AEROFLOT OPEN 2016 – round one

Report from Moscow by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

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

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?

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!

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

Results of Round one

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

Links Official tournament site Download all games in PGN The 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.