chessbase india logo

14-year-old Aydin Suleymanli is the champion of Aeroflot Open 2020

by Satanick Mukhuty - 28/02/2020

The Aeroflot Open 2020 ended yesterday in a tie for the first place between four players, namely Aydin Suleymanli, Rinat Jumabayev, Rauf Mamedov, and Aravindh Chithambaram. But of the four the 14-year-old Aydin had the best tie-break score and therefore was declared the rightful champion of the event. The Azerbaijani thus took back home a purse worth €13,875 (approx 11 Lakh rupees). From Aravindh crushing Sanan Sjugirov to Pranesh and Praggnanandhaa scoring nice miniature wins, a lot of action took place on the final day of the tournament. We bring you a comprehensive report from Moscow with games, analyses, photos, and more.

With Aydin Suleymanli, Rinat Jumabayev, Rauf Mamedov, and Aravindh Chithambaram all finishing with 6.5/9 points, the Aeroflot Open 2020 came to conclusion yesterday in a four-way tie. However, by virtue of having the best tie-break score, it was Aydin who was declared the rightful champion at the end of nine rounds of the event. The 14-year-old Azerbaijani not only managed to remain unbeaten but also secure a stupendous performance rating of 2791 taking down some of the favourites in the tournament like Parham Maghsoodloo and Vasif Durarbayli. To the Indian fans, the triple-crown National Champion Aravindh Chithambaram brought much reasons to cheer. After trailing behind the leaders for the last two rounds, he finally managed to catch up by defeating the strong Russian player Sanan Sjugirov. Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan too made the climb atop the leaderboard in the final day of the event by beating Aleksandr Shimanov.

Aydin Suleymanli stunned one and all with his magnificent play. He came with a rating of just 2474 and started off as the 71st seed in the event but beat all odds to clinch the championship ahead of several 2600+ elite GMs | Photo: Lennart Ootes 

No wonder he went back home with a whopping 38.1 gain in Elo points! 

While an Azerbaijani youngster became the champion of the event, it was an Azerbaijani veteran who took away the 2nd runner-up prize. Rauf Mamedov too had an extraordinary time in Moscow. The 31-year-old was in the lead for the better part of the tournament and was easily the favourite to become the sole winner! | Photo: Alina l'Ami 

In their last round encounter, Rauf didn't push his compatriot Aydin too much and happily split the point after 29 moves. The 14-year-old of course profited out of this arrangement and leapfrogged him in the tie-breaks!

Rinat Jumabayev became the runner-up. He defeated Aleksandr Shimanov in the last round with black pieces to climb atop the leaderboard | Photo: chessdailynews 

Things didn't start off ideally for Rinat as he had to suffer a bitter defeat in the hands of the prodigious Javokhir Sindarov in the very first round of the event... 

Aravindh Chithambaram was in his very element in the final round and registered a convincing win against Sanan Sjugirov. This victory enabled him to finish tied for the first place. However, based on tie-break scores, he had to settle for the 3rd runner-up title in the end | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal  

Aravindh Chithambaram - Sanan Sjugirov, Round 9

Aravindh had the white pieces in the last round and chose the 3.cxd5 variation of the Slav defense against his Russian opponent.

The game took a sharp turn when Sanan decided to challenge Aravindh's f5 bishop with 10...Nh5

And here Black had to make a precise choice. In the game 13...Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Nf6 15.f4 allowed White to grab more space on the kingside, can you come up with an improvement?

Once again, something had to be done with White's vigorous expansion on the kingside. The game followed 18...Rc8 19.g5 and the Indian was clearly better thereafter. What would you do if you were in Black's shoes?

For Aravindh next it was all about pushing forward. There was no question of reverse gear.

 

And once the h-file opened up he duly took control of it with his rooks. Black simply had no counterplay.

Sanan could hardly do anything but witness Aravindh's boa constrictor slowly coil around him! Helpless, he captured 34...Nxe5 here, and this allowed 35.Qc5+ forcing a series of exchanges...

The position quickly liquidated into a rook-pawn ending where White was completely winning.

Thus, in the above position the Russian resigned. He really couldn't do anything. The exchange of rooks was practically forced following which the pawn ending would be an obvious victory for White.

Aravindh in action against Sanan | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Praggnanandhaa R. and Pranesh M scored quick 21-move wins in the ninth and final round of Aeroflot Open 2020. Both players had the black pieces and capitalized on early blunders made by their opponents Arseniy Nesterov and Mihail Nikitenko respectively. Finishing with 5.5/9 points, it was an average tournament for Praggnanandhaa who neither gained nor lost any rating points. But Pranesh fulfilled requirements for his final IM norm and thus he has become the the latest International Master of India. The 14-year-old made his first IM norm in Chennai Open 2019 and a GM norm in Delhi open 2020.

