Maharashtra Open chess: Indian GMs Arjun Kalyan, Sengupta join Paichadze at top after round 5 

By PTI

PUNE: Indian Grandmasters Arjun Kalyan and Deep Sengupta posted victories in the fifth round to join Georgian GM Luka Paichadze at the top with 4.5 points in the 1st Maharashtra International Open GM chess tournament here on Friday.

While Paichadze, who had an all-win record after four rounds, was held by Indian GM M R Lalith Babu, Kalyan and Sengupta registered wins over Aditya S Samant and Anup Deshmukh respectively to take their tally to 4.5 points and share the lead.

Top-seed Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan beat Bangladesh GM Enamul Hossain in 33 moves after draws in round three and four against lower-rated Indians to climb to 4 points.

Four players – Amonatov, Boris Savchenko, Lalith Babu and Aditya Mittal are in joint second spot with four points each.

The game between Paichadze and Lalith Babu on the top board saw the two agree for a draw after 36 moves.

Sengupta was an impressive winner in the fifth round, outlasting Samant in 53 moves, while Kalyan humbled Deshmukh in 37 moves.

Important Results: Fifth round: Luka Paichadze (4.5) drew M R Lalith Babu (4); Deep Sengupta (4.5) beat Anup S Samant (1.5); Vishnu Prasanna (2.5) beat Boris Savchenko (4); Aleksej Aleksandrov (3.5) lost to L R Srihari (2); Karthik Venkataraman (3.5) lost to D H Nguyen (2.5); Arjun Kalyan (4.5) beat Anup Deshmukh (1.5).

Farrukh Amonatov (4) beat Enamul Hossain (0); Aditya Mittal (4) beat V A D’Cunha (0); Audi Ameya (2) beat M R Venkatesh (3); Jubin Jimmy (1) beat Alexei Fedorov (2.5).