Maharashtra Match – Rounds 1 + 2

by ChessBase
6/3/2023 – India's young talents Vidit Gujrathi and Raunak Sadhwani got off to a great start in round one, when they defeated veterans Peter Svidler and Nigel Short respectively in the first classical game. In round two Nigel and Peter bounced back by scoring emphatic victories over Raunak and Vidit. The match score is now 1-1. Our report has extensive videos by ChessBase India, including interviews with the players. The photos are by Shahid Ahmed.
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World class matches in Maharashtra

From the 1st to the 6th of June 2023, as a part of the Maharashtra Chess Festival, two matches between world class players are taking place in Nagpur, India. The first is between India's no.3 GM Vidit Gujrathi, who is taking on the eight-time Russian Champion Peter Svidler. The second is between the top rated junior from the state, Raunak Sadhwani, and former World Championship Challenger Nigel Short.

The format of the matches is four classical games, four rapid games and eight blitz games. The point scoring system is three points for a win in the classical games, two points for a win in the rapid format and one point for the win in blitz.

The time control for the classical game is 90 minutes + 30 minutes (after move 40) with 30 seconds of increment per move. The time control for Rapid is 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment and the time control for blitz is 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment. The event is FIDE rated. Here are the match-ups.

  • Vidit Gujrathi vs Peter Svidler - Rs.1,600,000
  • Raunak Sadhwani vs Nigel Short - Rs.500,000

Round one

Vidit Gujrathi had the white pieces against Peter Svidler in their first game of the Maharashtra Chess Challenge 2023. What a game this was! We had a decisive result. Check out the battle along with the commentary of IM Sagar Shah and learn from the great positional mastery that was on show!

Vidit played a brilliant positional pawn sacrifice. How did he manage to find this move? And what was the logic behind it. Vidit tells us about it in this interview:

It was a battle of generations as Nigel Short, the former World Championship challenger, celebrating his 58th birthday took on 17-year-old talent Raunak Sadhwani in the Maharashtra Challenge 2023 match. The first classical game ended with a queen sacrifice and a back rank mate. How did it happen? Check out in this video.

Raunak played the Sicilian Taimanov. On the 7th move he unleashed himself with a dangerous move ...h5. From that point onwards, Nigel was unable to handle his position, and step by step he simply went down. What happened and how it all panned out. Check it out in the interview with Raunak:

Round two

Peter Svidler got cleanly outplayed in the first game of his match against Vidit Gujrathi. Would Peter be able to survive Vidit's play was the question on everyone's mind. The Russian GM answered this question confidently as he found an amazing move in the middlegame to beat his opponent. What was that move. Why was it so deep? We try to analyze it in this game. We bring you the entire footage of the game along with the commentary of IM Sagar Shah:

And check out this interview with Peter Svidler:

In the other match Nigel Short showed he has never lost his touch, he is a legend after all, equalling the score with a fine black pieces victory.

Here are the games from the first two rounds:

