Aeroflot Open Rd2: The challenge of being a favorite

by Albert Silver
3/2/2016 – With only two rounds out of nine, the most noteworthy result is not so much that of some weaker player beating a stronger one, but rather that of five players with 2.0/2, only Vallejo Pons was in the top ten at the start. Of note also is the presence of Boris Gelfand, who will need to adjust to the frenzy of an open. Report, pictures, and more.

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AEROFLOT OPEN 2016 – round two

Photos by Amruta Mokal

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.

Ernesto Inarkiev, number 7 on the rating list, was held to a draw in round two by...

...Lu Shanglei from China.

Lu Shanglei's compatriot, Wen Yang, scored a nice win when his young opponent Vladislav Artemiev missed a spectacular tactic.

Wen Yang - Vladslav Artemiev

Black played 12...g6 in order to not lose his exchange after 12...0-0
13.Bh6 g6 14.Bxf8. However he overlooked something. Can you find it?
White to play and win.

[Event "Aeroflot Open A 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.03.02"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Wen, Yang"] [Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B23"] [WhiteElo "2609"] [BlackElo "2674"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "2016.03.01"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. g3 b5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. d3 e6 6. Nh3 d6 7. O-O Nf6 8. f4 Nc6 9. Be3 Be7 (9... Rb8 $1 {was stronger to prevent the 10.e5 that was played in the game. Now the bishop on b7 is protected and the knight would be free to capture on e5.}) 10. e5 $1 dxe5 11. fxe5 Nd7 12. Qg4 g6 ({Black missed White's shot, or he would have opted for} 12... O-O 13. Bh6 {giving up the exchange, but with some compensation after} g6 14. Bxf8 Qxf8 15. Qf4 Qg7) 13. Rxf7 $3 { Spectacular and winning.} Kxf7 14. Rf1+ Ke8 (14... Kg7 15. Nf4 $1) 15. Qxe6 Ndxe5 16. Ne4 Qc7 17. Nf4 (17. Nhg5 $1 {was the correct continuation.} Kd8 18. Nxc5 $18) 17... Bc8 18. Nf6+ Kd8 19. Qd5+ Qd6 20. Bxc5 1-0

Young Dutch talent Jorden Van Foreest has come to sharpen his claws on some tough Russian players.

Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Aeroflot Open before, and is hoping for a repeat of his success

Denis Khismatullin

A sign of the times, the elite Boris Gelfand is another top player who has agreed to play in an open

Results of round two

Bo. No. Ti. Name Rtg
Result
 Ti. Name Rtg No.
1 29 GM Khismatullin Denis 2621 ½ - ½ GM Korobov Anton 2713 4
2 7 GM Inarkiev Ernesto 2677 ½ - ½ GM Lu Shanglei 2620 30
3 34 GM Savchenko Boris 2610 0 - 1 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2677 8
4 36 GM Wen Yang 2609 1 - 0 GM Artemiev Vladislav 2674 10
5 38 GM Petrosian Tigran L. 2607 1 - 0 GM Moiseenko Alexander 2668 12
6 39 GM Bluebaum Matthias 2605 ½ - ½ GM Swiercz Dariusz 2665 14
7 40 GM Eliseev Urii 2601 0 - 1 GM Najer Evgeniy 2664 16
8 42 GM Bocharov Dmitry 2595 ½ - ½ GM Zvjaginsev Vadim 2662 18
9 43 GM Dragun Kamil 2594 ½ - ½ GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr 2650 20
10 46 GM Potkin Vladimir 2585 ½ - ½ GM Grachev Boris 2639 22
11 52 GM Goganov Aleksey 2575 1 - 0 GM Hovhannisyan Robert 2636 24
12 25 GM Dubov Daniil 2634 ½ - ½ GM Shyam Sundar M. 2523 64
13 1 GM Gelfand Boris 2735 ½ - ½ IM Martirosyan Haik M. 2425 84
14 49 GM Wagner Dennis 2583 ½ - ½ GM Bu Xiangzhi 2724 2
15 5 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2704 ½ - ½ GM Timofeev Artyom 2593 44
16 45 GM Socko Bartosz 2587 0 - 1 GM Matlakov Maxim 2682 6
17 11 GM Kamsky Gata 2673 ½ - ½ GM Demchenko Anton 2583 48
18 13 GM Sjugirov Sanan 2667 1 - 0 GM Lalith Babu M R 2573 54
19 15 GM Fedoseev Vladimir 2664 ½ - ½ GM Kovalev Vladislav 2560 56
20 17 GM Safarli Eltaj 2663 ½ - ½ GM Bindrich Falko 2557 58
21 19 GM Motylev Alexander 2655 ½ - ½ GM Alekseenko Kirill 2554 60
22 23 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2637 1 - 0 GM Pichot Alan 2542 62
23 71 IM Yuffa Daniil 2502 0 - 1 GM Kobalia Mikhail 2632 26
24 27 GM Bartel Mateusz 2625 1 - 0 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2509 66
25 75 IM Swayams Mishra 2470 ½ - ½ GM Khalifman Alexander 2624 28
26 31 GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2615 1 - 0 GM Gasanov Eldar 2503 70
27 69 IM Pourramezanali Amirreza 2506 ½ - ½ GM Bok Benjamin 2611 32
28 33 GM Cordova Emilio 2610 1 - 0 GM Debashis Das 2471 74
29 35 GM Bachmann Axel 2609 1 - 0 FM Igonin Temur 2470 76
30 37 GM Jumabayev Rinat 2607 1 - 0 IM Kovalevskaya Ekaterina 2462 78
31 3 GM Wei Yi 2714 ½ - ½ IM Lorparizangeneh Shahin 2449 80
32 9 GM Jobava Baadur 2676 ½ - ½   Xu Yinglun 2518 65
33 21 GM Anton Guijarro David 2641 0 - 1   Predke Alexandr 2508 67
34 41 GM Azarov Sergei 2599 1 - 0 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2506 68
35 47 GM Kunin Vitaly 2584 ½ - ½ WGM Lei Tingjie 2495 72
36 73   Firouzja Alireza 2475 ½ - ½ GM Kulaots Kaido 2578 50
37 51 GM Sandipan Chanda 2577 0 - 1 IM Shen Yang 2466 77
38 53 GM Antipov Mikhail Al. 2573 1 - 0 IM Korchmar Vasiliy 2450 79
39 55 GM Oparin Grigoriy 2572 1 - 0 IM Wang Yiye 2445 81
40 57 GM Maiorov Nikita 2558 0 - 1 FM Esipenko Andrey 2445 82
41 59 GM Van Foreest Jorden 2557 0 - 1 IM Sarana Alexey 2433 83
42 61 GM Sivuk Vitaly 2554 ½ - ½ IM Karavade Eesha 2395 85
43 63 GM Kotronias Vasilios 2541 1 - 0 CM Erigaisi Arjun 2379 86

Links

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.
 
Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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