Darwin strikes

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 28 February 2011)

Aeroflot Open "B"
Moscow, Russia
February 7-19, 2011

Leading Final Standings
1-3. GM Tigran Kotanjian ARM 2519, GM Darwin Laylo PHI 2516, GM Nikolai Kabanov RUS 2482, 7.0/9
4-8. GM Dorian Rogozenco ROU 2534, FM Pogos Nakhapetiane RUS 2469, GM Wen Yang CHN 2509, GM Pavel Smirnov RUS 2523, IM Aleksei Pridorozhni RUS 2543, 6.5/9
9-12. GM Alexei Gavrilov RUS 2484, Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa MGL 2493, FM Ovik Hayrapetian ARM 2344, Lu Shanglei CHN 2416, 6.0/9
13-28. Alexandr Predke RUS 2415, Hovhannes Gabuzyan ARM 2380, Vladimir Belous RUS 2497, GM Artur Gabrielian RUS 2543, IM Andrey Stukopin 2463, GM Davit G. Petrosian ARM 2485, IM Alexey Reshetnikov RUS 2478, GM Vasif Durarbeyli AZE 2504, IM Stanislav Bogdanovich UKR 2484, Dmitry Obolenskikh RUS 2467, GM Aleksandr Shimanov 2520, GM Alexei Iljushin RUS 2527, IM Richard Bitoon PHI 2461, GM Zhao Xue CHN 2494, GM Anuar Ismagambetov KAZ 2499, GM Arseny Alavkin RUS 2393, 5.5/9
Total of 106 players
Time Control: 90 minutes play to finish, with 30 seconds increment added after every move.

The traditional Aeroflot Open tournament in Moscow was composed of three main tournaments:

The "A" Open for players with ratings higher than 2550.
The "B" Open for players between 2300 to 2550.
The "C" Open for anyone whose rating is lower than 2300 (or unrated).

Filipino GM Darwin Laylo was in the "B" tournament. While weaker than the "A" Open, this "B" event was not a pushover either -- a total of 30 International Grandmasters (GMs) and 27 International masters (IMs) participated and made it very competitive.

GM Laylo finally broke out of his slump by tying for first in the "B" Open. His unbeaten 5-win 4-draw score of 7/9 was the same output registered by GMs Tigran Kotanjian (Armenia) and Nikolai Kabanov (Russia). The former came out first on tie break with Darwin at second.

I felt very happy for Darwin after I saw the results posted on the Internet. Last month we thought that he had recovered his deadly form when the Marikina chess ace grabbed the early lead in the First HD Bank tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. But then came a sudden reversal of form and he lost every single game in the last three rounds, finishing a lowly 42nd place.

Here in Moscow Darwin sprinted ahead at the start, wobbled a bit to allow his rivals to go into the lead, and then managed to save this difficult game in the penultimate round.

Rogozenco, Dorian (2534) -- Laylo, Darwin (2516) [D80]
Aeroflot Open B Moscow RUS (8), 15.02.2011
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In the last round he overpowered one of the leaders to tie for first.

Laylo, Darwin (2516) -- Gavrilov, Alexei (2484) [E62]
Aeroflot Open 2011 B Moscow (9), 16.02.2011
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Black is mated after 36...Bg7 37.Qh3.

This writer handled the training of Laylo several years ago for the Asian junior Championships, where he finished second. I saw then what a great talent he was. He is 31 years old now -- still time for a second wind!

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