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,185,00854%2421---
1.d4959,51055%2434---
1.Nf3286,50356%2441---
1.c4184,83456%2442---
1.g319,89256%2427---
1.b314,60054%2428---
1.f45,95448%2377---
1.Nc33,91150%2384---
1.b41,79148%2379---
1.a31,25054%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39366%2506---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.c4 e5 2.g3 d6 Peter decides to go for a fighting line. 3.Nc3 f5 4.d4 Be7 The interesting thing to note is that Peter Svidler faced this line against Arjun Erigaisi with the white pieces in Sigeman just 25 days ago. Although he won the game with the white pieces, he must have analyzed and felt that the opening was pretty good and decided to give it a shot against Vidit. 5.Bh3 Vidit was already out of his prep. The only thing he knew was that the bishop is better placed on h3 in this line than on g2 and so he thought for a bit and played Bh3. 5.Nf3 e4 6.Nh4 c6 7.Ng2 Na6 8.h4 Nc7 9.Qb3 Nf6 10.Bg5 0-0 11.e3 1-0 Svidler,P (2683)-Erigaisi,A (2701) Sigeman & Co 28th Malmo 2023 (3) 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Qxd8+ Bxd8 5...Na6 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Qxd8+ Bxd8 8.Nf3 e4 9.Nd4 g6 10.Bf4 c6 11.0-0-0 Nf6 If you look at how the position has developed, you will realize that White has quick development while Black is very solid. Black is banking on the fact that his pawn structure will survive until he can finish his development. Or else he would be in grave trouble with the king in the center. Taking all of this into consideration it is quite obvious that Vidit had to open up the position. 12.f3! Excellent move by Vidit to open up the position. exf3 12...Nc5 13.b4 Ne6 14.Nxe6 Bxe6 15.fxe4 Bxc4 16.exf5 This is the kind of murkiness White wanted. The position is opening up and the black king is in the center. 13.exf3 Kf7 14.Rhe1 Vidit brings his final piece in the game. Although the bishop on h3 does feel that it is biting on granite, but it will all come together. 14.c5 Nxc5 15.Bf1 Re8 16.Bc4+ Be6 17.Nxe6 Nxe6 18.Rhe1 14.g4 fxg4 15.fxg4 14...Be7?! While Peter did want to play ...Nc5, he realized that White has a direct way of pushing ahead with Bd6 and hence decided to improve his position with ...Be7. He had completely missed Vidit's next move. 14...Bc7 15.Bxc7 Nxc7 16.Nb3 Re8 Would have been an ideal way to continue. 14...Nc5 was Peter's idea. However, after 15.Bd6 Ne6 16.Nb3 White can claim to be slightly better here. 16.c5?! Nxd4 17.Rxd4 Re8 followed by Be6, Black is completely fine. 15.c5! An amazing move! What is the idea? It is clear that you would like to bring back the bishop from h3 to f1 and place it on the c4 square. In this sense the pawn is less important, but clearing the c4 square is the key. Also the bishop on h3 which until now we felt was out of the game, is magically coming back and when it does via f1 it doesn't keep the rook on h1 out of the game. And hence everything falls in place beautifully. 15.Bf1 Nc5 15...Bxc5 15...Nxc5 16.Bf1!+- 16.Bf1! What are the threats. Well the bishop wants to come to c4 to push the king away. After that the other bishop can step in to e5 and the pawn can move to g4 to blast open the position. White's lead in development will come to great use then. Re8 16...b5 17.Bc4+ Kg7 18.Be5 Nc7!? A very interesting defense. 19.g4! Bravo! Vidit keeps making one strong move after another. The idea of this move is to open up the position, but also clear the e4 square for the knight. 19.Bxc7 Bxd4! 19...Rxe1? 20.Rxe1 Bxd4 21.Re7++- 20.Rxe8 Nxe8 21.Rxd4 Nxc7= 19...Rxe5 19...fxg4 20.Bxf6+ Kxf6 21.Rxe8 Nxe8 22.Ne4+ Ke5 23.Nxc5+- 20.Rxe5 Nd7 21.Ree1 Nb6 22.Ne6+! When ahead in material - Exchange! 22.Bb3 fxg4 23.fxg4 Bxg4= 22...Bxe6 23.Bxe6 Kf6 24.Bb3 Rf8 25.h4 h6 25...fxg4 26.Ne4+ 26.f4! Very cool move. Next up is g5+. Re8 26...fxg4 27.Ne4++- 27.g5+ Kg7 28.Rxe8 Nxe8 29.Rd8 Nd6 30.Kc2 By now Peter had had enough. There is nothing really left to fight here. 30.Kc2 h5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vidit,G2712Peter,S26921–02023A21Maharashtra Chess Challenge 20231
Short,N-Sadhwani,R-0–12023B47Maharashtra Chess Challenge1.1
Svidler,P-Gujrathi,V-1–02023D32Maharashtra Chess Challenge2.1
Sadhwani,R-Short,N-0–12023C18Maharashtra Chess Challenge2.1

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