurkar defeated GM Boris Savchenko in the top board. As it stands right now, both Viani and Nitish have 7.5/9 points going into the final round, while 4 other players follow them with 7/9. Who do you think will take it home? The final round starts today from 10 AM IST. Photo: Himank Ghosh

A fantastic game by Nitish

Boris Savchenko is a strong Grandmaster who's a known face in Indian chess tournaments. That's what makes it all the more impressive - IM Nitish Belurkar played a near-perfect game to take down Boris with the Black pieces! 

This is certainly one of Nitish's best games so far. | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Round 9: GM Boris Savchenko - IM Nitish Belurkar: 0-1

GM Boris Savchenko (left) - IM Nitish Belurkar | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Nitish seemed to be in better preparation for the Sicilian 4 knights, hence getting a small advantage with the Black pieces early in the game. This is where Boris started going wrong:

Position after 21. Qf3

The Queen is actually not very well-placed on f3 - the Knight would've been much more effective on that square. Nitish correctly continued with 21...Qf7, doubling in the semi-open c-file. A few moves later. in came the famous Sicilian sacrifice:

Position after 23...Rxc3, a typical exchange sac in the sicilian.

Positionally. White is already lost due to the ruptured queenside pawn structure, weak central pawn and no attack on the Kingside. While Boris tried his best to come up with defensive resources, Nitish converted this very smoothly to a win. It's very hard to suggest an exact moment where White went wrong - such games are always satisfying!

IM Nitish Belurkar's fantastic win over top seed GM Levan Pantsulaia | 1st Indore GM Open | Video: ChessBase India

IM Viani Antonio Dcunha - GM Levan Pantsulaia: 1-0

This was a tactical masterpiece by IM Viani Dcunha. One mistake by Levan and it was all over pretty quick:

19...Rd3? was the decisive mistake by Levan.

Viani found a very nice way to exploit this - he went 20. Qc2! followed by 21. Qe2, creating a powerful pin on the queen and starting operations on the weak kingside. The International Master went on to win the game in beautiful fashion in the next few moves!

This was the final blow - 25. Nxh5! ...gxh5 is met with Qxh5 with impending mate. Levan resigned just a few moves later!

IM Viani Dcunha takes down the tournament top seed., GM Levan Pantsulaia | 1st Indore GM Open | Video: ChessBase India

For more photos, check out our Facebook album.

All the Round 9 games

Round 9 results

Bo.No. NameGrTypRtgClub/CityPts.ResultPts.NameGrTypRtgClub/City No.PGN
13
GMSavchenko, Boris2540FID0 - 1IMNitish, Belurkar2426GOA
15PGN
242
FMHarsh, SureshU192261TN½ - ½IMAronyak, Ghosh2534WB
4PGN
312
GMDeepan, Chakkravarthy J.2432ICF½ - ½IMAudi, Ameya2387GOA
23PGN
424
IMViani, Antonio Dcunha2385KAR1 - 06GMPantsulaia, Levan2597GEO
1PGN
522
IMPadmini, Rout2388ODI6½ - ½6GMMchedlishvili, Mikheil2568GEO
2PGN
648
Dhananjay, S2234CG6½ - ½6GMKrasenkow, MichalS602527POL
5PGN
76
GMPaichadze, Luka2515GEO6½ - ½6GMTeterev, Vitaly2377FID
25PGN
816
GMStupak, Kirill2413FID6½ - ½6IMAnuj, ShrivatriU192407MP
17PGN
911
GMMirzoev, Azer2437AZE1 - 06FMWagh, Suyog2313MAH
33PGN
1050
Kaustuv, Kundu2217WB1 - 0GMSengupta, Deep2484PSPB
8PGN
1118
IMMehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.2405TEL1 - 0CMNayak, Rajesh2145ODI
57PGN
1254
FMMatta, Vinay Kumar2190UBI½ - ½GMHossain, Enamul2404BAN
19PGN
1321
IMNitin, S.2398TN½ - ½AFMPawar, HarshitU191992DEL
93PGN
1455
FMJaiswal, Rupesh2153NEP0 - 1IMUtsab, Chatterjee2338WB
29PGN
1556
Dere, Pushkar2152MAH½ - ½IMRaahul, V S2306TN
35PGN

