Aravindh Chithambaram beats world champion Gukesh
Prague (PTI): Defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram found a textbook-style tactic to outwit compatriot D Gukesh, relegating the reigning FIDE world champion to the last spot after the end of sixth round of Masters section of Prague International Chess Festival here.
The victory for Aravindh meant that Gukesh is now ranked number 20 on the live rating list that did not feature Viswanathan Anand due to his possibly inactive status. There has been a clear struggle for Gukesh to maintain his status as the world champion since he won the title in December 2024.
Possibly the only exception was the Tata Steel Masters in January 2025 when he lost the tiebreaker to R Praggnanandhaa after tying for first place. A recent slum has now seen the world champion losing over fifty points in rating.
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For the record Aravindh finally changed to a Sicilian defense as black after his Philidor experiment failed miserably. Going for the complications for Gukesh was easy as he sacrificed a pawn to find some tactics in the early stages of the middle game.
Aravindh would have been happy with a draw the way the position unfolded with white having a rook against two knights. But, on the 40th move, with seconds remaining Gukesh made the decisive error. It was all over eight moves later.
Surprisingly, this was the only decisive game of the day with the remaining four ending in draws.
Jorden van Foreest remained in sole lead on 4.5 points drawing with local star David Navara who remained joint second with Abdusattorov Nodirbek of Uzbekistan a half point behind.
David Anton Guijarrov on 3.5 is closest to the three above him on 3.5 after settling for peace against Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran.
Aravindh with Vincent Keymer of Germany and Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan is next in the line up while Niemann is just above Gukesh on 1.5 points.
Foreest finally had a draw after five decisive games and this time too it seemed his extra pawn would do the trick. The Dutchman has been in the form of his life but in the sixth round Navara held his nerve to keep the opposition pieces and attack at bay.
The result was a draw, letting Foreest keep the lead, but both Navara and Abdusattorov remain in hunt with three rounds still to come in the second super tournament of the year.
In the masters section, world women's cup winner Divya Deshmukh played out a draw with Thomas Beerdsen of Holland while Surya Shekhar Ganguly split the point with Daniil Yuffa of Spain.
Results round 6 Masters: D Gukesh (Ind, 1.5) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 2.5); David Anton Guijarro (Esp, 3.5) drew with Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 3); Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 2) drew with Vincent Keymer (Ger, 2.5); Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 2.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 4); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4.5) drew with David Navara (Cze, 4).
Challengers: Daniil Yuffa (Esp, 3) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (Ind, 1.5); Benjamin Gledura (Hun, 3) beat Nemec Jachym (Cze, 3); Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 3) drew with Thomas Beerdsen (Ned, 3.5); Hrbek Stepan (Cze, 3.5) drew with Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Den, 3); Zhu Jiner (Chn, 2) drew with Finek Vanclav (Cze, 4.5).
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2019 mud attack on engineer: Maharashtra court sentences BJP minister Nitesh Rane to one-month jail
Mumbai (PTI): A court in Sindhudurg on Monday convicted Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane in a 2019 case of pouring mud on an NHAI engineer when he was in opposition, and sentenced him to one-month imprisonment, noting that lawmakers are not supposed to take the law into their hands.
Later, the court suspended Rane's sentence, allowing him time to appeal before a higher court, while acquitting 29 other accused in the case.
"Even though Rane's intention was to raise a voice against the poor quality of work and inconvenience faced by the people, he was not supposed to humiliate or insult a public servant in public," additional sessions court judge V S Deshmukh stated.
"If such incidents continue to occur, public servants would not be able to discharge their duties with dignity," the judge noted.
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Calling the act "abuse of power", the court held that "it is the demand of time to curb such tendency".
Rane, a son of former Union minister Narayan Rane, was among 30 people charged under various offences, including rioting, assault to deter a public servant, and criminal conspiracy. He was in Congress when the incident occurred.
All the accused, including Nitesh Rane, were acquitted of these offences, as the court found insufficient evidence to support most of these claims.
However, the court found Nitesh Rane guilty of an offence under section 504 (intentional insult meant to provoke a breach of public peace) and sentenced him to one month's jail.
Rane, then a Congress MLA, had called the Sub-Divisional Engineer of the National Highway Authority, Prakash Shedekar, to a bridge over the Gad river in Kankavli on July 4, 2019, for inspecting the work to widen the Mumbai-Goa Highway.
According to the prosecution, Nitesh Rane and his followers, frustrated by the poor quality of the roadwork and waterlogging, confronted the engineer. They poured muddy water on Shedekar and forced him to walk through slush in public.
The court, after perusing the evidence on record, noted that the informant (victim) was holding a high post in the National Highway Authority.
"Despite that, he was made to walk through the muddy water in public. It would have certainly humiliated and insulted him," the court remarked.
The judge held that Rane compelling Shedekar to walk through the muddy water "was nothing but an intentional insult to the informant," and provocation which will cause him to break the public peace.
