Le Quang Liem again going strong at Aeroflot

Last year's winner Le Quang Liem is doing well again at the strong Aeroflot Open in Moscow. The Vietnamese grandmaster is the only player on 5 points out of 6 games, which includes a crushing win againt top seed Gata Kamsky. There are three more rounds to go in Moscow.

General info

The 10th Aeroflot Open chess festival takes place February 7-18, 2011 in the capital of Russia. Venue is the Izmailovo hotel in eastern Moscow. The organizers are the "Aeroflot-Russian Airlines", the Association of Chess Federations and the Russian Chess Federation.

Three sections play nine rounds Swiss for a a total prizefund of 160,000 Euros, including the prizes for the qualifier for the World Blitz Championship on February 17th.

• A tournament, rating >2550, first prize 20,000 Euros, top seeded players GMs Kamsky, Movsesian, Jakovenko, Vachier-Lagrave, Vitiugov (live here)
• B tournament, rating 2300-2549, first prize 10,000 Euros, top seeded players GMs Lenderman, Shaposhnikov, Kunin, Ulibin, Gabrielian.
• C tournament, rating <2300, first prize 3,500 Euros, top seeded players WIM Kharashuta, WGM Burtasova.
• Qualifier for the World Blitz Championship, first prize 10,000 Euros.

You might remember that last year's Aeroflot was won by Le Quang Liem. As our co-editor Colin McGourty pointed out, in June 2010 Alexander Khalifman said about Le in his KC-Conference at Crestbook:

What a school is and what its presence or absence means is something that you can understand very well if you analyze with Asian chess players. In February and March I worked a little bit with Le Quang Liem, and I will say honestly that sometimes my eyes popped out of my head. He is also a very talented boy (maybe not a Carlsen, but definitely out of the ordinary), and he is trying very hard to grow. But at the moment all he does is calculate and calculate variations. He calculates very well, by the way. But a school is, in my opinion, what you would call a basis of positional principles, playing from general considerations and this sort of thing. It’s very hard to learn it even from good books. In order to know which pieces should go where and when to exchange what, that is when it is very important to work with a qualified trainer.

By winning Aeroflot Le had qualified for the Dortmund super-tournament, where in July 2010 he finished second, behind Ruslan Ponomariov. After that the Vietnamese grandmaster had some ups and downs, but this week in Moscow things are going very well again. He started with 4/4, beating Zhigalko, Xiu Deshun, Lenic and Kamky, and then drew with Tomashevsky and Kasimdzhanov.

