IT WAS a day of mixed fortunes for the two Indian super GMs Vidit Gujrathi and Raunak Sadhwani on Day Five of the Maharshtra Challenge Match where two Rapid and four Blitz games were played at Naivedhyam Northstar, Koradi, on Monday. Master of Blitz format Raunak defeated Short 14.5-5.5 to win the Maharshtra Challenge Match while Vidit is leading in the second Match against Peter Svidler with a 12-8 score. “It was a fantastic day for me and I was calculating fast and accurately today, so I am pretty pleased,” summed 18-year-old Nagpur’s Grandmaster Sadhwani.

Sadhwani, reputed for his prowess in Blitz (3 minutes each plus 2 seconds increment after every move) played brilliantly to win all the four games against former World Championship Challenger Nigel Short and won a Rapid game (15 minutes each plus 10 seconds increment after every move) and drew the second game to remain the only unbeaten player of the day. Sadhwani has tallied a formidable 14.5 points and two Rapid and fourBlitz games will be played on Tuesday. Two points are awarded for a victory in the Rapid and 1 point in Blitz. Vidit started well with two victories in the Rapid section after Svidler lost way in a good -looking position in the second Rapid game.

Things however began disastrously for Vidit in the Blitz section after losing the first game. Vidit was a bit slow on the clock and was under severe time pressure in all the games. Svidler won three and one game ended in a draw.

“If I had managed to convert the second Rapid game into victory, tomorrow it would have been an even fight,” rued Svidler later. Panesar, Milosz are joint leaders INDIANS continued to impress in the 7th round of the 2nd Maharashtra Grandmaster Open International Chess tournament. FM Vedant Panesar of Maharashtra, ranked 22nd and IM Szpar Milosz of Poland ranked 12 have emerged joint leaders with 6 points each. The game between other overnight leaders IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete and GM Paichadze Luka ended in a draw on the top board after 38 moves of a Caro-Kann advanced Opening when each was left with a rook and minor piece with pawns. Shete, Luka, Rohit Krishna and IM Kushagra Mohan are trailing behind the leaders with 5.5 points apiece.