The word “upset” is usually associated with the first round of any open event. Lower rated players are paired against the top seeds and a few of them are always able to snatch half or a full point from the favourites. For example, at the Qatar Masters Nino Batsiashvili was able to hold Magnus Carlsen to a draw, and at the Gibraltar Masters Vishy Anand drew his game against Szidonia Vajda. But using the word upset at the Aeroflot Open would be a complete misnomer. The reason: in the first round itself strong grandmasters were paired against each other in the A group tournament. The Chinese sensation Wei Yi (2714) lost his first game to the Vladimir Potkin (2585). But as we all know, Potkin is an experienced campaigner who has many feathers on his cap, the most notable one being the 2011 European Champion. And hence I will refrain from the usage of the term and instead call it a mini-upset! There were many such mini-upsets on the first day of the Aeroflot Open 2016. But, before we come to that, let me introduce this tournament to you.
The 13th edition of the Aeroflot Open 2016 is being held in Moscow, Russia from the 29th of February to 10th of March 2016. The official hotel of the event is Cosmos and the playing venue is also located at the same place. There are three tournaments that are simultaneously taking place:
The A Group (2550 and above) which has 83 players. Out of them 67 are grandmasters and the average rating of the tournament is 2585. This is higher than the Qatar Masters which had a rating average of 2529 (although in Doha the rating cut-off was 2300). The top seed of the tournament is Boris Gelfand with an Elo of 2735. Other star attractions are Bu Xiangzhi, Wei Yi and Ian Nepomniachtchi. They will fight for the first place of €18,000. Round begins at 3 p.m. every day and the time control is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from the first.
The B Group (2300 and above) has attracted the most entries – 94. With the participation of 16 grandmasters and 40 International Masters this event has a pretty decent rating average of 2390. The first prize is €8,000. Round begins at 3 p.m. and the time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from the first.
63 players participate in the C Group (below 2300). There are players right from the rating of 2296 down to unrated players. €3,000 is the first prize. Rounds begin every day at 3 p.m. and the time control is 90 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from the first. The participants must keep the record of moves till the end of the game.
Your reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal pose for a selfie before catching the Mumbai-Delhi-Moscow flight
As the Aeroflot Airbus was landing at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow we could already start feeling the chill!
Snow and a temperature of -1 degree Celsius greeted us in the Russian capital city!
As there is only one direct flight from Delhi to Moscow almost all of the Indian players reached Moscow at the same time. The organizers were efficient and arranged transportation from the airport to the Cosmos Hotel where the tournament was going to be held.
The majestic lobby of the hotel – With so many people arriving at the same time ...
... naturally a crowd gathered at the reception of the Cosmos Hotel
While I was at the reception trying to get my room number, I turned and saw Boris Gelfand standing right behind me. I immediately let him take my place. He thanked me for this gesture and we spoke about his recent book Positional Decision Making in Chess which he has written for Quality Chess. Boris said that his next book, which would be the second part of the series, would be on dynamic chess and his work was ongoing with Jacob Aagaard. We can expect the book to release later this year. A thorough gentleman that he is, Gelfand wished me the best for my tournament and left with a warm handshake. Amruta who watched all of this at a close distance, quite mesmerized by Boris’ humility, forgot to take the top seed’s picture. She ran after him to get the job done.
Boris Gelfand at the lobby of the Cosmos Hotel. This is how Amruta recounts her experience, “I ran after Boris, not wanting to miss taking his picture. After I caught up with him, I asked him whether I could take his photo for the ChessBase report. “Of course!” was his reply. Not only did he put his bag aside and adjusted his coat but also gave me a nice smile for the photograph. That, my dear friends, is called modesty!”
The rooms are basic, yet quite comfortable…
…and the view is spectacular
The opening ceremony took place on the 29th of February at 9 p.m. It was a short affair with the main intention of determining the colour of the pieces for the top seed.
