Aeroflot Open: Sasikiran's streak stalls

by André Schulz
2/26/2019 – Krishnan Sasikiran, who had led the Aeroflot Open confidently after six rounds, lost in the seventh round to strong Armenian youth GM Haik Martirosyan and was overtaken by GM Kaido Kulaots. The trio now has a half point lead over four other grandmasters with two rounds left to play. | Photo: Mohammad Kheirkhah / ruchess.ru
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Tournament wide open again

For six rounds, Krishnan Sasikiran was the "man of the hour" at the 17th Aeroflot Open in Moscow. With five wins and a draw, he led the field by a full point. But yesterday the triumphal procession of the Indian grandmaster ended abruptly against Armenian Haik Martirosyan. The two players followed the once very popular variation in the Fianchetto system of the King's Indian Defense and were still on theoretically known terrain through move 20. Then Martirosyan deviated with 20.e4: 

 
Martirosyan vs Sasikiran

Black had sacrificed an exchange on b2 and declined to recoup it playing 20...♝d4 21.♔h1 e5. Black certainly has compensation for the material deficit, but maybe not enough. Sasikiran tried to attack the white king, but White's counterattack was ultimately more effective.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 c5 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 a6 10.Rb1 b5 11.b3 Ng4?! This plan of Ng4-e5 is not the best and the knight is not so stable on the e5 square. 11...Rb8 is the normal way to play. 12.Qc2 Ne5 13.Nd1 Rb8 14.Bb2 bxc4 15.bxc4 Rb4 16.Ne3 Bd7 17.f4 Rxb2 Just like how Korobov was suffocated against Sasikiran and sacrificed an exchange, the same thing is what Sasikiran has to now go through against Haik. This exchange sacrifice is just losing for Black, but Sasi didn't see any other way to continue. 17...Ng4 18.Nxg4 Bxg4 19.Bxg7 Rxb1 20.Rxb1 Kxg7 21.Qc3+ Kg8 22.e4 White is completely dominating. 18.Rxb2 Ng4 19.Nxg4 Bxg4 19...Bxb2 20.Nh6+ Kg7 21.Qxb2+ Kxh6 22.e4 The king on h6 is misplaced and the game is just losing for Black. 20.e4 Bd4+ 21.Kh1 e5 22.Rbb1 exf4 23.gxf4 Re8 24.Qd3 f5 25.Qg3 Bf6 26.Bf3 Bxf3+ 27.Qxf3 Bd4 28.exf5 Re3 29.Qg2 Qe8 30.fxg6 Qxg6 31.Rfe1 Kf7 32.Rxe3 Bxe3 33.Ne4 Nxc4 34.Rb7+ Kf8 35.f5 A powerful game by Martirosyan. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Martirosyan,H2616Sasikiran,K26781–02019E66Aeroflot Open A 20197.1

Even after his defeat, Sasikiran analyzed the game with his opponent | Video: David Llada via ChessBase India

The name of the 18-year-old Haik Martirosyan is not so well known outside of his home country, but this may soon change. In 2016 he won the Under-16 World Youth Championship and last year he became Armenian national champion. These were good reasons for the Armenian Association to bring Martyrosyan onto the national team, where he earned an Elo performance rating of over 2700 at the last Chess Olympiad in Batumi where, coincidentally, he also faced Sasikiran.

Sasikiran Martirosyan

Sasikiran lost his game against Martirosyan in Batumi as well | Photo: Niklesh Jain

What is no coincidence is how well Martirosyan is playing in the Aeroflot Open. Martirosyan and Kaido Kulaots, who's having a remarkable tournament himself, are now tied with Sasikiran. At the second table, the Estonian Grandmaster Kulaots landed a big blow against the Chinese young star Wei Yi.

 

Here White gave up.

Wei Yi | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

What of the other well-known youngsters? Nihal Sarin has 4 points with an above average Elo of 2651. Yesterday he won the prestigious duel against his young Indian GM colleague Praggnanandhaa.