All Round 9 results

Standings after Round 9

Rk.SNo NameTypsexFEDRtgClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 RpKrtg+/-
115
IMNitish, BelurkarIND2426GOA7,550,553,543,000625941021,5
224
IMViani, Antonio DcunhaIND2385KAR7,5485242,500625231021,9
34
IMAronyak, GhoshIND2534WB747,551,537,75052511101,6
442
FMHarsh, SureshU19IND2261TN746,55138,250624992060,4
512
GMDeepan, Chakkravarthy J.IND2432ICF745,54936,50052370101,6
623
IMAudi, AmeyaIND2387GOA74548,536,250624801014,4
75
GMKrasenkow, MichalS60POL2527POL6,548,55336,7505236610-10,4
82
GMMchedlishvili, MikheilGEO2568GEO6,548,552,537,0004239410-8,8
96
GMPaichadze, LukaGEO2515GEO6,5485235,0005238610-5,9
103
GMSavchenko, BorisFID2540FID6,54649,534,5006237210-7,8
1116
GMStupak, KirillFID2413FID6,5464831,25042447109,2
1222
IMPadmini, RoutwIND2388ODI6,543,547,532,7505227010-6,3
1348
Dhananjay, SIND2234CG6,54345,529,250622492011,8
1411
GMMirzoev, AzerAZE2437AZE6,542,546,532,7506226810-8,2
1598
Arpan, DasIND1981WB6,542,544,529,000623542079,4

Full standings

Round 10 pairings

Bo.No. NameGrTypRtgClub/CityPts.ResultPts.NameGrTypRtgClub/City No.
115
IMNitish, Belurkar2426GOA7FMHarsh, SureshU192261TN
42
223
IMAudi, Ameya2387GOA7IMViani, Antonio Dcunha2385KAR
24
34
IMAronyak, Ghosh2534WB77GMDeepan, Chakkravarthy J.2432ICF
12
42
GMMchedlishvili, Mikheil2568GEOIMMehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.2405TEL
18
522
IMPadmini, Rout2388ODIGMSavchenko, Boris2540FID
3
65
GMKrasenkow, MichalS602527POLKaustuv, Kundu2217WB
50
729
IMUtsab, Chatterjee2338WBGMPaichadze, Luka2515GEO
6
825
GMTeterev, Vitaly2377FIDGMMirzoev, Azer2437AZE
11
998
Arpan, Das1981WBGMStupak, Kirill2413FID
16
1017
IMAnuj, ShrivatriU192407MPDhananjay, S2234CG
48
119
GMFedorov, Alexei2477FID6Dhruva, ThotaU191705TEL
178
121
GMPantsulaia, Levan2597GEO66IMSaravana, Krishnan P.2284TN
38
1340
FMZhakshylykov, ErzhanU192274KGZ66IMNeelash, Saha2444WB
10
1413
IMSrihari, L RU192432TN66AGMVignesh, BU192262TN
41
1519
GMHossain, Enamul2404BAN66Dere, Pushkar2152MAH
56

Details

The 1st Indore International GM Open 2023 is taking place in Emerald Heights International School, Indore. The total prize fund of this mega event is Rs. 33 lakhs. The event is being organized by the Malwanchal Chess Club and All Indore Chess Federation, under the Madhya Pradesh Ad Hoc Chess Committee. This is a 10-round classical swiss event which will run from 1st April 2023 - 8th April 2023. The time control of the event is 90 minutes +30 seconds increment. The 10th and final round starts from 8th April 10 AM IST.

Important links

Emerald Heights International School Indore Facebook page

Emerald Heights International School Indore Instagram