Anton Korobov leads Aeroflot Open after round 6

Anton Korobov leads the Aeroflot Open after six rounds. The Ukrainian grandmaster won four games and drew two, and is half a point ahead of his compatriot Pavel Eljanov, Mateusz Bartel of Poland and Fabiano Caruana of Italy.

Anton Korobov in round 6, with Fabiano Caruana in the background and also chief arbiter Geurt Gijssen | Photo © Russian Chess Federation

In this report we'll give an update of the 11th Aeroflot Open in Moscow, where thus far six rounds have been played. In our previous report we covered the first three rounds. 

At the moment Anton Korobov is in sole lead with 5/6. The 26-year-old Ukrainian hasn't been mentioned a lot here at ChessVibes, but every now and then he scores a good result. His career's best performance so far was winning the strong Nakhchivan Open in Azerbaijan last year, where Korobov finished half a point ahead of Zoltan Almasi (Hungary), Paco Vallejo (Spain), Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands) and Alexander Ipatov (Spain).

At the Aeroflot Open the current tournament leader won an excellent game in round 4 against top seed Fabiano Caruana, who tried the Volga/Benkö Gambit.

[Event "11th Aeroflot Open A"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.02.10"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Korobov, Anton"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r2q2k1/3bppbp/3p1np1/3P4/Nr3PP1/1P2Q2P/4PBB1/2RR2K1 w - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2012.02.07"]

27. Rc6 $5 Rab8 ({Also the immediate} 27... Bxc6 28. dxc6 {gives White
excellent compensation. A sample line goes} Ne8 29. Nb6 Rb8 30. Nd5 Rxb3 31.
Qa7 e6 32. c7 Nxc7 33. Nxc7 Rb1 34. Rxb1 Rxb1+ 35. Kh2 d5) 28. Rd3 Bxc6 29.
dxc6 Qc7 30. Be1 R4b5 31. Nc3 Ra5 $6 {Giving back the exchange.} ({The logical
} 31... Rxb3 {looks dangerous} 32. g5 Ne8 33. Nd5 Rxd3 34. exd3 Qd8 35. Nxe7+
Kf8 36. Nd5 Nc7 37. Qa7 {but both} Nb5 ({and} 37... Rb1 {are playable.})) 32.
g5 Nh5 33. Nd5 Rxd5 34. Bxd5 e6 35. Bf3 {White's extra pawn is more than
healthy now.} Rb5 36. Bc3 e5 (36... Rxb3 $5 37. Bxh5 Rb1+ 38. Kf2 Bxc3 39. Rxc3
gxh5) 37. fxe5 Bxe5 38. Bxe5 Rxe5 39. Qd2 Qa7+ 40. Kg2 Qe7 41. h4 d5 42. b4 Qd6
43. b5 Re6 44. Bxh5 gxh5 45. Rxd5 Rxe2+ 46. Qxe2 Qxd5+ 47. Kg3 Qd6+ 48. Kf3
Qd5+ 49. Kf4 Qd6+ 50. Ke4 Qe6+ 51. Kd3 1-0

Two times winner Le Quang Liem dropped another half point in a sharp but short encounter with Parimarjan Negi of India.

[Event "11th Aeroflot Open A"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.02.10"]
[Round "4.6"]
[White "Negi, Parimarjan"]
[Black "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2641"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2rr2k1/pp1b1ppp/1q2p3/4P3/nn1pNPP1/1P1B1N2/P1P4P/1K1RQ1R1 w - - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "17"]
[EventDate "2012.02.07"]

19. Qh4 Nxd3 20. Nfg5 h6 21. Nf6+ gxf6 (21... Kf8 $2 22. Ngh7+ Ke7 23. Ng8+)
22. Qxh6 fxg5 23. Qxg5+ Kf8 24. Qh6+ Ke8 25. Qh8+ Ke7 26. Qf6+ Ke8 27. Qh8+
1/2-1/2

The following game ended in a draw but was extremely interesting:

