Aeroflot Final: Nepo victorious
4/7/2015 – He only had to hold a draw in the final round, and he had no problems doing so. Ian Nepomniachtchi drew Ivan Bukavshin to take hom the Aeroflot crown and earn his qualification to the Dortmund super-tournament later this year. The battle for second place in the last round between Daniil Dubov and Lu Shanglei was a completely slugfest, which also went in favor of the Russian.
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After a couple of years hiatus the Aeroflot Open is back!
The classic event has been more than just a massive super-strong series of opens, it has been the proving grounds for the players on the rise, a rich source of norms, and competition for all levels divided into three opens. It also has a richly doted blitz tournament at the end, free of entry for those registered in tournaments A and B.
Final Round
Ian Nepomniachtchi went into the final round with only one goal in mind: not lose. He had absolute not trouble holding Ivan Bukavshin to a draw with a solid Grunfeld. Meanwhile on board two the following slugfest occurred:
[Event "Aeroflot Open A 2015"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2015.04.04"] [Round "9.2"] [White "Dubov, Daniil"] [Black "Lu, Shanglei"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A80"] [WhiteElo "2627"] [BlackElo "2570"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2015.03.27"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. d4 f5 $5 {A dutch to fight for first, why not?} 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Ne4 4. Bh4 g6 5. Nbd2 Bg7 6. e3 c5 $5 {Aggression and aggression. Black is not happy with having a normal position. This is risky, however, as overextension is a real possibility.} 7. c3 d5 8. Nxe4 fxe4 9. Nd2 cxd4 10. cxd4 O-O $6 (10... Qb6 $1 { Would have prevented White's next move.}) 11. Qb3 Nc6 12. Rc1 Be6 $2 {The start of an extremely risky continuation, but probably not so strong.} 13. Qxb7 Nxd4 {The logical follow up, after all...} 14. exd4 Rb8 15. Qa6 Rb6 16. Qa3 Bxd4 {Black is down a piece, but he does seem to have some initiative...} 17. Nb3 Rxb3 (17... Bg7 18. Be2 d4 19. O-O d3 20. Bd1 {doesn't seem to leave Black with any compensation.}) 18. Qxb3 $6 (18. axb3 Qb6 19. Rc2 $18) 18... Qa5+ 19. Kd1 Bd7 20. Qb7 $2 Qa4+ $4 (20... e3 $1 {Suddenly after this move it would not have been so clear... White has several choices, but they aren't clear cut.} 21. Qxd5+ (21. Rc2 Bf5 $13) (21. fxe3 Bxe3 22. Rc3 Qa4+ 23. Qb3 Qxh4 $15) 21... Qxd5 22. Bc4 Qxc4 23. Rxc4 exf2 24. Rxd4 f1=Q+ 25. Rxf1 Rxf1+ $11 {Suddenly Black seems like he will hold a draw.}) 21. b3 Bg4+ 22. f3 $1 {A nice, accurate move. This move diffuses the attack:} exf3 23. Qxd5+ (23. bxa4 $4 fxg2+ 24. Kc2 gxh1=Q) 23... e6 (23... Kh8 24. bxa4 fxg2+ 25. Kc2 $18 {and h1 is now defended.}) 24. Qxe6+ Bxe6 25. bxa4 Bd5 26. gxf3 Bxf3+ 27. Kd2 {White is simply up a piece since Bxh1 runs into Bc4.} 1-0
On the third board Salem and Anton Guijarro drew their game to finish excellent tournaments. That did allow several people to tie with them on 6.0/9, but that doesn't diminish how well they played.
The list of players that were able to score 6.0/9 included Jumbayev, Khairullin and Khismatullin, while Lu Shanglei lost his game but already had 6.0.
Aeroflot is an unbelievably tough event, consider that Mamedyarov only scored 50%!
With this victory Nepomniachtchi qualifies for Dortmund later this year.
The winners and their trophies: Dubov (second place) Nepomniachtchi and Bukavshin
Third place for Ivan Bukavshin
Final Standings
| Rk. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. |
| 1 | Nepomniachtchi Ian | RUS | 2714 | 7.0 |
| 2 | Dubov Daniil | RUS | 2627 | 7.0 |
| 3 | Bukavshin Ivan | RUS | 2618 | 6.5 |
| 4 | Lu Shanglei | CHN | 2570 | 6.0 |
| 5 | Jumabayev Rinat | KAZ | 2572 | 6.0 |
| 6 | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2614 | 6.0 |
| 7 | Khairullin Ildar | RUS | 2630 | 6.0 |
| 8 | Khismatullin Denis | RUS | 2650 | 6.0 |
| 9 | Salem A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2603 | 6.0 |
| 10 | Korobov Anton | UKR | 2694 | 5.5 |
| 11 | Zvjaginsev Vadim | RUS | 2658 | 5.5 |
| 12 | Grigoriants Sergey | RUS | 2573 | 5.5 |
| 13 | Adhiban B. | IND | 2646 | 5.5 |
| 14 | Idani Pouya | IRI | 2496 | 5.5 |
| 15 | Fedoseev Vladimir | RUS | 2674 | 5.5 |
| 16 | Sethuraman S.P. | IND | 2623 | 5.5 |
| 17 | Matlakov Maxim | RUS | 2693 | 5.5 |
| 18 | Gabuzyan Hovhannes | ARM | 2553 | 5.0 |
| 19 | Mamedov Rauf | AZE | 2658 | 5.0 |
| 20 | Vallejo Pons Francisco | ESP | 2708 | 5.0 |
| 21 | Sanal Vahap | TUR | 2487 | 5.0 |
| 22 | Grachev Boris | RUS | 2673 | 5.0 |
| 23 | Motylev Alexander | RUS | 2653 | 5.0 |
| 24 | Sjugirov Sanan | RUS | 2669 | 5.0 |
| 25 | Oparin Grigoriy | RUS | 2562 | 5.0 |
| 26 | Khalifman Alexander | RUS | 2613 | 5.0 |
| 27 | Van Foreest Jorden | NED | 2493 | 5.0 |
| 28 | Potkin Vladimir | RUS | 2605 | 5.0 |
| 29 | Sasikiran Krishnan | IND | 2682 | 5.0 |
| 30 | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2625 | 5.0 |
Photos Boris Dolmatovski
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