39 Indians will travel to Aeroflot Open 2018 fully sponsored by the Government

by Sagar Shah - 08/02/2018

A lot of positive developments have taken place in Indian chess under the leadership of Bharat Singh Chauhan as the Secretary of AICF. One such phenomenal news is the sanction of a fully sponsored trip for 39 Indians to the Aeroflot Open 2018 by the Government of India. It includes our male and female team in senior, junior and sub-junior section. Along with them five managers will also be sent at Government cost. Aeroflot Open is one of the best tournaments in the world of chess. This will be an amazing experience for all our players, especially because we will have the top seed as an Indian. Guess who?

One of the major hurdles that chess players all over India face is the lack of exposure. It's true that Indian players are extremely talented and the circuits in India are pretty strong, but every once in a while it is important to play in foreign conditions, get acquainted to different styles of play and different regions with their cuisines, customs and climate! But whenever someone plans a trip like this, the first question that comes to mind is finance. Many of the young talents in our country are unable to go to International events because of financial constraints.

The All India Chess Federation under the leadership of Bharat Singh Chauhan has made a brilliant move. It has reinstated the foreign exposure trips that used to happen a few years ago in India. This year 35 of our players along with four officials have been selected for this exposure trip at the full cost of Government!

The letter received by AICF from the Government of India. The players listed here are the winners of the national championships in 2016.

We spoke to Bharat Singh Chauhan after this wonderful news and he said, "We had chosen the Gibraltar Masters to send our team. However, the organizer of Gibraltar was not so keen on so many Indians coming to his event and hence we chose the Aeroflot Open. It is one of the strongest tournaments in the world and will provide good exposure for our players. I would like to especially thank our sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Sports Authority of India for making this possible. It is a great moment for Indian chess that our Government is supporting the sport."

All the costs of the players will be covered. This includes the cost of local travel, international travel, lodging, boarding, visa and travel insurance. One of the officials will be ChessBase India's very own Niklesh Jain. He will ensure that our readers get excellent coverage of the event.

Positive steps in Indian chess happening thanks to the efforts of Bharat Singh Chauhan

The Aeroflot Open begins on the 20th of February 2018. We asked Bharat Singh about the time paucity for the visas to be issued to the players, to which the Secretary was quite positive, "We are in talks with the Aeroflot organizer and everything will be done in time."

Message by Bharat Singh Chauhan informing about this positive development

The Cosmos Hotel which is one of the biggest Hotel's in Russia

Cozy and comfortable rooms at the Hotel

Vidit Gujrathi will be the top seed at this prestigious event

Vidit Gujrathi, with a rating of 2723, will be the top seed of the event

Vidit won the Tata Steel Challengers and qualified for the Masters in 2019. If he wins the Aeroflot he will get direct entry into the closed super tournament in Dortmund.

Confirmed list of players in the A group (2550+)

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg
1	GM	Andreikin Dmitry	4158814	RUS	2712
2	GM	Mamedov Rauf	13401653	AZE	2709
3	GM	Matlakov Maxim	4168003	RUS	2709
4	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	24101605	RUS	2697
5	GM	Inarkiev Ernesto	4162722	RUS	2684
6	GM	Najer Evgeniy	4118987	RUS	2683
7	GM	Kamsky Gata	2000024	USA	2677
8	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	13300881	ARM	2677
9	GM	Motylev Alexander	4121830	RUS	2673
10	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	5004985	IND	2671
11	GM	Piorun Kacper	1130420	POL	2659
12	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	4189302	RUS	2652
13	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	5021596	IND	2646
14	GM	Bluebaum Matthias	24651516	GER	2635
15	GM	Mareco Sandro	112275	ARG	2632
16	GM	Gordievsky Dmitry	24112798	RUS	2630
17	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	4113403	RUS	2629
18	GM	Romanov Evgeny	4148843	RUS	2621
19	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	13702661	KAZ	2614
20	GM	Indjic Aleksandar	911925	SRB	2612

Confirmed list of players for B group (2550-2300)

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg
1	GM	Mozharov Mikhail	4189825	RUS	2539
2	GM	Xu Yinglun	8604940	CHN	2538
3	IM	Moskalenko Alexander	4155351	RUS	2533
4	IM	Jarmula Lukasz	1160664	POL	2498
5	GM	Gasanov Eldar	14104466	UKR	2490
6	IM	Xu Yi	8605564	CHN	2490
7	IM	Belyakov Bogdan	24104795	RUS	2486
8	IM	Flom Gabriel	621650	FRA	2485
9	GM	Potapov Pavel	4169786	RUS	2479
10	GM	Rogozenco Dorian	1210319	ROU	2479
11	GM	Vorotnikov Vladislav V	4103009	RUS	2472
12	IM	Zakhartsov Vladimir	4145097	RUS	2472
13	GM	Kotanjian Tigran	13301250	ARM	2466
14	IM	Seliverstov Vladimir	4192036	RUS	2464
15	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim	24126454	RUS	2459
16	GM	Gavrilov Alexei	4104358	RUS	2458
17	IM	Raja Harshit	5089000	IND	2448
18	IM	Harsha Bharathakoti	5078776	IND	2443
19		Li Yankai	8609357	CHN	2434
20	GM	Balashov Yuri S	4100263	RUS	2431

Confirmed list of players for C group:

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg
1	FM	Apryshko Gleb	24131792	RUS	2296
2	FM	Volkov Sergei	4176588	RUS	2296
3		Pranav V	25060783	IND	2284
4	FM	Kuznetsov Mikhail V.	4194900	RUS	2278
5		Maltsevskaya Aleksandra	24174041	RUS	2274
6		Zhao Chenxi	8611513	CHN	2271
7		Galakhov Sergey	4106598	RUS	2267
8	FM	Denishev Marat	24131563	RUS	2257
9		Egorov Pavel	24122637	RUS	2256
10	WFM	Zherebtsova Alexandra	24129518	RUS	2254
11	FM	Vlassow Valentin	4164008	RUS	2251
12	FM	Yuferev Oleg	4131720	RUS	2247
13	FM	Rozanov Pavel B.	4129270	RUS	2245
14	IM	Malinin Yuri	4131975	RUS	2235
15		Kesidis Odyseas	4221796	GRE	2234
16	FM	Babikov Ivan	4161106	RUS	2225
17	WFM	Eryshkanova Anastasiya	24119059	RUS	2222
18		Kulkarni Chinmay	5023513	IND	2215
19	CM	Aditya Mittal	35042025	IND	2206
20		Manush Shah	5040680	IND	2202

Check out the players' list of Group A