Aeroflot R04+05: Bharath's opening misfortune and beastly glimpses of Adhiban

by Satanick Mukhuty - 24/02/2020

Bharath Subramaniyam scored a brilliant upset in round four defeating Zhou Jianchao of China but failed to hold his own against the Azerbaijani veteran Rauf Mamedov. Sethuraman S.P. too slipped down the rank-list after suffering his first loss of the tournament in the hands of Manuel Petrosyan. Elsewhere, Adhiban Baskaran kept his solid form going with intermittent show of ferocity, while Praggnanandhaa R. was stunned by an opening novelty. Rounds four and five of the Aeroflot Open were full of instructive action and in this combined report we bring you the highlights, games, photos, and much more.

Bharath's magic spell is finally broken!

Bharath Subramaniyam's brilliant run was halted rather unceremoniously by Rauf Mamedov in the fifth round of Aeroflot Open 2020. The in-form 13-year-old was surprised and outplayed in the opening itself as the Azerbaijani Grandmaster unleashed his preparation in the c3 Sicilian with white pieces. Bharath faltered early, allowing an unpleasant queenside expansion with b4-b5, and thereafter had to exile his knight to the edge of the board. Rauf, on the other hand, coordinated his pieces well and commanded more space throughout. It was finally on move 37 when the Indian crumbled under pressure and conceded his opponent a strong passer on the c-file. After this, only a dozen more moves were made on the board before the youngster resigned.

Bharath fought well in round five but his efforts clearly fell short against the highly experienced Rauf!

Rauf Mamedov - Bharath Subramaniyam, Round 5

This is what the Azerbaijani had in store. Instead of going into the mainline with 3.d4, he went 3.c3. The game could even enter the French territory after this but Bharath decided to stick to the Sicilian.

12.Nc4 was the critical point. The threat now was b5 and Black had to do something to meet it.

To make it very clear, b4-b5 is indeed a threat and Black really can't afford to wait here. For instance, if he plays a dummy move like 12...h6 then comes 13.b5 Na5 14.Ba3+ Kd8 15.Rd1+ Bd7 16.Nd6 etc with the powerful threat of Nxf7 and there's no real defense as 16...Rf8 runs into the crushing 17.Ne5. Also note the fact that the simple 12...a6 (preventing b4-b5) is not possible because of the loose bishop on b6. Bharath's best hope here was 12...Ne4! defending the all important d6 square but in the game he erred with 12...Bc7 and after this Rauf took charge with 13.b5 Na5 14.Ba3+ Ke8 15.Nd6+ Bxd6 etc.

Position after 15...Bxd6: White had the edge. Black's knight on a5 was badly misplaced and his bishop on c8 too wasn't looking all that great.

White soon had an excellent control of the open d-file. Black's woes continued. He did manage to get his knight out of a5 but ended up immuring his light-squared bishop in return.

Next, the breaking point approached. 37.c5 was clearly testing. Bharath should have tried bxc5 here but he played 37...Bd5 and allowed the devastating 38.c6

Soon everything fell apart, White's queenside passers were just too strong to be resisted!

And the above was the final position where the Indian resigned. There's was no way to stop the a7 pawn from queening.

Mamedov and Bharath in action against each other | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

With this defeat Bharath's spree was abruptly broken and he has now slipped to the third place with 3.5/5 points. In any case, it has to be said, the youngster has played some phenomenal chess so far. Check out the following game of his from the previous round where he convincingly defeated the strong 2622-rated Chinese Grandmaster Zhou Jianchao.

Adhiban turns on beast mode against Emre Can

Drawing three games out of five, Adhiban Baskaran has played quite solidly so far in this event. But in the fourth round he did put his beastly ferocity on show against Emre Can of Turkey | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Adhiban Baskaran - Emre Can, Round 4

Adhiban chose the Velimirovic attack of the Sicilian with white pieces and went on the offensive right from the word go.

Can you guess the move he had in store after 18...Qc6?

Yes, it was 19.Bxe6. Of course, fxe6 wasn't possible because of mate on g7.

And thus, White soon started pushing.

After the queens were traded off, the critical moment arose. How should White continue in the above position? Note that the bishop on b4 is en prise. Check out the full game below for the answer.

Photo Gallery

Sethuraman S.P. suffered his first defeat of the event in round five in the hands of Manuel Petrosyan | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Praggnanandhaa was outplayed by Mikhail Antipov out of the opening in round five | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Pranesh M lost to Vadim Zvjaginsev after holding Svane Rasmus to a draw in round four| Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Visakh drew compatriot Karthikeyan Murali in the fifth round | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Vaibhav Suri drew Aravindh Chithambaram and Aleksandr Rakhmanov in rounds four and five respectively | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

S.L.Narayanan was taken down by Boris Savchenko in round five | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Raunak Sadhwani beat Ekaterina Kovalevskaya but lost to Indjic Aleksandar | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Sreeshwan Maralakshikari got the better of compatriot Rahul Srivatshav P | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Aditya Mittal drew Ilia Iljiushenok in the fifth round | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Leon lost against Emilio Cordova | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Round five results

