Belurkar sole leader at 3rd Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament

Pune, 23rd April 2025: Nitin Belurkar of Goa finished as the sole leader with 5 points at the end of the fifth round at the 3rd Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament organized by Maharashtra Chess Association under the auspices of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) and the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and played at Amanora Mall, Pune.

In the fifth round Belurkar playing white scored a win against Sandipan Chanda to maintain a clean slate in the event so far

In the B Category(Below 2200) event Karnataka player A. Balkishan who played with black pieces opened with slav opening drew with Ram Krishnan from Tamilnadu after 30 moves and ended the event with 7.5pts after 9 rounds to win the title

The winner A Balkishan won a trophy and Rs.1,10000/-, while runner up Advik Agrawal of Maharashtra got trophy and Rs.95,000/- and Anadkat Kartavya received trophy and Rs.85,000/ for finishing third .

Results: A Category: 5th Round:
Nitish Belurkar(5pts,Goa) bt Sandipan Chanda(3.5pts,WB);
Venkatesh MR(3.5pts,PSPB) lost to Ayush Sharma(4.5pts,MP);
Sanikidze Tornike(4pts,Geo) drew with Mohammad Shaikh(4pts,Mah);
Deepan Chakkravarthy J(4pts,RSPB) drew with Akshay Borgaonkar(3.5pts,Mah);
Nguyen Van Huy(3pts,Vie)lost to Patrosyan Manuel(4pts,Arm);
Pantsulaia Levan(4pts,Geo) bt Padmini Rout(3pts,PSPB);
Neelash Saha(4pts,RSPB) bt Harshit Sahu(3pts,Odisha);
Podolchenko Evgneiy(4pts,Belarus) bt Sammed Shete(3pts,Mah);
Suyog Wagh(4pts,Mah) bt Sachekachikhin Maksim(3pts,FIDE);

B Category(Below 2200): 9th round:
Nameet Chavan(7.5pts,Mah) bt Advik Agrawal(7.5pts,Mah);
Ram Krishnan(7pts,TN) drew with Balkishan A(7.5pts,Kar)l
Anadkat Kartavya(7.5pts,Guj) bt Shriraj Bhosale(6.5pts,Mah);
Shourya Paul(6.5pts,WB) drew with Sailesh R(7pts,TN);
Adhiraj Mitra(6.5pts,JH) drew with Mahindrakar Indrajeet(6.5pts,Mah);
Atharva Madkar(7pts,Mah) bt Jwalin Mehta(6pts,Guj);
Sidharth Mohan(6pts, Keral) lost to Atharv Soni(7pts,Mah);
Krupha Ukkali(6pts,Kar) lost to Vyom Malhotra(6.5pts,Har);
Ram Parab(6.5pts,Mah) bt Swain Ashirwad(5.5pts,Odisha);
Advait Vibhute(6pts,Kar) drew with Arpan Das(6pts,WB).