Aeroflot Final: Nepo victorious

by Alejandro Ramirez
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

Bo. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg
1 Bukavshin Ivan 2618 6 ½ - ½ 6½ Nepomniachtchi Ian 2714
2 Dubov Daniil 2627 6 1 - 0 6 Lu Shanglei 2570
3 Salem A.R. Saleh 2603 5½ ½ - ½ 5½ Anton Guijarro David 2614
4 Sethuraman S.P. 2623 5 ½ - ½ 5 Korobov Anton 2694
5 Sasikiran Krishnan 2682 5 0 - 1 5 Jumabayev Rinat 2572
6 Khairullin Ildar 2630 5 1 - 0 5 Grachev Boris 2673
7 Khismatullin Denis 2650 5 1 - 0 5 Mamedov Rauf 2658
8 Adhiban B. 2646 5 ½ - ½ 5 Zvjaginsev Vadim 2658
9 Khalifman Alexander 2613 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2756
10 Potkin Vladimir 2605 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ Vallejo Pons Francisco 2708
11 Matlakov Maxim 2693 4½ 1 - 0 4½ Bok Benjamin 2587
12 Fedoseev Vladimir 2674 4½ 1 - 0 4½ Antipov Mikhail Al. 2529
13 Petrosian Tigran L. 2671 4½ 0 - 1 4½ Idani Pouya 2496
14 Goganov Aleksey 2598 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ Sjugirov Sanan 2669
15 Van Foreest Jorden 2493 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ Motylev Alexander 2653
16 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2625 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ Gabuzyan Hovhannes 2553
17 Grigoriants Sergey 2573 4½ 1 - 0 4 Kovalenko Igor 2661
18 Kobalia Mikhail 2632 4 ½ - ½ 4 Wagner Dennis 2549
19 Svetushkin Dmitry 2592 4 0 - 1 4 Sanal Vahap 2487
20 Inarkiev Ernesto 2706 3½ 0 - 1 3½ Svane Rasmus 2509
21 Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan 2505 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Ponkratov Pavel 2613
22 Shimanov Aleksandr 2594 3½ 1 - 0 3½ Tabatabaei M.Amin 2448
23 Mozharov Mikhail 2555 3½ 1 - 0 3½ Savchenko Boris 2581
24 Bogdanovich Stanislav 2581 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Asgarizadeh Ahmad 2412
25 Kovalevskaya Ekaterina 2438 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Bluebaum Matthias 2576
26 Esen Baris 2571 3½ 1 - 0 3½ Vishnu Prasanna. V 2477
27 Rapport Richard 2709 4 0 - 1 4 Oparin Grigoriy 2562
28 Yilmaz Mustafa 2570 3 1 - 0 3 Batchuluun Tsegmed 2499
29 Kuderinov Kirill 2465 3 1 - 0 3 Sandipan Chanda 2569
30 Can Emre 2555 3 ½ - ½ 3 Stupak Kirill 2567
31 Swayams Mishra 2440 3 1 - 0 3 Kotronias Vasilios 2565
32 Predke Alexandr 2530 2½ 1 - 0 3 Ernst Sipke 2530
33 Tran Tuan Minh 2455 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ Korobkov Piotr 2423
34 Tregubov Pavel V. 2617 2 ½ - ½ 2 Abdumalik Zhansaya 2379

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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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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