Stanislav "who?" Novikov is the clear leader of the Aeroflot tournament after six rounds with 4.5 points. The modestly rated 21-year-old Russian GM held off Jakovenko today to keep his lead. There's a cute finish for stalemate connoisseurs. Jobava-Ehlvest has a cute finish worth a look. The top seven boards were drawn. ChessBase has a photo report from Misha Savinov here.
"Jobava-Ehlvest has a cute finish worth a look."
The difference between old and new chess. I think Ehlvest missed some better moves at the end, his moves were generally "too slow".
Come on Mig, start reading more than just Chessbase. Chessvibes already had photo's on day 1:
http://www.chessvibes.com/?p=576&lp_lang_pref=nl
and http://www.chessvibes.com/?p=572&lp_lang_pref=nl
and click on the english flag on the right, so you can read it too! ;)
Talking about photo reports, the official site does capture the moment in some of their pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/aeroflotchess/AeroflotOpen200720070218/photo#5032910217028710834
or how about this one:
http://picasaweb.google.com/aeroflotchess/AeroflotOpen200720070218/photo#5032910294338122258
Mig, Novikov has 5 points after six rounds!
Wait, that's not Igor Novikov?
It is a pity we don't have more GM opens like Aeroflot. The winner qualifies for Dortmund and that is great. Can you imagine Linares doing the same? Say an open only for players rated 2550 or above, the winner to play in the next edition of Linares. It would add new blood to Linares, a tournament, I am afraid to say , is getting a little boring each passing year.
At least Vallejo is not playing in Linares. This is a good sign. He played with a wild card the years before and couldn't deliver. Also Shirov was not an option to play the Spanish card.
I think the tournament is very good and the organisation was smart enough to engage Ivanchuk instead of someone else since Radjabov dropped out.
Imo Carlsen is the weakest player in the tournament, which is not surprising because he is very young and maybe overtaxed by the popularity. Karjakin seems to be more stable in his game.
i am particularly enjoying Aeroflot and this is the reason why
we so often hear about the next prodigy coming from Norway or Finland; and all the rage are various GM’s from India or China (or the new English, German, American export); and then, all of them go to a tournament in Russia and there they get trampled over by ordinary Russians with very humble 2500 and little change rating
and then they talk about the good old days… how chess in Russia is so bad…. no new talents….
zigomar, the Norwegian prodigy actually got his second GM norm at this tournament in 2004. But yeah, most of the kids are taking a beating in this years edition.
The players in the A1 Section are approaching the Open almost as if it was a Round Robin--there seem to be a lot of Draws for a Swiss System.
Ian Nepo... looks a bit vulnerable now that he is facing
Aeroflot level competition. The prodigy, Negi, from India, simply seems overwhelmed. The idea of giving out invitations for Top level Round Robin events, aas a reward for winning a Super strong
Swiss System event seems to have merit, but I wouldn't expect a great result from the qualifier.
Linares has been reasonably hard foughta, although it hasn't been reflected in the win/draw ratio. Hard to believe that they've earned a rest day after just 3 games, though...
Doug,
Remember that Bologan won Aeroflot two years ago and ended up winning Dortmund! Last year if I am not wrong Jobava won Aeroflot and did well at Dortmund. I am totally in favor of adding new blood to these elite round robins and am sure there are lots of strong GMs out there that would shake the status quo if they got invitations. The Aeroflot/Dortmund partnership is a good beginning.
Just remembered that Corus uses a similar qualification system as well. That is the way to go. Incentives matter!
Jobava actually did quite poorly in Dortmund, scoring 1.5/7 with no wins.
Yes, Jobava had a big let down in Dortmund but proved again today that he can be on top of his game again. Nice win that proves again a queens gambit with white to castle long can only be played by masters - or you will lose - as Aleksandrov did.
Even if you consider today's ratings inflated, I won't hesitate to call Aleksandrov a master.
Didn't Naiditsch also win Dortmund in 2005 after qualifying at Aeroflot?
Naiditsch did indeed win, but Sutovsky was the Aeroflot qualifier.
What I find remarkable is how well the young players are doing. Not the really young trumpeted "prodigies", but the top 7 players after round 7 are 21, 23, 19, 23, 21, 19 and 23. Compare that to, say, the last World Open where the final top 7 were an average age of 39 and no players were under 28. All I can say is, the World Openers better hope the young Russians keep having problems getting US visas.
"What I find remarkable is how well the young players are doing. Not the really young trumpeted "prodigies", but the top 7 players after round 7 are 21, 23, 19, 23, 21, 19 and 23."
I find Aeroflot this year more far interesting than Linares because of the *huge* youth contingent. Every "prodigy" south of Karjakin is there.
Ed, I do remember Bologan, and his success in Dortmund. Indeed, Bologan's result has validated the idea (of giving the winner of Aeroflot a slot) for some years to come. However, ELO is ELO, and a Jobava-like debacle is more likely than a triumph a la Bologan. Moreover, Bologan was already a real veteran, with experience and some success in high category Round Robin international events. Before rendering judgment, it is prudent to wait for a pattern to more fully emerge. If, in the next 5 years of tournaments at Dortmund, the Aeroflot slot qualifier finishes in the Top 3, then I'll readily concede that I've been too pessimistic.