Aeroflot 2011 | Tournament A | Standings after 6 rounds

Rank	Name	Score	Fed.	M/F	Rating	TPR	W-We	Rat-HiLo
1	GM Le, Quang Liem	5.0	VIE	M	2664	2905	+1.74	2638.8
2	GM Khismatullin, Denis	4.5	RUS	M	2649	2841	+1.50	2655.3
3	GM Kobalia, Mikhail	4.5	RUS	M	2666	2827	+1.24	2639.0
4	GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny	4.5	RUS	M	2695	2809	+0.86	2618.3
5	GM Vitiugov, Nikita	4.5	RUS	M	2709	2808	+0.73	2616.0
6	GM Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	4.5	UZB	M	2681	2768	+0.66	2582.3
7	GM Salgado Lopez, Ivan	4.0	ESP	M	2626	2780	+1.25	2678.0
8	FM Bukavshin, Ivan	4.0	RUS	M	2458	2784	+2.54	2660.0
9	GM Jakovenko, Dmitry	4.0	RUS	M	2718	2761	+0.33	2638.0
10	GM Yu, Yangyi	4.0	CHN	M	2607	2744	+1.10	2622.5
11	GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	4.0	FRA	M	2715	2737	+0.16	2612.8
12	GM Mamedov, Rauf	4.0	AZE	M	2660	2730	+0.56	2601.5
13	GM Sandipan, Chanda	4.0	IND	M	2641	2727	+0.69	2594.3
14	GM Zhou, Jianchao	4.0	CHN	M	2655	2717	+0.51	2590.3
15	GM Sjugirov, Sanan	4.0	RUS	M	2626	2710	+0.69	2585.3
16	GM Ding, Liren	4.0	CHN	M	2628	2720	+0.72	2583.8
17	GM Grachev, Boris	4.0	RUS	M	2660	2688	+0.21	2576.8
18	GM Volokitin, Andrei	4.0	UKR	M	2678	2689	+0.09	2574.5
19	GM Zvjaginsev, Vadim	4.0	RUS	M	2660	2699	+0.31	2567.3
20	GM Cheparinov, Ivan	4.0	BUL	M	2665	2679	+0.11	2553.5
21	GM Petrosian, Tigran L.	3.5	ARM	M	2604	2736	+1.11	2684.3
22	GM Lenic, Luka	3.5	SLO	M	2613	2682	+0.61	2657.3
23	IM Dubov, Daniil	3.5	RUS	M	2459	2706	+1.98	2646.3
24	GM Movsesian, Sergei	3.5	ARM	M	2721	2683	-0.29	2624.8
25	GM Kurnosov, Igor	3.5	RUS	M	2662	2645	-0.11	2584.8
26	GM Rodshtein, Maxim	3.5	ISR	M	2625	2643	+0.20	2584.3
27	GM Andreikin, Dmitry	3.5	RUS	M	2689	2625	-0.48	2581.0
28	GM Motylev, Alexander	3.5	RUS	M	2687	2632	-0.42	2578.5
29	GM Ni, Hua	3.5	CHN	M	2645	2644	+0.04	2570.8
30	GM Khairullin, Ildar	3.5	RUS	M	2640	2625	-0.08	2558.8
31	GM Vuckovic, Bojan	3.5	SRB	M	2623	2612	-0.05	2546.5
32	GM Ragger, Markus	3.5	AUT	M	2615	2597	-0.12	2519.8
33	IM Fedoseev, Vladimir	3.0	RUS	M	2505	2655	+1.20	2655.3
34	GM Hess, Robert L	3.0	USA	M	2572	2677	+0.84	2674.5
35	GM Shomoev, Anton	3.0	RUS	M	2557	2664	+0.88	2670.5
36	GM Grigoryan, Avetik	3.0	ARM	M	2595	2663	+0.55	2664.0
37	IM Papin, Vasily	3.0	RUS	M	2568	2662	+0.77	2663.8
38	GM Jumabayev, Rinat	3.0	KAZ	M	2555	2656	+0.82	2658.8
39	GM Fier, Alexandr	3.0	BRA	M	2571	2625	+0.45	2653.0
40	GM Kotsur, Pavel	3.0	KAZ	M	2559	2646	+0.70	2647.0
41	GM Kotronias, Vasilios	3.0	GRE	M	2599	2631	+0.27	2643.5
42	GM Kamsky, Gata	3.0	USA	M	2730	2641	-0.73	2642.3
43	GM Felgaer, Ruben	3.0	ARG	M	2585	2624	+0.32	2633.8
44	GM Riazantsev, Alexander	3.0	RUS	M	2689	2629	-0.50	2630.3
45	GM Bocharov, Dmitry	3.0	RUS	M	2605	2610	+0.04	2620.3
46	GM Romanov, Evgeny	3.0	RUS	M	2606	2603	-0.02	2613.0