Annotations by IM Sagar Shah
 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.Nf3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 c5 9.dxc5 Nbd7 9...d4 10.0-0-0 10.e3 Qa5 11.Be2 Ne4 12.0-0 Bxc3 13.bxc3 Ndxc5 13...Qxc3 14.Qb1 14.Rfc1 14.c4 dxc4 15.Bxc4 14...Re8 15.Nd4 Bd7 16.c4 dxc4 17.Bxc4 Rac8 18.Qe2 Nd6 19.Bd5 Ne6 20.Bxe6 Bxe6 21.Bg3 Nf5 22.Nxe6 Rxc1+ 23.Rxc1 Rxe6 24.Bf4 Ne7 25.h3 Nc6 26.Rd1 Qa4 27.Rd2 Re8 28.Qg4 Qe4 29.Kh2 Qe6 30.Qd1 Qf6 31.Qg4 Qe6 32.Qd1 Qf6 33.Qb3 Rd8 34.Rxd8+ Nxd8 Usually a knight and a queen are a better pair than a bishop and a queen. But in this position, the knight doesn't really have a good square to sit on and hence the bishop and queen duo are more powerful. 35.Qd5 Qe7 35...Ne6? 36.Qxb7 Nxf4 37.Qb8+ Kh7 38.Qxf4+- 36.Kg3!? What a fighting choice by Nihal. He sees that the queen can come off anytime soon and activates his king. A move like this is not without dangers, but the young boy is taking his chances. Nc6 37.h4 Qe6?! I find this to be a dubious choice. If any side would have chances in the endgame it has to be white. Firstly his king is more active and secondly the bishop is superior to the knight when there are pawns on both sides of the board. A better decision was to keep the queens on the board. 38.Qxe6 fxe6 39.Bd6 g6 40.Kf4 b5 41.g4 Kf7 42.h5! Fixing the weakness on h6. gxh5 43.gxh5 a5 44.Ke4 a4 45.f4 Kf6 45...b4 looked more to the point. For eg. 46.Kd3 Kf6 47.Kc4 b3 48.axb3 axb3 49.Kxb3 Kf5= And soon the position will be liquidated. 46.a3 Kf7 46...b4 47.axb4 a3 48.b5 a2 49.bxc6 a1Q 50.Be5+ is a nice line! 46...Na5 47.Be5+ Kf7 48.Bc3 Nc4 49.Bb4 Kf6 And the game would end in a draw. 47.Kd3 Kf6 48.e4 Kf7 49.Kc3 Kg7 50.Kd3 Kf7 51.Bc5 Ke8 51...e5 now was worth considering. 51...Na5 52.Kc3 Nc6 53.Be3 52.Bd4 b4! 52...Kf7 53.Kc3 Kf8 54.Be3 Kf7 55.f5 exf5 56.exf5 Kf6 57.Bxh6 Kxf5 53.axb4 Nxb4+ 54.Kc4 Nc2 55.Bf2 55.Bg7 Kf7 56.Bxh6 Ne3+ 57.Kb4 Nf1 58.Bg5 Ng3 59.h6 Nxe4= 55...e5? The losing error of the game. 55...Kd7 56.Kc3 Na3 57.Kb4 Nb1 58.Kxa4 58.Be1 Kc6 59.Kxa4 Kc5 60.Kb3 Kd4 61.Kb2 Kxe4 62.Kxb1 Kxf4 63.Bd2+ Kg4 58...Nc3+= 56.Kc3 Na3 57.fxe5 White is now a pawn up, the knight is in the corner of the board and the h6 pawn is terribly weak. White is clearly winning. Kf7 57...Nb5+ 58.Kb4 Nc7 59.Be3 58.Be3 Kg7 59.Bb6? Kf7? 59...Nb1+! 60.Kb4 60.Kd3 a3 61.Kc2 a2 62.Kb2 Nd2= 60.Kb2 Nd2= 60.Kc2 Na3+ 61.Kd3 Nb1= 60...Nd2= 60.Be3 Kg7 61.Bc5 Nb5+ 61...Nb1+ 62.Kc2 62.Kb4 Nc7 63.Kxa4 Ne6 64.Be3+- Kf7 65.Bxh6 Nc5+ 66.Kb5 Nxe4 67.Bf4 Nf2 68.h6 Ng4 69.e6+ The endgame was not error free but Nihal was th better player for sure in this game. Kxe6 70.h7 Enter New Game 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nihal,S2578Praggnanandhaa,R25321–02019E32Aeroflot Open A 20197.30

