Aeroflot Open: Bologan's masterpiece

Bologan and Petrosian lead with 3.0/3

There is definitely some connection between Aeroflot and Viktor Bologan. The Moldovian grandmaster came into the limelight thanks to the Aeroflot Open 2003. Bologan not only won it and qualified for the Dortmund super tournament, but he also won the Dortmund super-tournament ahead of Kramnik, Anand, Radjabov, Leko and Naiditsch!

Bologan fighting it out in the last round of Aeroflot 2003, beating GM Julio Granda Zuniga to win the tournament! | Photo: Eugeny Atarov

Celebrating his win with his wife Rita | Photo: Eugeny Atarov

It's been 15 years now since the 2003 event, the black t-shirt has been replaced by a suit and formal wear, the clean shave has been replaced by a french beard, and youthful Bologan by a man with great experience. Yet, it seems nothing has changed, Bologan still continues to play sublime chess at the Aeroflot Open.

That's Bologan in 2018, on his way to victory against GM Anton Korobov | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The opening was played quite poorly by Victor. He was pushed back from all ends and White (Korobov) was completely dominating.

The simple 0-0 would have given White a very good position here.

Korobov's choice of h2-h4 was just not in the spirit of the position. Can you find a way in which you would punish this recklessness

Bologan found the very strong plan starting with 17...Nb8! pushing the queen back to a4 and now ...a5! If White is forced to cede the c5 square that would be excellent news for Black. And hence Korobov played a3, seeing the rook on a8 was hanging and hence ...axb4 was not possible. But Bologan made sure that he went for this line sacrificing an exchange as after 20.Qxa8 bxc3 21.Bxc3 Nc5! the knight on c5 gets an excellent square, the king on e1 is not so comfortable and the queen on a8 is clearly misplaced.

This complete change of the flow of the game caught Korobov by surprise and he was unable to put up his best resistance. Bologan won the game with some nice finishing strokes. Here's the entire game annotated by IM Sagar Shah:

Korobov vs Bologan (annotated by IM Sagar Shah)

The Art of the Positional Exchange Sacrifice

The positional exchange sacrifice is one of the most powerful and fascinating strategic weapons in chess. On this DVD Sergey Tiviakov explains why the positional exchange sacrifice is such a strong weapon and how to use it.

Will Bologan repeat his success of 2003? Perhaps it is too early in the tournament to think about this, but it is surely possible! That's Victor from 2003, enjoying his success | Photo: Eugeny Atarov

This video gives you a feel of the third round of the event

Tigran Petrosian beat GM S.P. Sethuraman in the third round and now leads with 3.0/3. He, along with Bologan, are the only two players on 100% score. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Top seed Vladimir Fedoseev finally got into his groove and scored his first win of the event against GM Arman Mikaelyan

Second-seeded Vidit Gujrathi is still searching for the elusive victory. He is on 1½ / 3. The problem with these 2700+ players is that if they do not win, they bleed a lot of rating points. Vidit is already losing seven. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

On the top board, the clash between Artemiev and Khalifman ended in a draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Former World Junior Champion Mikhail Antipov was able to get the better of Evgeny Najer | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Parham Maghsoodloo beat Russian GM Sanan Sjugirov | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Nihal Sarin has shown great fighting skills at this event against his esteemed 2600+ opponents and has drawn all his three games. His opponents were Sasikiran, Inarkiev, and Piorun. A great training ground for the young boy. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Eesha Karavade, the last seed of the tournament, is ahead of many seasoned grandmasters! She is on 2.0/3 with draws against Vidit Gujrathi and Wen Yang and win over GM Amin Tabatabaei | Photo: Niklesh Jain

It is almost certain that Praggnanandhaa would not be able to beat Karjakin's record of the youngest GM in the world. Perhaps this will take off the pressure from the young boy's shoulders and he would be able to complete his remaining two GM norms very soon. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Top results of round three