47	GM Timofeev, Artyom	3.0	RUS	M	2681	2588	-0.77	2586.3
48	GM Edouard, Romain	3.0	FRA	M	2634	2536	-0.79	2547.0
49	GM Deviatkin, Andrei	3.0	RUS	M	2573	2552	-0.18	2544.5
50	GM Predojevic, Borki	3.0	BIH	M	2626	2537	-0.72	2541.5
51	GM Khalifman, Alexander	3.0	RUS	M	2638	2543	-0.78	2541.3
52	GM Lysyj, Igor	3.0	RUS	M	2635	2518	-0.94	2524.3
53	GM Maletin, Pavel	3.0	RUS	M	2621	2500	-0.97	2500.3
54	GM Zhou, Weiqi	2.5	CHN	M	2573	2614	+0.32	2675.3
55	GM Mamedov, Nidjat	2.5	AZE	M	2580	2572	-0.10	2645.5
56	IM Danin, Alexandre	2.5	RUS	M	2538	2581	+0.33	2637.3
57	GM El Debs, Felipe de Cresce	2.5	BRA	M	2499	2578	+0.60	2631.3
58	IM Kovalenko, Igor	2.5	UKR	M	2515	2549	+0.24	2630.5
59	GM Bluvshtein, Mark	2.5	CAN	M	2590	2559	-0.28	2629.3
60	GM Mekhitarian, Krikor Sevag	2.5	BRA	M	2528	2566	+0.29	2625.3
61	FM Nechepurenko, Roman V.	2.5	RUS	M	2546	2565	+0.11	2622.3
62	GM Bologan, Viktor	2.5	MDA	M	2693	2515	-1.45	2586.5
63	GM Zhao, Jun	2.5	CHN	M	2599	2528	-0.63	2580.0
64	GM Korobov, Anton	2.5	UKR	M	2670	2514	-1.31	2578.3
65	GM So, Wesley	2.5	PHI	M	2673	2507	-1.39	2566.0
66	GM Iturrizaga, Eduardo	2.5	VEN	M	2611	2519	-0.79	2553.0
67	GM Savchenko, Boris	2.5	RUS	M	2637	2488	-1.27	2548.8
68	GM Mareco, Sandro	2.5	ARG	M	2627	2491	-1.13	2546.8
69	GM Sutovsky, Emil	2.5	ISR	M	2695	2529	-1.40	2583.8
70	GM Novikov, Stanislav	2.0	RUS	M	2568	2507	-0.48	2652.5
71	GM Vorobiov, Evgeny E.	2.0	RUS	M	2556	2518	-0.28	2637.3
72	GM Alsina Leal, Daniel	2.0	ESP	M	2531	2508	-0.17	2635.0
73	Xiu, Deshun	2.0	CHN	M	2508	2498	-0.07	2625.8
74	GM Oleksienko, Mikhailo	2.0	UKR	M	2552	2499	-0.40	2622.5
75	GM Zhigalko, Andrey	2.0	BLR	M	2566	2479	-0.70	2617.5
76	IM Huschenbeth, Niclas	2.0	GER	M	2450	2488	+0.29	2617.5
77	IM Sethuraman, S.P.	2.0	IND	M	2545	2487	-0.45	2614.3
78	WGM Paikidze, Nazi	2.0	GEO	F	2455	2459	+0.02	2605.3
79	GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2.0	RUS	F	2498	2478	-0.15	2604.8
80	GM Hammer, Jon Ludvig	2.0	NOR	M	2647	2423	-1.81	2550.8
81	IM Geller, Jakov	1.5	RUS	M	2544	2432	-0.83	2627.0
82	WGM Ju, Wenjun	1.5	CHN	F	2514	2430	-0.62	2624.8
83	GM Roussel-Roozmon, Thomas	1.5	CAN	M	2500	2426	-0.54	2623.0
84	WGM Pogonina, Natalija	1.5	RUS	F	2472	2374	-0.73	2580.8
85	IM Khader, Sami	1.0	JOR	M	2450	2260	-1.32	2532.5
86	GM Vocaturo, Daniele	0.5	ITA	M	2570	2140	-2.73	2531.8

Today's top pairings are Kobalia-Le Quang Liem, Kasimdzhanov-Vitiugov, Tomashevsky-Khismatullin, Zhou Jianchao-Jakovenko and Vachier-Lagrave-Sandipan. Top seed and World Championship Candidate Gata Kamsky lost his second game in round 6 to Chinese talent Ding Liren. All the way down the table we find the winner of the Tata Steel Grandmaster Group C, Daniele Vocaturo. The Italian scored 0.5/6.

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