Aeroflot, Rd. 5: Najer stays sole leader

by Klaus Besenthal
3/6/2016 – Round five of the Aeroflot Open in Moscow was peaceful: nine of the ten games at the top boards ended with a draw. This allowed Evgeniy Najer to defend his lead. After round four he was sole leader with 3.5/4, after round five he is sole leader with 4.0/5. But despite the many draws at the top boards round five still saw some interesting chess in Moscow.
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Sometimes modern tournament chess gives the impression that the classical "grandmaster draw" is a dying species. However, in round five Evgeniy Najer and Boris Gelfand put one more exhibit on show:

 

Well, though Najer was slightly better one understands why he had nothing against a quiet and peaceful afternoon. He was sole leader and played against the top seed who has been part of the world's best players for 25 years. So, Najer was happy about the bird in his hand and refrained from trying to catch two in the bush!

Boris Gelfand

Evgenyi Najer

This draw allowed Najer to remain sole leader with 4.0/5 because none of his closest rivals managed to score a full point. Thus, no less than fifteen players are half a point behind Najer. One of them is GM Axel Bachmann from Paraguay who won an interesting game against Anton Korobov:

 

Results of round five

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg No.
1 16 GM Najer Evgeniy 2664 3½ ½ - ½ 3 GM Gelfand Boris 2735 1
2 20 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr 2650 3 ½ - ½ 3 GM Matlakov Maxim 2682 6
3 8 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2677 3 ½ - ½ 3 GM Dubov Daniil 2634 25
4 36 GM Wen Yang 2609 3 ½ - ½ 3 GM Sjugirov Sanan 2667 13
5 52 GM Goganov Aleksey 2575 3 ½ - ½ 3 GM Fedoseev Vladimir 2664 15
6 18 GM Zvjaginsev Vadim 2662 3 ½ - ½ 3 GM Bartel Mateusz 2625 27
7 22 GM Grachev Boris 2639 3 ½ - ½ 2½ GM Inarkiev Ernesto 2677 7
8 26 GM Kobalia Mikhail 2632 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Bu Xiangzhi 2724 2
9 4 GM Korobov Anton 2713 2½ 0 - 1 2½ GM Bachmann Axel 2609 35
10 31 GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2615 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2704 5
11 10 GM Artemiev Vladislav 2674 2½ 1 - 0 2½ GM Cordova Emilio 2610 33
12 32 GM Bok Benjamin 2611 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Kamsky Gata 2673 11
13 14 GM Swiercz Dariusz 2665 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Dragun Kamil 2594 43
14 34 GM Savchenko Boris 2610 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Motylev Alexander 2655 19
15 23 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2637 2½ ½ - ½ 2½   Predke Alexandr 2508 67

...

Games of rounds one to five:

 

Standings after round five

Rk. SNo   Name sex FED Rtg Pts.  TB1   TB2 
1 16 GM Najer Evgeniy   RUS 2664 4,0 2 2630
2 1 GM Gelfand Boris   ISR 2735 3,5 3 2599
  35 GM Bachmann Axel   PAR 2609 3,5 3 2599
4 13 GM Sjugirov Sanan   RUS 2667 3,5 3 2596
5 27 GM Bartel Mateusz   POL 2625 3,5 3 2565
6 15 GM Fedoseev Vladimir   RUS 2664 3,5 3 2564
7 25 GM Dubov Daniil   RUS 2634 3,5 3 2535
8 36 GM Wen Yang   CHN 2609 3,5 2 2673
9 52 GM Goganov Aleksey   RUS 2575 3,5 2 2659
10 6 GM Matlakov Maxim   RUS 2682 3,5 2 2619
11 8 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco   ESP 2677 3,5 2 2615
12 18 GM Zvjaginsev Vadim   RUS 2662 3,5 2 2604
13 20 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr   RUS 2650 3,5 2 2602
14 22 GM Grachev Boris   RUS 2639 3,5 2 2596
15 10 GM Artemiev Vladislav   RUS 2674 3,5 2 2588
16 24 GM Hovhannisyan Robert   ARM 2636 3,5 2 2562
17 43 GM Dragun Kamil   POL 2594 3,0 3 2640
18 67   Predke Alexandr   RUS 2508 3,0 3 2638
19 7 GM Inarkiev Ernesto   RUS 2677 3,0 3 2615
20 5 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian   RUS 2704 3,0 3 2595
21 11 GM Kamsky Gata   USA 2673 3,0 3 2589
22 39 GM Bluebaum Matthias   GER 2605 3,0 3 2578
23 19 GM Motylev Alexander   RUS 2655 3,0 3 2530
24 3 GM Wei Yi   CHN 2714 3,0 3 2514

... 86 players

Pictures by Amruta Mokal

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.
 
Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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