Nagpur News: With just one round to go the race for the top position heated up. IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni representing Railways has still maintained the top position with highest 7.5 points to his credit at the end of eight round of GH Raisoni Maharashtra State Open FIDE Rating Chess Tournament at Saraswati Vidyalaya on Monday.
The tournament is organised by Nagpur Taluka Chess Association in association with Parents Chess Association (PCA). Kulkarni was followed by Akash Thakur, Satchidanand Soman, Shubham Kumthekar, Saurabh Kherdekar and Aditya R with seven points each.
On top board top seed Kulkarni shared point with Akash Thakur after 37 moves.
On second board, FM Satchidanand Soman using all his experience got the better of Mumbai’s Shubham Kumthekar. FM Saurabh Kherdekar of Railways downed Shubham Lakudkar in 41 moves. Under-15 player R Aditya made a light work of Chinmay Pathak in just 16 moves.
Veteran VK Shrivastava lost to IM Anup Deshmukh of LIC Dilip Pagey outwitted budding Shrutika Prachand in 30 moves.
The ninth and final round will be played at 9.30 a.m. onwards on Tuesday followed by prize distribution function at 3.30 p.m.