Top three Russians at the opening ceremony – Ernesto Inarkiev, Alexander Motylev and Evgeniy Najer
The man who has worked tirelessly since past 14 years to make Aeroflot Open a success – Alexander Bakh
Chief Arbiter Andrzej Filipowicz gets ready for ten days of action packed chess
We recently reported on how the 12-year-old Alireza Firouzja became the Iranian National Champion. For all those out there wondering on how this lad achieved such a huge success at this age, one reason could be his coach Evgeny Miroshnichenko.
The playing hall is spacious and well lit. Readers with a sharp eye will have noticed a legend of our game walking on the left side of the picture. If you are able to recognize him do let us know his name in the comments section below.
Boris Gelfand got off to a slow start as he
drew his first round
game against Artyom Timofeev (2594) with the black pieces
Second seeded Bu Xiangzhi was also held to a draw by Bartosz Socko
Third seed Wei Yi suffered a defeat at the
hands of Vladimir Potkin.
Let’s have a look at this interesting game
[Event "Aeroflot Open A 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.03.01"] [Round "1.3"] [White "Potkin, Vladimir"] [Black "Wei, Yi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A10"] [WhiteElo "2585"] [BlackElo "2714"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2016.03.01"] 1. c4 g6 2. e4 e5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nf3 exd4 5. e5 Ne4 6. Qxd4 Bb4+ {Up until this point we have seen many top level encounters. Mainly White opted for the move Nbd2 in this position, but Potkin wants to show that the knight on e4 is not so well placed and hence refrains from exchanging it.} 7. Kd1 $5 {Although this looks like a crazy move, it is not a novelty as it has been played before in the game between Tamir Nabaty and Alexander Fier in 2015.} f5 8. exf6 Nxf6 9. Qh4 (9. Bh6 {was played by Nabaty.}) 9... d5 $1 {With the king on d1, opening the position is of course the right decision.} 10. Bg5 Be7 (10... O-O { was also possible.}) 11. cxd5 Nxd5 (11... Qxd5+ 12. Kc1 {Followed by Nc3 gives White free flowing development and the king is quite safe on c1.}) 12. Bc4 $1 { The king is right opposite the black queen, and Black can choose how he would like to give a discovered check. But there is just no good way to take advantage of this fact.} Nc6 (12... Nb6+ 13. Kc1 Nxc4 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Re1 $16 ) 13. Bxd5 $6 {White goes wrong.} (13. Nbd2 $1 $16) 13... Be6 $6 {Just shows how difficult it is to be accurate in chess.} (13... Qxd5+ 14. Kc1 Qc5+ 15. Nc3 O-O $17 {Would have given Black a clear edge.}) 14. Bxe7 Nxe7 15. Re1 $1 Bxd5 16. Kc2 Qd7 17. Nc3 Qf5+ $6 (17... Bxf3 18. gxf3 Qf5+ 19. Re4 g5 20. Qh5+ Kf8 21. h4 $16 {is also clearly in White's favour.}) 18. Kc1 O-O-O 19. Rxe7 { Wei Yi must have hoped to get some counterplay going here, but unfortunately he is just lost.} Bxf3 20. gxf3 Qxf3 21. Qg3 $1 {The mate on c7 repels Black's attack.} Qc6 22. Kc2 {The rest is just agony.} Rd6 23. Rae1 Rhd8 24. R1e2 a5 25. Qe5 {A very interesting and unbalanced game and some very interesting opening preparation shown by Potkin.} 1-0
Ian Nepomniachtchi also couldn’t win his game as he drew against Anton Demchenko
World Championship Candidate and five-time
US Championship winner Gata Kamsky is the
eleventh seed at the event. He started his campaign with a draw against
GM Lalith Babu.
It is not often that you see Baadur Jobava
on the receiving end of a brilliancy. But that is exactly
what happened as the Georgian GM slumped to a defeat against Aleksey Goganov.
Goganov – Jobava
Jobava has just taken the pawn on f2 uncovering an attack
against the e6 rook.
What is it that he had missed?
