Five norms for Indians at the Aeroflot Open 2019

by Sagar Shah - 01/03/2019

The Indian contingent performed admirably at the Aeroflot Open 2019. Sasikiran very narrowly missed winning the A-tournament and finished third - a commendable performance. Five Indian youngsters made their norms - Raunak Sadhwani achieved his maiden GM norm, Divya Deshmukh got her second WGM norm and Aditya Mittal, Koustav Chatterjee and Sammed Shete achieved their IM norms. Aditya Mittal is now an IM at the age of just 12 years. For Sammed and Koustav this was their second IM norm. In this report we give you all the information about the Indians who performed admirably and also tell you about the surprise winner of the A-group Kaido Kulaots, who has booked his spot to the Dortmund super tournament 2019.

One of the strongest opens in the world - the Aeroflot Open, came to an end on 28th of February 2019. It was a mixed final result for the Indian players. Sasikiran's third place in the A group is a fine result. However, judging by the fact that he was 5.0/5 and had a full point lead over the field, Sasikiran would not be thrilled about his third place. Besides the winner not only receives 18,000 Euros but also a direct entry to the Dortmund super tournament in Germany.

Third place at the Aeroflot Open takes Sasikiran to 2690 on the live rating list. If he fires at the World Team Championships, we are sure to see him cross 2700! | Photo: David Llada

Kaido Kulaots was the surprise winner of the tournament, but just have a look at his performance! | Photo: David Llada

Starting off as the 62nd seed, the Estonian number one performed at an Elo of 2873, gaining 38 Elo points, beating Maghsoodloo, Firouzja, Dubov, Wei Yi and Khismatullin, winning 18000 Euros and booking his spot in the Dortmund super tournament later this year! What more can one ask from a tournament!

Congrats to Kaido Kulaots for an absolutely amazing underdog victory at the Aeroflot open! 19 years ago, he shared a flat with my father and I at the Gausdal tournament, and inspired an unrated 9 year old by predicting that he would one day be rated 2650
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) February 27, 2019

Haik Martirosyan is Armenia's best hope right now to emulate the feats of Levon Aronian. He scored the same points as Kulaots, but had to be content with the second spot.

Wang Hao was Sasikiran's last round opponent. They drew their game and Sasikiran finished third, while Wang Hao had to be content with the fourth spot

India had five norm makers at the Aeroflot Open 2019 - Raunak Sadhwani (GM norm - Centre), Divya Deshmukh (WGM norm - top left), Sammed Shete (IM norm - bottom left), Koustav Chatterjee (IM norm - top right), Aditya Mittal (IM norm - bottom right)

Raunak Sadhwani scored his GM norm in the A group

Aditya Mittal scored his final IM norm and became India's latest IM

Sammed Shete scored his 2nd IM norm. Sammed is supported by the Pursue your chess scholarship under HelpChess initiative.

15-year-old youngster Koustav Chatterjee scored his second IM norm

A phenomenal performance by Divya Deshmukh. She was the third last seed in the B-group. In spite of having an Elo of 2126 she was allowed to play in B-group (above 2300), and she did not disappoint. After scoring her maiden IM norm at the Velammal-AICF WGM Round Robin tournament, she scored her second WGM norm here.

Shyam Sundar was the best performing Indian in the B-group and he finished 5th with an Elo performance of 2601 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Vaibhav Suri scored 5.5/9 in the A group of the Aeroflot Open 2019, gained 10 Elo points | Photo: Lennart Ootes

S.L. Narayanan beat Kiril Alekseenko (2634) and Rauf Mamedov (2701), scoring 5.5/9 and gained 10 Elo points | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nihal Sarin, at the age of 14, already has a rating of 2578. He gained 10 Elo points and is now rated 2588 | Photo: David Llada

Padmini was just 1.0/3, but in the last six rounds she picked up pace and scored 5.0/6. She finished 13th, gained 24 Elo points and beat three higher rated players David Zakaryan (2382), German Bazeev (2423) and Petr Kostenko (2466) | Photo: David Llada

