Aeroflot R06: Vaibhav Suri stuns top seed Vladislav Artemiev
India's Vaibhav Suri became the one to pull off the big stunner in round six of Aeroflot Open 2020 by defeating none other than the event's top seed Vladislav Artemiev of Russia. With four draws in the last five rounds, Vaibhav was having a somewhat lacklustre tournament, but with this one redeeming victory he has now successfully broken into the top ten on the leaderboard. Elsewhere, the 16-year-old Arjun Erigaisi too delivered a power-packed performance beating the strong Armenian Grandmaster Haik M. Martirosyan, while Bharath Subramaniyam managed to hold his own in a tense battle against the winner of this year's Gibraltar Masters David Paravyan. We bring an illustrated report.
Rauf Mamedov continues to lead the Aeroflot Open 2020 with an unbeaten score of 5.0/6 points. Sanan Sjugirov, Mustafa Yılmaz, and Manuel Petrosyan are the three players who constitute the chasing pack and follow him closely just half a point behind. Among the Indians, there are now five players led by the young Bharath Subramaniyam on 4.0/5 each. Vaibhav Suri and Arjun Erigaisi are notably the ones who have climbed up the leaderboard. While Vaibhav outplayed the top seed Vladislav Artemiev in the sixth round, Arjun impressed by beating the strong 2630-rated Armenian Haik M. Martirosyan.
Vaibhav took charge in the game out of the opening itself. This was a classical Sicilian and Artemiev looked completely off colour with the black pieces. The Indian made good use of his superior activity and managed to cleanly liquidate into a winning ending with two passers on the queenside.
Arjun, on the other hand, edged out Haik in a complicated middlegame. It was a Sicilian once again but the Indian youngster wielded the black pieces and found creative ways to make use of the open file that his opponent carelessly conceded.
Results of round six
| Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 40 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | ARM | 2590 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Mamedov Rauf | AZE | 2643 | 11 |
| 2 | 4 | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | RUS | 2674 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Zvjaginsev Vadim | RUS | 2623 | 21 |
| 3 | 26 | GM | Smirin Ilia | ISR | 2615 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Sarana Alexey | RUS | 2656 | 5 |
| 4 | 6 | GM | Adhiban B. | IND | 2654 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Savchenko Boris | RUS | 2573 | 44 |
| 5 | 8 | GM | Jumabayev Rinat | KAZ | 2646 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | BLR | 2592 | 38 |
| 6 | 29 | GM | Yilmaz Mustafa | TUR | 2607 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Riazantsev Alexander | RUS | 2639 | 13 |
| 7 | 43 | GM | Idani Pouya | IRI | 2577 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2630 | 15 |
| 8 | 96 | IM | Bharath Subramaniyam H | IND | 2402 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Paravyan David | RUS | 2629 | 17 |
| 9 | 10 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | UZB | 2644 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | RUS | 2562 | 48 |
| 10 | 39 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | IND | 2591 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Artemiev Vladislav | RUS | 2728 | 1 |
Standings after round six
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | |
| 1 | 11 | GM | Mamedov Rauf | AZE | 2643 | 5,0 | 3 | 2569 | ||
| 2 | 4 | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | RUS | 2674 | 4,5 | 3 | 2589 | ||
| 3 | 29 | GM | Yilmaz Mustafa | TUR | 2607 | 4,5 | 3 | 2535 | ||
| 4 | 40 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | ARM | 2590 | 4,5 | 2 | 2580 | ||
| 5 | 96 | IM | Bharath Subramaniyam H | U18 | IND | 2402 | 4,0 | 3 | 2624 | |
| 6 | 71 | IM | Suleymanli Aydin | U18 | AZE | 2474 | 4,0 | 3 | 2616 | |
| 7 | 39 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | IND | 2591 | 4,0 | 3 | 2590 | ||
| 8 | 5 | GM | Sarana Alexey | RUS | 2656 | 4,0 | 3 | 2588 | ||
| 9 | 38 | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | BLR | 2592 | 4,0 | 3 | 2583 | ||
| 10 | 43 | GM | Idani Pouya | IRI | 2577 | 4,0 | 3 | 2582 | ||
| 11 | 6 | GM | Adhiban B. | IND | 2654 | 4,0 | 3 | 2575 | ||
| 12 | 3 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | IRI | 2674 | 4,0 | 3 | 2567 | ||
| 13 | 15 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2630 | 4,0 | 3 | 2551 | ||
| 14 | 17 | GM | Paravyan David | RUS | 2629 | 4,0 | 3 | 2548 | ||
| 15 | 8 | GM | Jumabayev Rinat | KAZ | 2646 | 4,0 | 3 | 2537 | ||
| 16 | 46 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | U18 | IND | 2563 | 4,0 | 3 | 2490 | |
| 17 | 23 | GM | Zhou Jianchao | CHN | 2622 | 4,0 | 3 | 2485 | ||
| 18 | 44 | GM | Savchenko Boris | RUS | 2573 | 4,0 | 3 | 2484 | ||
| 19 | 48 | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | RUS | 2562 | 4,0 | 3 | 2483 | ||
| 20 | 26 | GM | Smirin Ilia | ISR | 2615 | 4,0 | 2 | 2550 |