[Event "11th Aeroflot Open A"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.02.10"]
[Round "4.18"]
[White "Iordachescu, Viorel"]
[Black "Sethuraman, S.P."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C92"]
[WhiteElo "2651"]
[BlackElo "2529"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2012.02.07"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. d5 Nb8 13. Nf1 Nbd7 14. Ng3 Nc5 15.
Bc2 c6 16. dxc6 Bxc6 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Nh2 Rad8 20. Ng4 Qe6 21. b4
Na4 22. Bb3 d5 23. Qc1 Qc8 24. Qe3 Nb2 25. Nh5 Re6 26. Qg3 Rg6 27. f4 exf4 28.
Nxf4 Rg5 29. exd5 Bb7 30. Re5 Qc7 31. Nxh6+ gxh6 32. Rxg5+ hxg5 33. Qxg5+ Kh8
34. Qh4+ Kg8 35. Nh5 Qb6+ 36. Kh1 Rd6 37. Rf1 Rh6 38. Bc2 Qe3 39. Qg4+ Kh8 40.
Qf5 Qe8 41. Be4 Nc4 42. Qxf7 Qxf7 43. Rxf7 Kg8 44. Bg6 Rxg6 45. Rxb7 Bd6 46. g4
Be5 47. Kg2 Rd6 48. g5 Rxd5 49. Ra7 Bxc3 50. Ra8+ Kh7 51. Ra7+ Kg8 52. Ra8+ Kh7
53. Ra7+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

In the next game we see two generations of Armenian chess players facing each other.

[Event "11th Aeroflot Open A"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.02.10"]
[Round "4.13"]
[White "Melkumyan, Hrant"]
[Black "Akopian, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E54"]
[WhiteElo "2620"]
[BlackElo "2685"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2012.02.07"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4
cxd4 9. exd4 b6 10. Qe2 Bb7 11. Rd1 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nbd7 13. Bd3 Qc7 14. c4 Rfe8
15. Bb2 Qf4 16. Qe3 Nh5 17. Ng5 Ndf6 18. Nh3 Qxe3 19. fxe3 Ne4 20. a4 f5 21. a5
Nhf6 22. Ra3 Ng4 23. Be2 bxa5 24. Nf4 Rab8 25. Ba1 a4 26. h3 e5 27. Nd5 Nh6 28.
dxe5 Bc6 29. Nc7 Re7 30. Nb5 a6 31. Nd4 Be8 32. e6 Reb7 33. Bd3 Nc5 34. Bc2 Rb4
35. Rc3 Kf8 36. Rf1 Ke7 37. Bxf5 Nxf5 38. Nxf5+ Kxe6 39. Nxg7+ Kd7 40. Rcc1 Bg6
41. Rcd1+ Kc6 42. Be5 Rc8 43. Nf5 Bxf5 44. Rd6+ Kb7 45. Rxf5 a3 46. Rh6 Ka8 47.
Rxh7 Rb7 48. Rxb7 Kxb7 49. Rf1 a2 50. Ra1 Nd3 51. Bd6 Rc6 52. Ba3 Rxc4 53. Rxa2
Ra4 54. Kf1 a5 55. Ra1 Nb4 56. Ke2 Nc2 57. Rb1+ Ka6 58. Bc5 Rc4 59. Rb6+ Ka7
60. Rc6+ Kb7 61. Kd3 Kxc6 62. Kxc4 Ne1 63. g4 Nf3 64. Bd4 Kd6 65. Kb5 Kd5 66.
Kxa5 Ke4 67. Kb6 Nh4 68. Kc5 Kf3 69. Kd5 Kg3 70. Bf6 Ng2 71. g5 Nxe3+ 72. Ke6
Ng2 73. Be5+ 1-0

In the next game we have Melkumyan again, whose name you might remember from our recent Bundesliga report, where we pointed out that Levon Aronian allowed him to play board 1 for Berlin. After the example below, the theoreticians should perhaps dub this h4+g4 stuff the 'Armenian Approach' of the Queen's Gambit Declined (although it was Botvinnik who started the whole thing half a century ago!):

[Event "11th Aeroflot Open A"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.02.11"]
[Round "5.5"]
[White "Melkumyan, Hrant"]
[Black "Khismatullin, Denis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D53"]
[WhiteElo "2620"]
[BlackElo "2664"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2012.02.07"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nf3 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1
c6 9. h4 Nd7 10. g4 Re8 11. g5 hxg5 12. hxg5 Bxg5 13. Nxg5 Qxg5 14. f4 Qg3+ 15.
Kd2 Nf6 16. Qe2 Qg6 17. Qh2 Qh6 18. Qg2 Qg6 19. Qh3 Qh7 20. Qf3 Ne4+ 21. Kc2
Qf5 22. Bd3 g6 23. Rcg1 Kf8 24. Rh7 Rd8 25. Qh1 Bd7 26. Bxe4 dxe4 27. Rg5 1-0