Standings in A group

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	62	GM	Kulaots Kaido		EST	2542	7,0	5	2647
2	28	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.		ARM	2616	7,0	4	2563
3	11	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan		IND	2678	6,5	4	2607
4	3	GM	Wang Hao		CHN	2714	6,0	5	2600
5	1	GM	Wei Yi		CHN	2733	6,0	4	2589
6	30	GM	Chigaev Maksim		RUS	2613	6,0	4	2586
7	7	GM	Inarkiev Ernesto		RUS	2692	6,0	4	2580
8	21	GM	Sarana Alexey		RUS	2630	6,0	4	2573
9	15	GM	Anton Guijarro David		ESP	2642	6,0	4	2557
10	43	GM	Tabatabaei M.Amin	U18	IRI	2590	5,5	5	2613
11	9	GM	Korobov Anton		UKR	2687	5,5	5	2585
12	47	GM	Vaibhav Suri		IND	2575	5,5	5	2577
13	13	GM	Sjugirov Sanan		RUS	2663	5,5	5	2558
14	23	GM	Paravyan David		RUS	2627	5,5	5	2536
	60	GM	Hakobyan Aram	U18	ARM	2545	5,5	5	2536
16	25	GM	Khismatullin Denis		RUS	2621	5,5	5	2526
17	35	GM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	U18	ROU	2603	5,5	4	2647
18	32	GM	Lupulescu Constantin		ROU	2610	5,5	4	2640
19	61	IM	Sychev Klementy		RUS	2545	5,5	4	2609
20	29	GM	Zhou Jianchao		CHN	2615	5,5	4	2601

Indian overview in A group

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts.	Rk.	Group
11	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2678	IND	1	1	1	1	1	½	0	½	½	6,5	3	Open A
14	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2651	IND	½	1	0	½	½	½	½	0	0	3,5	79	Open A
18	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2636	IND	1	½	½	½	½	0	½	1	½	5,0	45	Open A
38	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2601	IND	1	1	0	0	0	½	1	1	½	5,0	41	Open A
42	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2593	IND	1	1	½	½	0	1	0	½	1	5,5	22	Open A
45	GM	Nihal Sarin	2578	IND	1	1	0	½	½	0	1	½	½	5,0	26	Open A
47	GM	Vaibhav Suri	2575	IND	0	½	1	1	½	1	½	½	½	5,5	12	Open A
49	GM	Narayanan Srinath	2572	IND	½	0	0	1	½	0	½	0	0	2,5	99	Open A
55	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2560	IND	½	0	1	1	½	0	½	1	½	5,0	34	Open A
57	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2556	IND	0	0	½	1	½	½	½	1	0	4,0	67	Open A
63	GM	Aryan Chopra	2540	IND	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	0	1	4,5	48	Open A
65	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2538	IND	½	0	1	½	½	1	0	0	1	4,5	58	Open A
67	GM	Debashis Das	2532	IND	½	1	½	½	½	0	0	½	1	4,5	59	Open A
68	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2532	IND	0	1	0	½	1	½	0	1	½	4,5	50	Open A
71	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2524	IND	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	4,0	68	Open A
74	IM	Gukesh D	2508	IND	0	0	1	½	0	½	½	½	½	3,5	84	Open A
78	GM	Gagare Shardul	2495	IND	0	0	½	1	½	½	½	½	0	3,5	77	Open A
79	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2494	IND	0	½	0	0	1	1	½	0	1	4,0	73	Open A
84	IM	Iniyan P	2480	IND	½	½	0	½	½	½	1	½	0	4,0	64	Open A
87	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2471	IND	1	½	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	4,0	72	Open A
88	IM	Prithu Gupta	2470	IND	0	½	0	½	1	½	½	½	0	3,5	80	Open A
91	CM	Aditya Mittal	2454	IND	½	0	1	0	½	0	1	0	½	3,5	87	Open A
93	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2448	IND	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	4,5	56	Open A
94	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2444	IND	½	½	0	½	0	0	½	½	1	3,5	82	Open A
95	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2443	IND	0	0	1	½	½	½	½	½	0	3,5	89	Open A