Praggnanandhaa had a normal event but Pranesh would certainly return home from Moscow with good memories | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal  

Arseniy Nesterov - Praggnanandhaa R, Round 9

Arseniy carelessly played the move 17.Ne4? and this allowed Pragg to simply capture a couple pawns, first on h3 and then on g3. 

Mihail Nikitenko - Pranesh M, Round 9

Can you see what White missed when he played the move 21.Nc3? Hint: Look at the white queen on e6.

Pranesh performed commendably well securing a performance of 2528 Elo.

Bharath Subramaniyam who had a superb tournament ended things on a good note by defeating Maksim Chigaev in the last round | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Photo Gallery

Adhiban Baskaran missed his chance to finish in the top five. He got a promising position against Mustafa Yilmaz but ended up drawing after a long 110-move battle | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Arjun Erigaisi defeated Indjic Aleksandar in the final round | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Aryan Chopra suffered his first defeat of the tournament in the last round against Vladislav Kovalev | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Vaibhav Suri held Parham Maghsoodloo to a draw in the last round and finished with a score of 5.0/9 | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Sethuraman drew Svane Rasmus and finished with 5.5/9 | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Sandipan Chanda had a forgettable event. He scored just 3.5 points and lost to the young Volodar Murzin in the last round | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Raunak Sadhwani finished off with a victory against Vasif Durarbayli. He scored 5.5 points in nine rounds | Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Norms for Pranav and Rucha in Open B

14-year-old FM Pranav Anand made his third IM norm at Aeroflot Open B and only needs to meet his rating requirements to become the latest IM of the country. Rucha Pujari too performed well in the B category and made her second WGM norm | Photo: Niki Riga and Amruta Mokal

Results of final round

Bo.No.NameFEDRtgPts. ResultPts. NameFEDRtgNo.
111GMMamedov Rauf AZE26436 ½ - ½6 IMSuleymanli Aydin AZE247471
215GMAravindh Chithambaram Vr. IND2630 1 - 0 GMSjugirov Sanan RUS26744
329GMYilmaz Mustafa TUR2607 ½ - ½ GMAdhiban B. IND26546
442GMShimanov Aleksandr RUS2587 0 - 1 GMJumabayev Rinat KAZ26468
517GMParavyan David RUS2629 ½ - ½ GMPetrosyan Manuel ARM259040
65GMSarana Alexey RUS26565 0 - 15 GMAleksandrov Aleksej BLR259238
79GMRakhmanov Aleksandr RUS26455 ½ - ½5 GMSmirin Ilia ISR261526
812GMSethuraman S.P. IND26415 ½ - ½5 GMSvane Rasmus GER260828
919GMDeac Bogdan-Daniel ROU26265 ½ - ½5 GMIdani Pouya IRI257743
1023GMZhou Jianchao CHN26225 0 - 15 GMAsadli Vugar AZE253856
111GMArtemiev Vladislav RUS2728 ½ - ½5 GMAntipov Mikhail Al. RUS256248
122GMSargissian Gabriel ARM2689 1 - 0 GMSargsyan Shant ARM259436
1339GMVaibhav Suri IND2591 ½ - ½ GMMaghsoodloo Parham IRI26743
147GMKovalev Vladislav BLR2650 1 - 0 GMAryan Chopra IND256249
1513GMRiazantsev Alexander RUS2639 1 - 0 GMSychev Klementy RUS256347
1661IMSadhwani Raunak IND2522 1 - 0 GMDurarbayli Vasif AZE262520
1721GMZvjaginsev Vadim RUS2623 ½ - ½ GMKunin Vitaly GER255054
1846GMErigaisi Arjun IND2563 1 - 0 GMIndjic Aleksandar SRB262222
1925GMChigaev Maksim RUS2616 0 - 1 IMBharath Subramaniyam H IND240296
2084FMKardashevskiy Evgeny RUS2437 0 - 1 GMKobalia Mikhail RUS260927

