Mumbai challengers IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni and Arnav Kherdekar won their respective seventh-round matches and jointly share the lead at the top in the SMCA Chess School organized 1st All India FIDE Rating Open Chess Tournament 2024, played at the Russian House, Peddar Road, Mumbai, on Wednesday.
The top-ranked Kulkarni (2185) playing with the black pieces opted for the Nizmo Indian Classic opening against Delhi’s Saikat Nath (1829) on the top board. The Delhi player under pressure made a mistake on the 29th move and Kulkarni pounced on the opportunity to force the win.
Meanwhile, Kherdekar (1846) playing with white pieces, started with the Philidor defence opening against Yash Kapadi (1818) and was in control throughout on the third board. Black found the going tough and an error on the 47th move proved costly as Kherdekar went for the kill and closed out the win.
Pune’s contender Yash Watarkar (1963) was forced to share honours with Thane’s Arharv Soni (1968) in another seventh-round contest. Both Watarkar and Soni are jointly placed in the second position with five other players all with six points each.
Results – Top 10: Round 7: AIM Saikat Nath (5.5) lost IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni (6.5) 0-1;
Atharv Soni (6) drew Yash Watarkar (6) 0.5-0.5;
Arnav Kherdekar (6.5) beat Yash Kapadi (5);
Udupi Acharya (5) lost Sanjeev Mishra (6);
Darsh Shetty (6) beat Atish Laddad (5) 1-0;
Deepak Soni (5) lost Guruprasad Kulkarni (6) 0-1;
Tarun N (5) lost Kshaunish Jaiswal (6) 0-1;
Shubh Patel (5) lost Kartik Kumbhar (6) 0-1;
Yuti Patel (6) beat Prisha Margai (5) 1-0;
Shraddha Padvekar (4.5) lost Om Gada (5.5) 0-1.