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After a couple of years hiatus the Aeroflot Open is back!
The classic event has been more than just a massive super-strong series of opens, it has been the proving grounds for the players on the rise, a rich source of norms, and competition for all levels divided into three opens. It also has a richly doted blitz tournament at the end, free of entry for those registered in tournaments A and B.
Winning the A tournament is a notable point of prestige for a player, and has heralded many a new star on the come. What is so special about it that even the grandmasters come with the intention of just playing hard, fighting hard? To start with, there is the cutoff point: you need to be rated 2550 just to play. Granted the organizers do make a few exceptions, notably for young players expected to do better than their rating suggests, but no other Open in the world has such a stiff requirement. On top of that the winner of the Aeroflot Open A section will directly qualify for the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting later this year.
This year's top 30 participants:
| No. | Name | FED | Rtg | |||
| 1 | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | AZE | 2756 | |||
| 2 | Nepomniachtchi Ian | RUS | 2714 | |||
| 3 | Rapport Richard | HUN | 2709 | |||
| 4 | Vallejo Pons Francisco | ESP | 2708 | |||
| 5 | Inarkiev Ernesto | RUS | 2706 | |||
| 6 | Korobov Anton | UKR | 2694 | |||
| 7 | Matlakov Maxim | RUS | 2693 | |||
| 8 | Sasikiran Krishnan | IND | 2682 | |||
| 9 | Fedoseev Vladimir | RUS | 2674 | |||
| 10 | Grachev Boris | RUS | 2673 | |||
| 11 | Petrosian Tigran L. | ARM | 2671 | |||
| 12 | Sjugirov Sanan | RUS | 2669 | |||
| 13 | Kovalenko Igor | LAT | 2661 | |||
| 14 | Mamedov Rauf | AZE | 2658 | |||
| 15 | Zvjaginsev Vadim | RUS | 2658 | |||
| 16 | Motylev Alexander | RUS | 2653 | |||
| 17 | Khismatullin Denis | RUS | 2650 | |||
| 18 | Adhiban B. | IND | 2646 | |||
| 19 | Kobalia Mikhail | RUS | 2632 | |||
| 20 | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | VEN | 2630 | |||
| 21 | Khairullin Ildar | RUS | 2630 | |||
| 22 | Dubov Daniil | RUS | 2627 | |||
| 23 | Salgado Lopez Ivan | ESP | 2627 | |||
| 24 | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2625 | |||
| 25 | Sethuraman S.P. | IND | 2623 | |||
| 26 | Bukavshin Ivan | RUS | 2618 | |||
| 27 | Tregubov Pavel V. | RUS | 2617 | |||
| 28 | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2614 | |||
| 29 | Khalifman Alexander | RUS | 2613 | |||
| 30 | Ponkratov Pavel | RUS | 2613 |
The Aeroflot Open will not top the Gibraltar Open in terms of raw strength at the top, but it more than makes up for it in sheer number of grandmaster players. The tournament only has 72 players, and the organizers only granted a few exceptions for players under 2550 to be able to participate. The lowest rated player is the Kazakh sensation Zhansaya Abdumalik, who comes from a fantastic performance in Reykjavik.
Organizer Alexander Bach addressing the crowd
Ashot Vardapetyan and Elina Danielian
Top seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
At 2653 Alexander Motylev would easily be the top seed in most opens, but not in Aeroflot
Anton Korobov from Ukraine
A little champagne to kick off the festivities
Already from the first round results it is obvious that this is not a normal Swiss. True, the top rated players are still playing against underdogs, but instead of the usual 300 or 400 point gap, there is but a 150-170 difference at the most. Many draws were seen and a couple of surprises, the most notable probably being the victory of Lu Shanglei over Matlakov. The Chinese player had already made headlines when he beat Carlsen last year in the World Blitz Championship.