Standings in B group

k.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	3	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2536	7,5	5	2446
2	5	IM	Harutyunian Tigran K.		ARM	2532	6,5	5	2420
3	29	IM	Muradli Mahammad	U18	AZE	2444	6,5	5	2414
4	7	GM	Lintchevski Daniil		RUS	2517	6,5	5	2412
5	10	GM	Shyam Sundar M.		IND	2512	6,5	4	2434
6	53		Sammed Jaykumar Shete		IND	2387	6,0	5	2422
7	6	IM	Demidov Mikhail		RUS	2520	6,0	5	2408
8	9	GM	Levin Evgeny A.		RUS	2512	6,0	5	2405
9	27	IM	Asadli Vugar	U18	AZE	2449	6,0	5	2372
10	43		Pershin Denis		RUS	2400	6,0	5	2367
11	41	IM	Schekachikhin Maksim		RUS	2402	6,0	4	2504
12	25	IM	Drygalov Sergey		RUS	2450	6,0	4	2430
13	88	IM	Padmini Rout		IND	2315	6,0	4	2417
14	24	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim		RUS	2452	6,0	4	2406
15	33	GM	Danielian Elina		ARM	2427	6,0	4	2377
16	15	IM	Drygalov Andrey		RUS	2492	6,0	4	2365
17	28	FM	Gaifullin Artur	U18	RUS	2448	6,0	4	2357
18	18	IM	Bilguun Sumiya		MGL	2471	6,0	4	2351
19	40	IM	Savitskiy Sergey		RUS	2411	6,0	4	2348

Overview of performance of Indians in B group

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts.	Rk.	Group
10	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2512	IND	1	0	1	1	1	½	½	1	½	6,5	5	Open B
17	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	2488	IND	1	1	½	1	0	0	½	½	1	5,5	31	Open B
46	IM	Nitin S.	2395	IND	½	1	½	0	1	0	½	0	½	4,0	89	Open B
51	IM	Krishna Teja N	2391	IND	½	½	1	0	½	1	0	1	0	4,5	61	Open B
53		Sammed Jaykumar Shete	2387	IND	½	1	1	½	½	0	1	1	½	6,0	6	Open B
60	CM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2376	IND	½	0	0	1	1	½	½	1	0	4,5	71	Open B
72		Sankalp Gupta	2345	IND	0	½	½	1	0	1	½	½	0	4,0	76	Open B
79		Koustav Chatterjee	2332	IND	1	1	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	4,5	56	Open B
82	CM	Aronyak Ghosh	2324	IND	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	1	5,0	50	Open B
85	FM	Dixit Nikhil	2318	IND	0	½	½	½	1	½	0	0	1	4,0	81	Open B
86	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2317	IND	½	½	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	4,0	91	Open B
88	IM	Padmini Rout	2315	IND	½	½	0	1	½	½	1	1	1	6,0	13	Open B
92		Ajay Karthikeyan	2298	IND	½	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	½	4,0	77	Open B
98	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2268	IND	0	½	½	1	½	0	0	0	1	3,5	101	Open B
109		Bhambure Shantanu	2220	IND	½	0	1	0	1	½	½	0	1	4,5	64	Open B
110	FM	Srihari L R	2211	IND	½	0	1	½	1	1	0	½	½	5,0	52	Open B
114	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2185	IND	0	½	0	1	0	1	1	0	1	4,5	59	Open B
121		Jaeel Atharva	2145	IND	½	0	½	½	0	½	0	0	0	2,0	124	Open B
122	WIM	Pujari Rucha	2133	IND	0	1	0	0	1	½	½	1	0	4,0	79	Open B
123	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2127	IND	0	0	½	1	1	1	0	0	0	3,5	95	Open B
124	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2126	IND	½	1	1	0	½	0	1	½	0	4,5	63	Open B
125		Rakshitta Ravi	2105	IND	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	0	0,5	126	Open B
126	WIM	Gagare Shalmali	2026	IND	0	0	0	½	1	0	0	½	½	2,5	119	Open B