Fabiano Caruana bounced back with a nice, tactical ending:

[Event "11th Aeroflot Open A"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.02.11"]
[Round "5.7"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2638"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1r2n3/4npp1/2rpk3/3Np2p/p1N1P2P/1P1R1P2/2P3P1/2KR4 w - - 0 35"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2012.02.07"]

35. Nc7+ $1 Kd7 ({Both} 35... Rxc7 {and}) (35... Nxc7 {allow mate in two.}) 36.
Nxe8 Kxe8 37. Nxd6+ Kf8 38. bxa4 Rb4 39. Nb5 Ng6 40. Rd8+ Ke7 41. R1d7+ Kf6 42.
Nc7 Nf4 43. g3 Ne2+ 44. Kd2 Rd4+ 45. Rxd4 Nxd4 46. Nd5+ Ke6 47. c3 Nxf3+ 48.
Ke2 Nh2 49. Rb8 Kd6 50. a5 Kc5 51. Nb4 1-0

Le Quang Liem had to say goodbye to his dream of winning the tournament for the third consecutive time. He lost against 46-year old, former FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman:

[Event "11th Aeroflot Open A"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.02.11"]
[Round "5.8"]
[White "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Black "Khalifman, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2632"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2012.02.07"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Qc2 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. O-O
Bg4 9. Ne5 Be6 10. c5 Nbd7 11. Nxd7 Bxd7 12. Bd2 Ng4 13. f4 Nh6 14. Qb3 Rb8 15.
h3 Kh8 16. Na4 f6 17. Nb6 Bf5 18. g4 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Nf7 20. Kg2 e5 21. dxe5 fxe5
22. Bc3 Qe7 23. b4 Rbe8 24. Rae1 Kg8 25. a3 g5 26. fxe5 Nxe5 27. Bxe5 Rxf1 28.
Rxf1 Qxe5 29. Rf3 Qb2+ 30. Rf2 Qe5 31. Rf3 Qb2+ 32. Rf2 Qc3 33. Qxc3 Bxc3 34.
Kf3 Rf8+ 35. Ke2 Rxf2+ 36. Kxf2 Bb2 37. e4 Bxa3 38. exd5 Bxb4 39. Na4 cxd5 40.
Ke3 Kf7 41. Kd4 Ke6 42. Nb6 Be1 43. Nxd5 Bf2+ 44. Kc4 Ke5 45. Ne7 b5+ 46. cxb6
Bxb6 47. Nd5 Ba5 48. Ne7 Kf4 49. Nd5+ Kg3 50. Nf6 Kxh3 51. Nxh7 Kxg4 0-1

Somehow we always keep an eye on Baadur Jobava's games. The Georgian GM never shies away from sharp positions:

[Event "11th Aeroflot Open A"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.02.11"]
[Round "5.20"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Ponkratov, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A69"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2012.02.07"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 d6 6. f4 e6 7. Nf3 exd5 8. cxd5
O-O 9. Be2 Re8 10. e5 dxe5 11. fxe5 Ng4 12. e6 fxe6 13. Bg5 Qb6 14. Qd2 c4 15.
O-O-O exd5 16. Nxd5 Qxb2+ 17. Qxb2 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 Rxe2+ 19. Kc3 Nc6 20. Rhe1
Rxe1 21. Rxe1 Bf5 22. h3 Nf2 23. Bh6 Nd3 24. Ng5 Nce5 25. Rf1 b5 26. g4 b4+ 27.
Kd4 Rd8 28. gxf5 b3 29. axb3 cxb3 30. fxg6 hxg6 31. Ke4 1-0

In the 6th round Korobov again showed how strong he his with 1.d4.