[Event "Aeroflot Open A 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.03.01"] [Round "1.9"] [White "Goganov, Aleksey"] [Black "Jobava, Baadur"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E11"] [WhiteElo "2575"] [BlackElo "2676"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r6k/1pp3pp/2nbR3/p4r2/2P1B1q1/PPB1Q1P1/5P2/R5K1 b - - 0 27"] [PlyCount "12"] [EventDate "2016.03.01"] 27... Rxf2 {[%cal Gf5f2] Baadur was looking to meet Kxf2 with Qxe6. Although even that position looks better for Black, what Goganov played was just aesthetically so much more pleasing.} 28. Rg6 $3 {Isn't this a beautiful move?!!} Qh3 (28... hxg6 29. Qh6+ Kg8 30. Qxg7#) 29. Bxg7+ Kg8 30. Bd5+ Rf7 31. Rg5 Be7 32. Bxf7+ Kxf7 33. Rf1+ {Quite a crushing victory for Goganov.} 1-0
Khalifman – Yuffa
Alexander Khalifman with the white pieces has a winning endgame. All that he has to do is bring his king to the queenside and then pick up the b5 pawn. But what is wrong with 42.Rxb5 straight away, you may ask. Khalifman played exactly that and fell for a neat trap. I am sure you saw what that was!
[Event "Aeroflot Open A 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.03.01"] [Round "1.28"] [White "Khalifman, Alexander"] [Black "Yuffa, Daniil"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E97"] [WhiteElo "2624"] [BlackElo "2502"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/2r5/6pk/1p2R1p1/1P4P1/4K2P/5P2/8 w - - 0 42"] [PlyCount "3"] [EventDate "2016.03.01"] 42. Rxb5 $2 {Impatience is often the root cause for all the misery! Khalifman misses the cute little trick that Yuffa had prepared.} (42. Kd3 Rb7 43. Kd4 Rc7 44. Rxb5 Rb7 45. Kc5 $18 {wins easily.}) 42... Rb7 $1 {Stalemate is the theme!} 43. Rxb7 {Khalifman was so dejected that he didn't even try playing the 3 vs 2 endgame. Of course that is easily drawn. Instead he chooses to stalemate his opponent.} 1/2-1/2
Chinese IM Shen Yang lost her round one game to Boris Savchenko
The highly talented Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina began with a draw against Sasikiran Krishnan
| Bo. | No. | Ti. | Name | Rtg | Result |
Ti. | Name | Rtg | No. |
| 1 | 44 | GM | Timofeev Artyom | 2593 | ½-½ |
GM | Gelfand Boris | 2735 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Bu Xiangzhi | 2724 | ½-½ |
GM | Socko Bartosz | 2587 | 45 |
| 3 | 46 | GM | Potkin Vladimir | 2585 | 1-0 |
GM | Wei Yi | 2714 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | GM | Korobov Anton | 2713 | 1-0 |
GM | Kunin Vitaly | 2584 | 47 |
| 5 | 48 | GM | Demchenko Anton | 2583 | ½-½ |
GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2704 | 5 |
| 6 | 6 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | 2682 | ½-½ |
GM | Wagner Dennis | 2583 | 49 |
| 7 | 50 | GM | Kulaots Kaido | 2578 | 0-1 |
GM | Inarkiev Ernesto | 2677 | 7 |
| 8 | 8 | GM | Vallejo Pons Francisco | 2677 | 1-0 |
GM | Sandipan Chanda | 2577 | 51 |
| 9 | 52 | GM | Goganov Aleksey | 2575 | 1-0 |
GM | Jobava Baadur | 2676 | 9 |
| 10 | 10 | GM | Artemiev Vladislav | 2674 | 1-0 |
GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | 2573 | 53 |
| 11 | 54 | GM | Lalith Babu M R | 2573 | ½-½ |
GM | Kamsky Gata | 2673 | 11 |