Standings in C group

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1
1	1	IM	Iljin Timofey		UKR	2298	7,5	52,0
2	31	FM	Bayarmandakh Balgan		MGL	2153	7,0	52,5
3	9		Gharagyozyan Artur		ARM	2267	7,0	51,0
4	23		Lukin Elisha	U18	ISR	2200	7,0	48,5
5	3	FM	Toropov Pavel		RUS	2295	6,5	51,5
	21		Mamatov Melis		KGZ	2203	6,5	51,5
7	4	FM	Volkov Sergei		RUS	2293	6,5	47,5
8	22	FM	Yuferev Oleg		RUS	2201	6,5	45,0
9	12	WIM	Utiatskaja Irina		RUS	2246	6,5	43,5
10	7		Chinguun Sumiya	U18	MGL	2286	6,0	52,0
11	15	FM	Rozanov Pavel B.		RUS	2226	6,0	49,0
12	2	FM	Babikov Ivan		RUS	2295	6,0	47,0
13	39	WFM	Loskutova Viktoriya	U18	RUS	2082	6,0	45,0
14	18	IM	Chudinovskikh Alexander M	S60	RUS	2210	6,0	44,0
15	11	FM	Erzhanov Arman		KAZ	2261	6,0	43,5
16	45	WFM	Grigorieva Yulia	U18	RUS	2062	6,0	43,0
17	32		Zakarzhaev Muslim		RUS	2148	6,0	42,5
18	46	CM	Wang Zideng	U18	CHN	2060	6,0	42,0
19	16		Ning Kaiyu	U18	CHN	2224	5,5	48,0
20	19	IM	Malinin Yuri		RUS	2210	5,5	46,0
	34	WIM	Pujari Rucha		IND	2133	5,5	46,0

Overview of performance of Indians in C group

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts.	Rk.	Group
13		Pranavananda V	2234	IND	1	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	5,0	32	Open C
34	WIM	Pujari Rucha	2133	IND	1	0	1	½	0	½	1	1	½	5,5	21	Open C
40	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	2076	IND	1	0	1	0	1	½	1	½	0	5,0	35	Open C
48		Priyanka K	2033	IND	1	0	1	0	1	½	½	0	½	4,5	50	Open C
51		Sanskriti Goyal	2006	IND	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	½	0	3,5	69	Open C
59	WCM	Isha Sharma	1935	IND	0	1	1	1	½	½	0	0	1	5,0	30	Open C
60		Ghosh Samriddhaa	1913	IND	0	1	0	1	½	1	0	1	1	5,5	29	Open C
69		Varsha Ramesh	1831	IND	0	1	0	0	1	1	½	0	1	4,5	56	Open C
74		Sunyuktha C M N	1804	IND	0	1	1	½	0	1	0	0	1	4,5	49	Open C

57 Indians played at the Aeroflot Open 2019. 33 of them were sponsored by Indian Government who had sanctioned a budget of Rs.40 lakh for this trip. It surely turned out to be fruitful one as five Indians could make their norms and many of them gained experience of playing against strong opposition.

Aeroflot Blitz:

One of the most exciting events at the Aeroflot Open is the Aeroflot blitz. After the last classical round, an entire day is dedicated to the blitz tournament, which is a battle of stamina and nerves. Players have to play nine rounds, but each round has two games of 3'+2". You play one game with one colour and when it is over, you just change places with your opponent and start the second game! Apart from participants of the Aeroflot Open, you also have strong local players like Karjakin, Grischuk, Tomashevsky who come specially to play the Aeroflot Blitz! This year Karjakin won the tournament with a score of 14.5/18. The best performing Indian was Nihal Sarin, followed by Praggnanandhaa, Narayanan S.L, Surya Sekhar Ganguly and Karthikeyan Murali.

Sergey Karjakin won the strong Aeroflot Blitz, winning 5,000 euros. Check the complete standings here.

Nihal Sarin was the best performing India. He finished 14th and beat Alireza Firouzja and Idani Pouya in their individual encounter

Praggnanandhaa finished 17th and beat Alekseenko, Grachev and Fedoseev

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