[Event "Aeroflot Open 2012"]
[Site "Moscow/Russia"]
[Date "2012.02.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Korobov, Anton"]
[Black "Rodshtein, Maxim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2634"]
[Annotator "Robot 1"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O b6 11. Qd2 e6 12. Rad1 Bb7 13. Bh6 Rc8 14. Bxg7 Kxg7
15. Rfe1 Qd6 16. Qe3 Rfd8 17. h4 Na5 18. Bb3 Qe7 19. h5 Qh4 20. Ng3 cxd4 21.
cxd4 Nc4 22. Bxc4 Rxc4 23. d5 Qe7 24. h6+ Kg8 25. dxe6 fxe6 26. Rxd8+ Qxd8 27.
Qb3 Qc7 28. Rd1 Kf7 29. Qf3+ Ke7 30. Qe3 Rc5 31. Ne2 e5 32. Kh2 Kf6 33. Qf3+
Ke7 34. Ng1 Rc6 (34... Rc6 35. Nh3 Rf6 36. Qb3 $18) 1-0

Caruana usually plays 1.e4 but he used 1.d4 (well, a 1.d4 opening) to beat Melkumyan:

[Event "Aeroflot Open 2012"]
[Site "Moscow/Russia"]
[Date "2012.02.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Melkumyan, Hrant"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2620"]
[Annotator "Robot 1"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. g4 Be6 8. h4
Nd7 9. g5 h6 10. g6 fxg6 $146 (10... Ngf6 11. gxf7+ Bxf7 12. Bd3 Nh5 13. Be5
O-O 14. Qg4 Nhf6 15. Qg3 Nh5 16. Qg4 Nhf6 17. Qg3 Nh5 {1/2-1/2 Morozevich,A
(2762)-Giri,A (2714)/Reggio Emilia 2012}) 11. Bd3 Nf8 12. Nf3 Bf5 13. Ne5 Nf6
14. Rg1 Ne4 15. Bxe4 Bxe4 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. Qb3 Qa5+ 18. Kf1 Qb5+ 19. Qxb5 cxb5
20. Rc1 Bxh4 21. Bh2 Bd8 22. Rg4 Nd7 23. Rxg6 Bf6 24. Rc7 Nf8 25. Rg4 Ne6 26.
Rxb7 O-O 27. Nd7 Rf7 28. Rxe4 Rd8 29. Nxf6+ Rxf6 30. Rxa7 Rc8 31. d5 Ng5 32.
Ree7 Rc1+ 33. Kg2 Rg6 34. Bg3 h5 35. d6 Rd1 36. d7 Kh7 37. Ra8 h4 38. d8=Q Rxd8
39. Rxd8 hxg3 40. f4 1-0

Krishnan Sasikiran went all or nothing against Mateusz Bartel, and in the end he got nothing:

[Event "Aeroflot Open 2012"]
[Site "Moscow/Russia"]
[Date "2012.02.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Sasikiran, Krishnan"]
[Black "Bartel, Mateusz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2700"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[Annotator "Robot 1"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

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. O-O 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

Le Quang Liem is completely out of form:

[Event "Aeroflot Open 2012"]
[Site "Moscow/Russia"]
[Date "2012.02.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Robson, Ray"]
[Black "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2596"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "Robot 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r2k/6bp/1p4p1/p7/P2p1P2/1B1P1P2/1PPB3P/5K2 b - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

{It's hard to believe that Black will lose this ending.} 27... Bh6 28. Kf2 Bf8
29. Bd5 Bd6 30. c3 Rf8 31. cxd4 Bxf4 32. Bc3 Bxh2 33. Be6 h5 34. d5+ Kh7 35. b4
b5 36. bxa5 bxa4 37. Bb4 Rb8 38. Ba3 Rb3 $2 (38... Bc7 39. a6 Ra8 {should win.}
) 39. a6 $1 Rb5 40. d6 Ra5 $2 (40... Bxd6 41. Bxd6 Ra5 {should end in a draw.})
41. d7 Bc7 42. Bc4 Bb6+ 43. Kf1 h4 44. Bb4 1-0

If we look at the standings, we see more players who are having problems in this strong group, for instance Mohamad Al-Modiahki (1/6), Boris Savchenko (1.5/6) and Gadir Guseinov (2/6).

The Aeroflot Open runs until February 15th, and has three rating groups. The first prize in group A, for players stronger than 2549 Elo, is € 20,000.

Aeroflot Open 2012 | Group A | Round 6 standings