Aeroflot 01+02: pilgrimage to Moscow

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 03/03/2016

Aeroflot has been considered as the strongest Open in the world by default for many years now. There are newcomers in the form of Gibraltars and Qatars, but it is unlikely that anybody can really match the heritage of this annual tournament held in the chill of the Russian capital. They say one's chess education is incomplete without a sojourn in Russia and an army of Indians has made a pilgrimage to the holy city of Moscow. An illustrated report.

Photos by Amruta Mokal

Aeroflot 01+02: pilgrimage to Moscow

With an average rating of 2585, higher than even Qatar Masters's 2529, Aeroflot Open 2016 is right there among the handful of chess events to look forward to. And not just in terms of strength, the tournament carries a tradition so rich that it can be matched only by itself.

No wonder Indians made a beeline to play this tournament. Our absolute top players aren't participating, but we do have a huge contingent in play -- a handful of titled players and also some young turks. The A-category has only 83 players, of which 9 are Indians and 67 of whom are grandmasters.

The leader of the Indian challenge: GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2637) beat GM Alan Pichot (2542)

[Event "Aeroflot Open 2016 A"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2016.03.02"]
[Round "2.22"]
[White "Sasikiran, Krishnan"]
[Black "Pichot, Alan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2637"]
[BlackElo "2542"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2016.03.01"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. dxc5 Qxd1 8.
Rxd1 Bxc5 9. Nbd2 c3 10. bxc3 O-O 11. Nb3 Be7 12. Bb2 Bd7 13. c4 Rfd8 14. Nfd4
Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Bc6 16. Bxc6 bxc6 17. Rd3 Kf8 18. Rad1 Ke8 19. Kg2 Rac8 20. Na5
Rd7 21. Bxf6 Rxd3 22. Rxd3 Bxf6 23. Kf3 Be7 24. Rb3 Bd8 25. Nb7 Be7 26. h3 Rb8
27. g4 Rc8 28. Ke4 Rb8 29. f4 Rc8 30. Kf3 Rb8 31. e4 Kd7 32. Nc5+ Kc8 33. Nd3
Ra8 34. Ne5 Kc7 35. Rd3 Bd6 36. Nxf7 Bxf4 37. Kxf4 Rf8 38. Ke5 Rxf7 39. Kxe6
Rf6+ 40. Ke7 Rf4 41. e5 Rxc4 42. Rd7+ Kb6 43. e6 Ra4 44. Kd8 Rxa2 45. e7 Re2
46. e8=Q Rxe8+ 47. Kxe8 a5 48. Rxg7 1-0

But in the first round, Sasi was held to a draw by seventeen-year-old WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2509) of Russia in a a fairly quiet game with nothing of note.

GM Lalith Babu (2573) arrived with a bag full of Indian food to survive Moscow!

Not sure if the tasty Indian food played any role in this, but Lalith did manage to convince former World Championship candidate Gata Kamsky (2667) to settle for 14-move draw in the first round.

GM Sandipan Chanda (2577) has begun with a pair of golden ducks and would be eager to make amends.

The only Indian apart from Sasi to have reached 1.5/2 in the A-category is GM Shyam Sundar M. (2523), and he has pulled it off in style.

First off, he started with a win over GM Anton Guijarro (2641) of Spain. The game is worth watching for the stylish 18.Ke2 that Shyam employed, continuing to simply crush his opponent. In the second round, he held Russian GM Daniil Dubov (2634).

[Event "Aeroflot Open A 2016"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2016.03.01"]
[Round "1.21"]
[White "Shyam, Sundar M"]
[Black "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "2523"]
[BlackElo "2641"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2016.03.01"]

1. c4 b6 2. Nc3 Bb7 3. e4 e6 4. Nge2 Nf6 5. e5 Ng4 6. d4 Qh4 7. Ng3 Be7 8. h3
Nh6 9. Nge4 Bxe4 10. g3 Bc2 11. Qd2 Qh5 12. Qxc2 Qf3 13. Rg1 Nc6 14. Bg2 Qf5
15. Qd1 Bb4 16. g4 Qg6 17. f4 O-O 18. Ke2 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Kh8 20. Be3 Rae8 21.
Qd3 f5 22. g5 Ng8 23. h4 Rd8 24. d5 Na5 25. Bf3 Ne7 26. h5 Qe8 27. Rad1 Kg8 28.
h6 g6 29. Rd2 d6 30. exd6 Rxd6 31. c5 Rd8 32. c4 e5 33. fxe5 f4 34. Bf2 Nf5 35.
e6 Nb7 36. c6 Nc5 37. Qc3 Qe7 38. Qe5 Na4 39. Rg4 b5 40. Rxf4 bxc4 41. Rxc4 Nb6
42. Rf4 Nc8 43. Bg4 Ncd6 44. Bxf5 Nxf5 45. Bd4 Nxd4+ 46. Rdxd4 Rb8 47. Rxf8+
1-0

An overview of the Indian performance in A-category:

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	Rd.: 01	Rd.: 02	Pts.	Rk.	Group
23	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2637	IND	½	1	1,5	14	Open A
51	GM	Sandipan Chanda	2577	IND	0	0	0,0	82	Open A
54	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2573	IND	½	0	0,5	68	Open A
64	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2523	IND	1	½	1,5	26	Open A
68	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2506	IND	0	0	0,0	85	Open A
74	GM	Debashis Das	2471	IND	½	0	0,5	76	Open A
75	IM	Swayams Mishra	2470	IND	½	½	1,0	56	Open A
85	IM	Karavade Eesha	2395	IND	0	½	0,5	62	Open A
86	CM	Erigaisi Arjun	2379	IND	0	0	0,0	86	Open A

Indians in Moscow!

Overview of the Indian performance in the B-category:

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	Pts.	Rk.	Group
33	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2443	IND	1	1	2,0	7	Open B
41	IM	Sagar Shah	2425	IND	1	0	1,0	46	Open B
51	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2384	IND	½	0	0,5	69	Open B
55	IM	Abhishek Kelkar	2375	IND	1	1	2,0	9	Open B
58		Kulkarni Rakesh	2357	IND	0	1	1,0	52	Open B
66		Raja Harshit	2341	IND	½	0	0,5	74	Open B
67	FM	Praggnanandhaa R	2339	IND	½	0	0,5	75	Open B
71	WFM	Vaishali R	2337	IND	0	½	0,5	62	Open B
80	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2312	IND	0	1	1,0	55	Open B
84		Iniyan P	2295	IND	½	0	0,5	81	Open B
87	IM	Kathmale Sameer	2216	IND	0	1	1,0	59	Open B

GM M.R. Venkatesh has had a forgettable couple of months but the event seems to be a perfect opportunity to get things in order. He has begun with two wins. The only other Indian with 2.0/2 is IM Abhishek Kelkar. It will be very interesting to observe how the brother-sister duo of ten-year-old Praggnanandaa, who registered his first IM-norm in Cannes, and WFM Vaishali R. fare.

Team Maharashtra (from left): Rakesh Kulkarni, Chinmay Kulkarni, Sameer Kathmale -- who is playing in both B and C categories -- and Amruta Mokal

Mary Ann Gomes is playing in the B-category while ChessBase's official photographer Amruta Mokal is playing in the C-category

The lowest seed in the A-category, Arjun Erigaisi, with his mother

Links:

Pairings for Round 03:

Games in PGN: