Om gada

All India FIDE Rating Open: Atharv Soni of Maharashtra registered a calculative win against compatriot Om Gada and with 5.5 points shares, the lead with IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni, Yash Watarkar, Arnav Kherdekar, all Maharashtra and Delhi’s AIM Saikath Nath at the end of the sixth round of the SMCA Chess School organised 1st All India FIDE Rating Open Chess Tournament 2024, played here at the Russian House on Tuesday.

The Thane-based Soni (rating 1968) playing with the black pieces started with the French Tarrasch variation. Gada (1807) made a mistake on the 24th move by playing the pawn to g4 and that allowed Soni the upper hand and the black Bishop pair proved very strong and was instrumental in securing the win.

Meanwhile, on the top two boards, IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2125) was forced to share honours with city mate Arnav Kherdekar (1846) while Pune’s Yash Watarkar (1963) faced quite a challenge from Delhi’s AIM Saikat Nath (1829) before splitting two points.