Aeroflot: report round 5

With some delay we now publish Manuel’s report on the fifth round of the Aeroflot Open.

It is always interesting to see the players analyze after the games. Some players find it hard after they have lost, others want to justify their play. After Indian GM Sasikiran had resigned against Kazakstan GM Sadvakasov they went off to the analysis room together. The Indian GM had a big advantage during the game but in the time scramble lost his way. They seemed like two old friends talking together, similar ages and were laughing at their own mistakes afterwards. I am sure many GM’s could not keep up their good humour as much as the affable “Sasi�.

One of the larger groups of one country that can be found in the analysis room are the Armenians. One of their obvious strengths is their unity as a group. Seated around are heavyweights like Akopian and Sargissian with the older heads like Minisian and Anastasian. Together with assorted younger players they go through their own games from the day and perform a “show and tell�. Armenian chess has always been strong but with their winning of the recent Turin Olympiad and players like Aronian and Sargissian on the rise the future looks good for the next generation.

In the fifth round the early leader Russian GM Tomashevsky who had 4/4 (!) was beaten by Stanislav Novikov. In years gone past it would be Igor Novikov I would be talking about but this is a young 21 year old. He has only been playing professionally for 3 years but he is clearly another name to mark down. One of the unusual aspects of the Aeroflot Open is the huge number of virtually unknown players who are playing in the tournament. The advantages of having such a tournament here in Moscow is that the locals have more chances to match their chess strength versus the visiting grandmasters. Another fact to note is that youth is leading the way at the moment. Although it is good to see wily experienced players like Minisian, Yusupov, Yakovich taking it to the youngsters.

On board 2 Russian Jakovenko defeated fellow Russian GM Bucharov on the white of a Meran Slav. Black seemed to be OK till 32…Bf2 which allowed White to regroup and force a favourable ending. The young 23 year old who learned chess at the age of 3 and was World Under 18 champion has become one of the tournament favourites with his clear positional style.

Now the question is whether young Novikov can hold on to his half point lead. Either way to be on 4.5 out of 5 is quite astonishing! You must remember this is not a normal open tournament as the lower boards still have well-known grandmasters on them.

Although more reports are to be extected, just a quick editorial update: in round 6 all the top boards were drawn, and yesterday the young Novikov lost to Alekseev, who is now leading together with Jakovenko and Tomashevsky (5,5 / 7).

Photos from round 7:

Playing hall

Nepomniachtchi-Drozdovskij

Wang Hao-Yusupov

Efimenko-Iordachescu

Bocharov-Vallejo Pons

Viktor Bologan

Robert Ris

Robin Swinkels