| 12 | 12 | GM | Moiseenko Alexander | 2668 | 1-0 |
GM | Oparin Grigoriy | 2572 | 55 |
| 13 | 56 | GM | Kovalev Vladislav | 2560 | ½-½ |
GM | Sjugirov Sanan | 2667 | 13 |
| 14 | 14 | GM | Swiercz Dariusz | 2665 | 1-0 |
GM | Maiorov Nikita | 2558 | 57 |
| 15 | 58 | GM | Bindrich Falko | 2557 | ½-½ |
GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | 2664 | 15 |
| 16 | 16 | GM | Najer Evgeniy | 2664 | 1-0 |
GM | Van Foreest Jorden | 2557 | 59 |
| 17 | 60 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2554 | ½-½ |
GM | Safarli Eltaj | 2663 | 17 |
| 18 | 18 | GM | Zvjaginsev Vadim | 2662 | 1-0 |
GM | Sivuk Vitaly | 2554 | 61 |
| 19 | 62 | GM | Pichot Alan | 2542 | ½-½ |
GM | Motylev Alexander | 2655 | 19 |
| 20 | 20 | GM | Rakhmanov Aleksandr | 2650 | 1-0 |
GM | Kotronias Vasilios | 2541 | 63 |
| 21 | 64 | GM | Shyam Sundar M. | 2523 | 1-0 |
GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2641 | 21 |
| 22 | 22 | GM | Grachev Boris | 2639 | 1-0 |
Xu Yinglun | 2518 | 65 | |
| 23 | 66 | WGM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 2509 | ½-½ |
GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2637 | 23 |
| 24 | 24 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | 2636 | 1-0 |
Predke Alexandr | 2508 | 67 | |
| 25 | 68 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2506 | 0-1 |
GM | Dubov Daniil | 2634 | 25 |
| 26 | 26 | GM | Kobalia Mikhail | 2632 | ½-½ |
IM | Pourramezanali Amirreza | 2506 | 69 |
| 27 | 70 | GM | Gasanov Eldar | 2503 | ½-½ |
GM | Bartel Mateusz | 2625 | 27 |
| 28 | 28 | GM | Khalifman Alexander | 2624 | ½-½ |
IM | Yuffa Daniil | 2502 | 71 |
| 29 | 72 | WGM | Lei Tingjie | 2495 | 0-1 |
GM | Khismatullin Denis | 2621 | 29 |
| 30 | 30 | GM | Lu Shanglei | 2620 | 1-0 |
Firouzja Alireza | 2475 | 73 | |
| 31 | 74 | GM | Debashis Das | 2471 | ½-½ |
GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2615 | 31 |
| 32 | 32 | GM | Bok Benjamin | 2611 | ½-½ |
IM | Swayams Mishra | 2470 | 75 |
| 33 | 76 | FM | Igonin Temur | 2470 | ½-½ |
GM | Cordova Emilio | 2610 | 33 |
| 34 | 34 | GM | Savchenko Boris | 2610 | 1-0 |
IM | Shen Yang | 2466 | 77 |
| 35 | 78 | IM | Kovalevskaya Ekaterina | 2462 | ½-½ |
GM | Bachmann Axel | 2609 | 35 |
| 36 | 36 | GM | Wen Yang | 2609 | 1-0 |
IM | Korchmar Vasiliy | 2450 | 79 |
| 37 | 80 | IM | Lorparizangeneh Shahin | 2449 | ½-½ |
GM | Jumabayev Rinat | 2607 | 37 |
| 38 | 38 | GM | Petrosian Tigran L. | 2607 | 1-0 |
IM | Wang Yiye | 2445 | 81 |
| 39 | 82 | FM | Esipenko Andrey | 2445 | 0-1 |
GM | Bluebaum Matthias | 2605 | 39 |
| 40 | 40 | GM | Eliseev Urii | 2601 | 1-0 |
IM | Sarana Alexey | 2433 | 83 |
| 41 | 84 | IM | Martirosyan Haik M. | 2425 | 1-0 |
GM | Azarov Sergei | 2599 | 41 |
| 42 | 42 | GM | Bocharov Dmitry | 2595 | 1-0 |
IM | Karavade Eesha | 2395 | 85 |
| 43 | 86 | CM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2379 | 0-1 |
GM | Dragun Kamil | 2594 | 43 |
Angel Arribas Lopez (2543) is the top seed in the B Group
Chess can be a dangerous sport, especially when played in the flu-ridden winter season
Pictures by Amruta Mokal
LinksThe games will be 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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