Wesley at Aeroflot

BY: BOBBY ANG

(Abridged version of Chess Piece as published in BusinessWorld on March 1, 2010)

9th Aeroflot Open
Moscow, Russia
February 9-18, 2010

Final Top Standings

1. GM Le Quang Liem VIE 2647, 7.0/9
2-6. GM Anton Korobov UKR 2648, GM Alexander Motylev RUS 2697, GM Zhou Jianchao CHN 2632, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truongson VIE 2616, GM Boris Grachev RUS 2653, 6.0/9
7-19. GM Ivan Cheparinov BUL 2660, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2730, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2658, GM Bu Xiangzhi CHN 2673, GM Wesley So PHI 2656, GM Gabriel Sargissian ARM 2680, GM Boris Savchenko RUS 2638, GM Etienne Bacrot FRA 2713, GM Artyom Timofeev RUS 2652, GM Evgeny Bareev RUS 2643, GM Evgeniy Najer RUS 2665, GM Eduardo Iturrizaga VEN 2616, GM Alexey Dreev RUS 2650, 5.5/9

80 participants

Wesley was 11th place in Aeroflot. That is not too bad -- in fact he will gain some previous ELO points in the next rating list. Over the course of nine rounds he had three wins, five draws and one loss. Apart from the short draw in the last round all his games were well fought. Let us take a look at some of them.

GM Alexander Rakhmanov, 21, is another of the legions of underrated Russians who can beat anybody on any given day. Last year he won the Voronezh Open and by virtue of this victory was given a free ticket to the Abu Dhabi Open, where he placed second with 7/9. This score, of course, is usually good enough for first place but Aleksandrov beat him in the last round to overtake everybody else with an impressive 7.5/9. Here in Moscow Rakhmanov outwitted one of the tournament favorites, Ian Nepomniachtchi, in the first round but the whuppin he got from Wesley in the 4th sent him tumbling down the standings.

So, Wesley (2656) -- Rakhmanov, Alexander (2591) [B29]
9th Aeroflot Open A Moscow RUS (4), 12.02.2010
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GM Hrant Melkumyan of Armenia is another recent graduate from the junior ranks. He is 21 years old and a blitz expert, having reached the final round of the Dos Hermanas Internet Blitz Championship (held on the Internet Chess Club, this is the de facto world Internet blitz competition). Last 2006 he also managed to tie a six-game blitz match with Alexander Grischuk, an outstanding feat for a teenager.

Melkumyan made his big jump in rating last year when he tied for second place in the 2009 Abu Dhabi Open (same as Rakhmanov above) and tied for 1st in the giant Chigorin Memorial last October. This giant open is St. Petersburg’s counterpart to the Aeroflot Open in Moscow and also has a lot of GMs in its tournament roster. The reason why Moscow consistently gets more foreign GM participation is that its sponsor, Aeroflot, gives special packages to encourage foreigners to attend, including cheap tickets and hotel accommodation (it is the price which is cheap, not the accommodation!)

Melkumyan, Hrant (2583) -- So, Wesley (2656) [D10]
9th Aeroflot Open A Moscow RUS (5), 13.02.2010
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