Aeroflot Open 2013: Blitz tournament won by Nepomniachtchi

The venue is the International informational exhibition centre “InfoProstranstvo” (above) in Moscow, and the total prize fund of all tournaments in the festival amounts to US $150,000. This year's event is especial because it is the 90th anniversary of the leading Russian airline that lends it its name.

Schedule

• February 12-13: qualifying rapid tournament, a nine round Swiss played at 15 minutes per game plus 10 seconds per move increment.

• February 14: massive blitz tournament with eight guest stars (e.g. Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Dmitry Andreikin, Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wang Hao and Shahriyar Mammadyarov). Nine round Swiss, three minutes per game plus two seconds increment per move. Prize fund US $50,000.

• February 15: Knockout tournament with 32 winners of the qualifying rounds. In each round two games are played, at 15 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment per move. In case of a draw there will be an Armageddon blitz – 5 minutes (White) vs 4 minutes (Black) + 3 seconds increment, which White must win. Eight winners go into the main final. Participants who took places 9-16 get $1,500, places 17-32 get $ 1,000.

• February 16-17: Grand Final with eight guest stars (Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Dmitry Andreikin, Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wang Hao and Shahriyar Mammadyarov) and the eight winners of the qualifying competition. Knock-out system, with two games at 15 minutes per game plus 10 seconds per move and Armageddon tie break. Prize fund $72,000 (1st 16,000, 2nd 10,000, 3-4 $6,000, 5-8 $3,500, 9-16 $2,500).

• February 17: closing ceremonies (February 18 departure).

Aeroflot Open 2013 - Blitz tournament

The Aeroflot Open Blitz tournament was a great success and brought in a large number of afficionados and fans to play blitz games with the very best. It was nine double-rounds of action headed by top-seed Sergey Karjakin with 2901 FIDE Blitz rating, followed by Dmitri Andreikin (2877), Alexander Grischuk (2860), and over 270 further players. Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili bring a pictorial report on the action of the day. Sadly, game scores are currently not available.

Sergei Rublevsky and Alexander Grischuk

Alexander Morozevich in the foreground, with Sergey Karjakin behind.
Moro (2804) was doing quite well until the penultimate round when he
lost 0-2 to Azeri GM Rauf Mamedov.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2734) was also going strong, and was also
derailed in the penultimate round, in his case, by Ernesto Inarkiev.

Boris Savchenko managed to come in 5th with 13.5/18 despite losing
his mini-match to Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Chinese GM Wang Hao

Peter Svidler showed his class and came in clear second with 14.5/18

Second seed Dmitry Andreikin (2877) had a rough end with 0.5/4

The ever-creative Jobava Baadur

GM Katerina Lahno finished with 10.0/18

12-year old Russian junior Saveliy Golubov (2369 Blitz) watches the game
between Gata Kamsky and Pavel Tregubov. Kamsky won both games.

Mamedyarov observes the mini-match between Jobava Baadur and his
compatriot Rauf Mamedov. Mamedov (2651) won and had a superb result,
finishing 8th with 13.5/18 and a 2857 performance.

GM Igor Naumkin: his face says it all

Alexandra Kosteniuk had a dream start with 8.0/8 until round nine, her
fifth opponent, Ian Nepomniachtchi. To his credit, Nepomniachtchi never
relinquished that seat at board one.

To make things worse, she then lost both games to the very talented
Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga, though she did have the satisfaction
of ending a half point more than him at 11.0/18, the top female score.

The final rounds are where it was all decided, and Peter Svidler beat
Dmitry Andreikin 2-0 to give himself a shot at the top spot.

Close friends Sergey Karjakin and Ian Nepomniachtchi drew their match

It came down to Svidler and Nepomniachtchi with Ian a point ahead. Peter
equalized after he won their first game, and was actually winning in game
two when his flag fell and the title went to Nepomniachtchi.

Regarding his great result, Ian Nepomniachtchi was modest and attributed a good part of it to luck, such as the last-round win on time. Still, champions are always lucky, and time is as much a factor as skill in blitz.

Final Ranking after 18 Rounds

Pictures by Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.