Final Standings

Rk.SNoNameTypsexFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2 
171IMSuleymanli AydinU18AZE24746,552622
28GMJumabayev RinatKAZ26466,552557
311GMMamedov RaufAZE26436,542578
415GMAravindh Chithambaram Vr.IND26306,542558
538GMAleksandrov AleksejBLR25926,052612
656GMAsadli VugarAZE25386,052595
76GMAdhiban B.IND26546,052582
840GMPetrosyan ManuelARM25906,042598
929GMYilmaz MustafaTUR26076,042574
1017GMParavyan DavidRUS26296,042569
1196IMBharath Subramaniyam HU18IND24025,552626
124GMSjugirov SananRUS26745,552605
1343GMIdani PouyaIRI25775,552604
1448GMAntipov Mikhail Al.RUS25625,552546
1531GMPraggnanandhaa RU18IND26025,552510
1627GMKobalia MikhailRUS26095,552485
1712GMSethuraman S.P.IND26415,542588
1861IMSadhwani RaunakU18IND25225,542572
199GMRakhmanov AleksandrRUS26455,542563
202GMSargissian GabrielARM26895,542561

An overview of all Indian performances

SNoNameRtgFED123456789Pts.Rk.Group
6GMAdhiban B.2654IND1½½1½½1½½6,07Open A
12GMSethuraman S.P.2641IND11½½0½½1½5,517Open A
14GMNarayanan.S.L2637IND½½1½0½0003,083Open A
15GMAravindh Chithambaram Vr.2630IND011½1½1½16,54Open A
30GMKarthikeyan Murali2602IND1½½½½½½0½4,559Open A
31GMPraggnanandhaa R2602IND½1½½0½½115,515Open A
34GMPuranik Abhimanyu2597IND½1½½0½½½04,074Open A
39GMVaibhav Suri2591IND½1½½½10½½5,031Open A
46GMErigaisi Arjun2563IND01½1½10½15,525Open A
49GMAryan Chopra2562IND½½½1½½½½04,540Open A
53GMChanda Sandipan2552IND½½½010½½03,577Open A
59GMSengupta Deep2534IND100½½½1½½4,554Open A
61IMSadhwani Raunak2522IND0011011½15,518Open A
64GMVisakh N R2518IND1½½½½½0003,576Open A
69GMKarthik Venkataraman2483IND0010101014,073Open A
70IMRahul Srivatshav P2474IND0000000000,097Open A
73IMRaja Harshit2472IND½½0½½½½½½4,070Open A
80IMKrishna C R G2443IND½0011½½½½4,544Open A
83IMSreeshwan Maralakshikari2440IND½00½1½00½3,080Open A
85IMVignesh N R2436IND0½1½00½0½3,084Open A
88IMAditya Mittal2427IND½½0½½1½0½4,071Open A
90FMPranesh M2425IND½1½½0½0014,062Open A
91IMMendonca Leon Luke2418IND½01½0½00½3,085Open A
96IMBharath Subramaniyam H2402IND1½110½0½15,511Open A
97WGMSoumya Swaminathan2369IND½0½0½½0013,088Open A

Related news:
Meet Pranesh M, the 13-year-old who has become the country's latest IM

@ 14/03/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Pranav Anand and Rucha Pujari make norms at Aeroflot Open B

@ 04/03/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
सबको पीछे छोड़ 14 वर्षीय सुलेमानली बने ऐरोफ़्लोट विजेता

@ 28/02/2020 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
ऐरोफ़्लोट ओपन - अंतिम राउंड में जीत के साथ भारत सुब्रमण्यम को मिला ग्रांड मास्टर नार्म

@ 27/02/2020 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
Aeroflot R08: Bharath Subramaniyam makes his maiden GM norm

@ 27/02/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
14-year-old Aydin Suleymanli's move that would have made Dvoretsky proud!

@ 27/02/2020 by Sagar Shah (en)
Aeroflot R07: Adhiban and Aravindh join the chasing pack of eight players

@ 26/02/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
With last two rounds to go, who are the top performing Indians at the Aeroflot Open 2020

@ 26/02/2020 by Sagar Shah (en)
ऐरोफ़्लोट 2020:वैभव नें टॉप सीड अर्टेमिव को हराया

@ 25/02/2020 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
Aeroflot R06: Vaibhav Suri stuns top seed Vladislav Artemiev

@ 25/02/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Aeroflot R04+05: Bharath's opening misfortune and beastly glimpses of Adhiban

@ 24/02/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
ऐरोफ़्लोट 2020- 12 वर्षीय भारत सुब्रमण्यम का धमाका

@ 23/02/2020 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
Aeroflot R03: After Pranesh it is now Bharath's turn to sizzle

@ 22/02/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Aeroflot R02: Sethuraman is one of the four leaders

@ 21/02/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Pranesh punishes Savchenko's dubious play

@ 21/02/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Aeroflot Open Chess Festival begins, Indians looking to take the event by storm

@ 20/02/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)