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	6	GM	Artemiev Vladislav		2697	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Khalifman Alexander		2614	27
2	12	GM	Korobov Anton		2664	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Bologan Victor		2600	33
3	40	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.		2589	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Sethuraman S.P.		2646	15
4	36	GM	Gupta Abhijeet		2598	1½	- - +	1½	GM	Matlakov Maxim		2709	5
5	8	GM	Najer Evgeniy		2683	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Antipov Mikhail Al.		2598	35
6	39	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham		2594	1½	1 - 0	1½	GM	Sjugirov Sanan		2652	14
7	16	GM	Kovalev Vladislav		2641	1½	1 - 0	1½	GM	Svane Rasmus		2586	42
8	24	GM	Lysyj Igor		2618	1½	1 - 0	1½	IM	Golubov Saveliy		2492	74
9	67	GM	Aryan Chopra		2509	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		2617	25
10	26	GM	Jumabayev Rinat		2614	1½	½ - ½	1½	IM	Pavlov Sergey		2485	80
11	30	GM	Wen Yang		2608	1½	½ - ½	1½	IM	Karavade Eesha		2386	92
12	32	GM	Paravyan David		2603	1½	½ - ½	1½	IM	Yakubboev Nodirbek		2462	84
13	77	GM	Mikaelyan Arman		2486	1½	0 - 1	1	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir		2724	1
14	2	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi		2723	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Petrosyan Manuel		2569	50
15	53	IM	Firouzja Alireza		2549	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Andreikin Dmitry		2712	3
16	4	GM	Mamedov Rauf		2709	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Pichot Alan		2552	52
17	47	IM	Vavulin Maksim		2575	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Inarkiev Ernesto		2684	7
18	49	FM	Esipenko Andrey		2571	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Kamsky Gata		2677	9
19	10	GM	Sargissian Gabriel		2677	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Lomasov Semen		2530	58
20	55	GM	Shevchenko Kirill		2538	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan		2671	11

Standings after three rounds (top 25)

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	33	GM	Bologan Victor		2600	3,0	2	2490
2	40	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.		2589	3,0	1	2646
3	39	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham		2594	2,5	2	2652
4	27	GM	Khalifman Alexander		2614	2,5	2	2538
5	35	GM	Antipov Mikhail Al.		2598	2,5	2	2486
6	6	GM	Artemiev Vladislav		2697	2,5	1	2585
7	16	GM	Kovalev Vladislav		2641	2,5	1	2522
8	24	GM	Lysyj Igor		2618	2,5	1	2501
9	5	GM	Matlakov Maxim		2709	2,5	1	0
10	54	GM	Xu Xiangyu		2545	2,0	2	2677
11	64	IM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek		2516	2,0	2	2629
12	80	IM	Pavlov Sergey		2485	2,0	2	2614
13	92	IM	Karavade Eesha		2386	2,0	2	2608
14	84	IM	Yakubboev Nodirbek		2462	2,0	2	2603
15	15	GM	Sethuraman S.P.		2646	2,0	2	2582
16	1	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir		2724	2,0	2	2571
17	19	GM	Gordievsky Dmitry		2630	2,0	2	2513
18	25	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		2617	2,0	2	2497
19	43	GM	Karthikeyan Murali		2585	2,0	2	2460
20	67	GM	Aryan Chopra		2509	2,0	1	2618
21	75	IM	Xu Yi		2490	2,0	1	2600
22	12	GM	Korobov Anton		2664	2,0	1	2569
23	4	GM	Mamedov Rauf		2709	2,0	1	2552
24	22	GM	Romanov Evgeny		2621	2,0	1	2511
25	26	GM	Jumabayev Rinat		2614	2,0	1	2494

Top pairings of round four

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	33	GM	Bologan Victor		2600	3		3	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.		2589	40
2	27	GM	Khalifman Alexander		2614	2½		2½	GM	Matlakov Maxim		2709	5
3	35	GM	Antipov Mikhail Al.		2598	2½		2½	GM	Artemiev Vladislav		2697	6
4	39	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham		2594	2½		2½	GM	Kovalev Vladislav		2641	16
5	15	GM	Sethuraman S.P.		2646	2		2½	GM	Lysyj Igor		2618	24
6	1	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir		2724	2		2	GM	Paravyan David		2603	32
7	43	GM	Karthikeyan Murali		2585	2		2	GM	Mamedov Rauf		2709	4
8	54	GM	Xu Xiangyu		2545	2		2	GM	Korobov Anton		2664	12
9	19	GM	Gordievsky Dmitry		2630	2		2	GM	Aryan Chopra		2509	67
10	64	IM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek		2516	2		2	GM	Romanov Evgeny		2621	22