Maharashtra players dominate

The game between Suryakant Raut of Maharashtra and P Balaraman of Kerala was a Queen’s Gambit Declined. Balaraman, with white pieces, played passively and miscalculated a bishop sacrifice, landing himself in a disastrous position. The 28th move victory for Suryakant Raut was only a formality.

Gaurav Gadodia (white) and Charudatta Jadhav (black) played a Sicilian Najdorf Defence game. Gaurav played aggressively from the beginning and launched an all out mating attack after sacrificing his knight. Jadhav defended well and returned the sacrifice to achieve parity. Both players managed to Queen their pawns, but the endgame was a clear draw, which the players agreed to after 50 moves.

N Siddaiah of Andhra Pradesh, playing with white pieces began very aggressively against Vasant Patil of Maharashtra, the senior most player in the field. The Andhra player managed to build a slight advantage in the opening. However, Vasant Patil defended his pieces well and played a solid positional game to trap his opponent’s knight. Patil did not let this advantage slip and registered a well deserved victory in 40 moves.

Results (Round V): Sanjay Karandikar (Mah-1) bt Shirish Patil (Mah-2), Madan Bagayatkar (Mah-5) bt Mahipal Singh (Har-3), Suryakant Raut (Mah-2.5) bt P Balaraman (Ker-3), Vasant Patil (Mah-3) bt Swapnil Shah (Mah-2), Rajesh Rajput (Guj-2.5) drew Vilesh Bhatt (Mah-3), Gaurav Gadodi (Mah-1.5) drew Charudatta Jadhav (Mah-1.5), Swapnil Shah (Mah-4.5) got a bye as his opponent failed to turn up.