Chess - The Scotsman 16/02/2012

SOVIET UNION or no Soviet Union, Moscow remains one of the world’s greatest chess cities. And Moscow’s behemoth Aeroflot tournament is the strongest and most fiercely competitive open in the world, with a e20,000 (£16,700) first prize and nearly 50 entrants rated above 2600, the level of a high-class grandmaster.

There’s close to one million Elo points playing under the one roof in three tournaments – the top-rated A section having 86 players including 79 GMs.

The player who made the early running amongst this extremely strong field was the US-born rising star Fabiano Caruana of Italy, who at one stage was not only looked a good bet to win the tournament, but in the process also looked set to overtake the US No 1, Hikaru Nakamura as world No 6 in daily live ratings.

But Caruana then suffered a major setback with two quick-fire loses, to find himself relegated to the chasing pack. Another finding the going tough was two-time defending champion Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, who saw his chances of an unprecedented third successive title disappear with three loses.

Going into the final round, there’s an intriguing three-way tie at the top between the Ukrainian duo of Anton Korobov and Pavel Eljianov, alongside Mateuz Bartels of Poland, all on 6/8, a half point ahead of the chasing pack.

K Sasikiran - M Bartel

11th Aeroflot Open A, (6)

Slav Defence

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 c6 4 Qc2 dxc4 5 Qxc4 Nf6 6 Bg5 b5 7 Qc2 Bb7 8 e3 Nbd7 9 Nbd2 a6 10 a4 h6 11 Bxf6 gxf6 12 Be2 Rc8 13 0–0 Be7 14 Rfd1 Qb6 15 e4 c5 16 d5 c4 17 axb5 axb5 18 dxe6 fxe6 19 Nh4 Bc5 20 Bh5+ Kd8 21 Ng6 Bxf2+ 22 Kh1 Rg8 23 Nf3 Bc5 24 Nf4 Ke7 25 Ng6+ Kd8 26 Qd2 Rc7 27 Qxh6 Kc8 28 Nf4 Bxe4 29 Bf7 Rxg2! 30 Kxg2 Bxf3+ 31 Kxf3 Ne5+ 32 Ke2 Nxf7 33 Qg6 Re7 34 Ra8+ Kc7 35 Rf8 Ne5 36 Qxf6 Nd7 37 Rxd7+ Kxd7 38 Ng6 Qb7 39 Ne5+ Kc7 40 Nf3 Qe4+ 41 Kf1 Qd3+ 42 Kg2 Qe2+ 43 Kg3 Bd6+ 0–1