Mamedyarov was playing the strong player Savchenko, but to say he had no problems would be a euphemism:
[Event "12th Aeroflot Open 2015"] [Site "Moscow"] [Date "2015.03.27"] [Round "1"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Savchenko, Boris"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2756"] [BlackElo "2581"] [PlyCount "37"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "RUS"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c5 8. Rd1 cxd4 9. Rxd4 Bb4 $6 {Perhaps Savchenko was already unfamiliar with the position, as he took a decent amount of time to reach here. Instead of this move several top grandmaster games have seen the move} (9... Qa5 10. Bg3 Nb6 $5 11. Nd2 {Aronian-Radjabov, 2011, just to name one game.}) 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Bd3 h6 12. O-O {It's clear that Black has fallen considerably behind in development. Savchenko tries to offset that by gaining a structural advantage, but it is insufficient.} Bxc3 13. bxc3 Nxf4 14. exf4 $16 {White's bind on the center with the open d-file and better placed pieces make Black's life very difficult.} Qc7 15. Rd1 Nc5 $2 {Already a decisive mistake!} (15... b6 {was preferable, allowing the bishop to exit via b7 at some point after the knight from d7 moves.}) 16. Bh7+ Kh8 17. Ne5 {Suddenly Black is facing a strong threat:} g5 {desperation.} (17... b6 18. Rd8 $1 Rxd8 (18... Bb7 19. R8d7 $1 { Perhaps Savchenko originally missed this move.} Nxd7 20. Rxd7 Qc8 21. Rxf7 { And White's attack is easily decisive.}) 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. Nxf7# {is mate!}) 18. Bg6 $1 {Very precise, the bishop is taboo and the pressure keeps mounting.} gxf4 (18... fxg6 19. Nxg6+ Kg7 20. Nxf8 Kxf8 21. Qg6 $18) 19. Qe2 $1 {Black has no resources on the kingside to beat back the attack. Sacvhenko was simply forced to resign.} 1-0
Vladimir Potkin also dispatched his opponent in a brilliant manner:
[Event "Aeroflot Open A 2015"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2015.03.27"] [Round "1.31"] [White "Potkin, Vladimir"] [Black "Tabatabaei, M.amin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A29"] [WhiteElo "2605"] [BlackElo "2448"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2015.03.27"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bc5 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O a6 7. e3 O-O 8. b3 Ba7 9. Qc2 Re8 10. Bb2 h6 11. Nh4 Bd7 12. a3 Qc8 13. f4 Nd4 14. Qd3 Nxb3 15. fxe5 Ng4 (15... dxe5 16. Rxf6 $1 Nxa1 17. Bd5 $1 {Is nothing that Black wanted to toil with. Instead he moves the knight, keeping the threat on a1.}) 16. Nd5 $1 (16. Rae1 {the mere mortal move, is ok, but not as good as the game.} Nxe5 17. Qc2 Nc5 18. d4 Ncd3 19. dxe5 Nxe1 20. Rxe1 dxe5 $13) 16... Nc5 (16... Nxa1 17. Rxf7 $1 (17. exd6 {is also very strong, with the follow up of Rxf7 in the air.}) 17... Kxf7 18. Qg6+ Kf8 19. e6 $1 {And White crashes through decisively. }) 17. Qc2 dxe5 (17... Be6 18. exd6 cxd6 19. Nf5 $18) 18. Rxf7 $1 {What a shot! } Kxf7 19. Qh7 {Not even a check, but decisive. Black has no good way of meeting the threat of Rf1+.} Ke6 20. Nf5 $1 {Putting in more pressure! Black is up a full rook but with his king on e6 it is clear he will not survive.} Na4 21. Nxc7+ {With a beautiful checkmate after} (21. Nxc7+ Qxc7 22. Qg6+ Nf6 23. Bd5#) 1-0
Round Two Pairings
Only 22 people remain unscathed from the first round, and the top matches already promise interesting chess. The top game will be between Khairullin-Mamedyarov, not an easy task for the top seed to continue on a perfect score.
Photos Boris Dolmatovski
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