IM Sagar Shah explains the game for ChessBase India

Standings after Round 7 (top 20)

1 62 GM Kulaots Kaido   EST 2542 5,5 4 2646
2 11 GM Sasikiran Krishnan   IND 2678 5,5 4 2604
3 28 GM Martirosyan Haik M.   ARM 2616 5,5 3 2543
4 43 GM Tabatabaei M.Amin U18 IRI 2590 5,0 4 2600
5 41 GM Petrosian Tigran L.   ARM 2595 5,0 3 2594
6 21 GM Sarana Alexey   RUS 2630 5,0 3 2561
7 30 GM Chigaev Maksim   RUS 2613 5,0 3 2559
8 3 GM Wang Hao   CHN 2714 4,5 4 2594
9 9 GM Korobov Anton   UKR 2687 4,5 4 2575
10 7 GM Inarkiev Ernesto   RUS 2692 4,5 4 2574
11 29 GM Zhou Jianchao   CHN 2615 4,5 4 2571
12 47 GM Vaibhav Suri   IND 2575 4,5 4 2547
13 25 GM Khismatullin Denis   RUS 2621 4,5 4 2516
14 53 GM Fier Alexandr   BRA 2561 4,5 3 2649
15 35 GM Deac Bogdan-Daniel U18 ROU 2603 4,5 3 2644
16 32 GM Lupulescu Constantin   ROU 2610 4,5 3 2625
17 1 GM Wei Yi   CHN 2733 4,5 3 2586
18 15 GM Anton Guijarro David   ESP 2642 4,5 3 2552
19 12 GM Maghsoodloo Parham   IRI 2666 4,5 3 2551
20 26 GM Firouzja Alireza U18 IRI 2618 4,5 3 2521

Results (top 20)

Name Pts. Res. Pts. Name
Martirosyan Haik M. 4½ 1 - 0 5½ Sasikiran Krishnan
Wei Yi 4½ 0 - 1 4½ Kulaots Kaido
Chigaev Maksim 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ Tabatabaei M.Amin
Deac Bogdan-Daniel 4 ½ - ½ 4 Wang Hao
Petrosian Tigran L. 4 1 - 0 4 Nabaty Tamir
Anton Guijarro David 4 ½ - ½ 4 Lupulescu Constantin
Sarana Alexey 4 1 - 0 4 Narayanan.S.L
Fier Alexandr 4 ½ - ½ 4 Zhou Jianchao
Fedoseev Vladimir 3½ ½ - ½ 4 Vaibhav Suri
Jumabayev Rinat 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Dubov Daniil
Donchenko Alexander 3½ 0 - 1 3½ Inarkiev Ernesto
Yakubboev Nodirbek 3½ 0 - 1 3½ Korobov Anton
Maghsoodloo Parham 3½ 1 - 0 3½ Gordievsky Dmitry
Sychev Klementy 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Sjugirov Sanan
Zvjaginsev Vadim 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Xu Yi
Aleksandrov Aleksej 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Paravyan David
Grachev Boris 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Antipov Mikhail Al.
Puranik Abhimanyu 3½ 0 - 1 3½ Khismatullin Denis
Firouzja Alireza 3½ 1 - 0 3½ Sargsyan Shant
Sadhwani Raunak 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Van Foreest Jorden

...101 players

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Translation from German: Macauley Peterson

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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