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	11	GM	Mamedov Rauf	AZE	2643	3½	1 - 0	3½	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2402	96
2	38	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	BLR	2592	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2654	6
3	40	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	ARM	2590	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2641	12
4	13	GM	Riazantsev Alexander	RUS	2639	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Smirin Ilia	ISR	2615	26
5	17	GM	Paravyan David	RUS	2629	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Yilmaz Mustafa	TUR	2607	29
6	1	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	RUS	2728	2½	½ - ½	3	GM	Idani Pouya	IRI	2577	43
7	34	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2597	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	RUS	2674	4
8	5	GM	Sarana Alexey	RUS	2656	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Basso Pier Luigi	ITA	2600	32
9	36	GM	Sargsyan Shant	ARM	2594	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	KAZ	2646	8
10	9	GM	Rakhmanov Aleksandr	RUS	2645	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Vaibhav Suri	IND	2591	39
11	42	GM	Shimanov Aleksandr	RUS	2587	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	UZB	2644	10
12	44	GM	Savchenko Boris	RUS	2573	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Narayanan.S.L	IND	2637	14
13	15	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2630	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Sanal Vahap	TUR	2569	45
14	71	IM	Suleymanli Aydin	AZE	2474	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	ARM	2630	16
15	19	GM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2626	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Aryan Chopra	IND	2562	49
16	21	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	RUS	2623	2½	1 - 0	2½	FM	Pranesh M	IND	2425	90
17	23	GM	Zhou Jianchao	CHN	2622	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Sychev Klementy	RUS	2563	47
18	46	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2563	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Kobalia Mikhail	RUS	2609	27
19	28	GM	Svane Rasmus	GER	2608	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Zanan Evgeny	ISR	2500	68
20	30	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	IND	2602	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Visakh N R	IND	2518	64

Round four results

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	12	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2641	2½	½ - ½	3	GM	Mamedov Rauf	AZE	2643	11
2	43	GM	Idani Pouya	IRI	2577	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Paravyan David	RUS	2629	17
3	96	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2402	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Zhou Jianchao	CHN	2622	23
4	31	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2602	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	RUS	2728	1
5	4	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	RUS	2674	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Basso Pier Luigi	ITA	2600	32
6	45	GM	Sanal Vahap	TUR	2569	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Sarana Alexey	RUS	2656	5
7	6	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2654	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Can Emre	TUR	2600	33
8	37	GM	Cordova Emilio	PER	2593	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Riazantsev Alexander	RUS	2639	13
9	14	GM	Narayanan.S.L	IND	2637	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2597	34
10	39	GM	Vaibhav Suri	IND	2591	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2630	15
11	16	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	ARM	2630	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Sargsyan Shant	ARM	2594	36
12	64	GM	Visakh N R	IND	2518	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2626	19
13	20	GM	Durarbayli Vasif	AZE	2625	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	ARM	2590	40
14	47	GM	Sychev Klementy	RUS	2563	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	RUS	2623	21
15	24	GM	Jobava Baadur	GEO	2620	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	BLR	2592	38
16	26	GM	Smirin Ilia	ISR	2615	2	1 - 0	2		Nesterov Arseniy	RUS	2501	67
17	27	GM	Kobalia Mikhail	RUS	2609	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Suleymanli Aydin	AZE	2474	71
18	90	FM	Pranesh M	IND	2425	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Svane Rasmus	GER	2608	28
19	29	GM	Yilmaz Mustafa	TUR	2607	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Sindarov Javokhir	UZB	2537	57
20	68	IM	Zanan Evgeny	ISR	2500	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	IND	2602	30

Standings after round five

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	11	GM	Mamedov Rauf	AZE	2643	4,5	2	2562
2	40	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	ARM	2590	4,0	2	2559
3	96	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2402	3,5	3	2622
4	4	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	RUS	2674	3,5	3	2585
5	6	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2654	3,5	3	2576
6	43	GM	Idani Pouya	IRI	2577	3,5	3	2566
7	8	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	KAZ	2646	3,5	3	2518
8	29	GM	Yilmaz Mustafa	TUR	2607	3,5	3	2504
9	5	GM	Sarana Alexey	RUS	2656	3,5	2	2584
10	17	GM	Paravyan David	RUS	2629	3,5	2	2562
	38	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	BLR	2592	3,5	2	2562
12	13	GM	Riazantsev Alexander	RUS	2639	3,5	2	2556
13	15	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2630	3,5	2	2543
14	26	GM	Smirin Ilia	ISR	2615	3,5	2	2506
15	21	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	RUS	2623	3,5	2	2497
16	48	GM	Antipov Mikhail Al.	RUS	2562	3,5	2	2443
17	44	GM	Savchenko Boris	RUS	2573	3,5	2	2432
18	64	GM	Visakh N R	IND	2518	3,0	3	2619
19	68	IM	Zanan Evgeny	ISR	2500	3,0	3	2616
20	12	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2641	3,0	3	2582

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