The Aeroflot Open in Moscow is one of the world’s great open Swisses. Started in 2002 by the Aeroflot Airline, the event has routinely attracted one of the strongest fields of any of the open events.
Historically, the format has been a nine-round Swiss with classical time controls, though they tried an experiment in 2014 when they changed to a blitz and rapids format. This didn’t go over well, and after a year off, the contest came back with classical time controls.
This 2017 event has 73 grandmasters out of 93 total players in the “A’’ group and offers $68,725 in prize money; $19,034 for the winner.
Today’s game comes from the first round of this year’s event. It’s between two young players, 18-year-old prodigy Vladislav Artemiev of Russia and promising 19-year-old Manuel Petrosyan of Armenia. Petrosyan makes a mistake by playing into a very sharp line as black, which allows Artemiev to not only display his great preparation but also his great attacking ability. Though Petrosyan defends the best he can, the game seems to be over before it really begun.
2017 Aeroflot Open “A’’, Moscow, Russia
Vladislav Artemiev (2655) — Manuel Petrosyan (2549)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Queen’s Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation 4...Ba6 5.Qc2 c5 6.d5!? Leads to an interesting pawn sacrifice. 6...exd5 7.cxd5 Bb7 Not 7...Ne5 8.Qe4+ 8.e4 Qe7 9.Bd3 Nxd5 Notice that Black has spent a lot of tempos to win the pawn, tempos that he soon will wish he had back. 10.Bg5!? The first new move, before 10.0–0 was played here. Time will tell if this holds up to the intense engine analysis it most certainly will get. 10...Nf6 11.Nc3 For his pawn, White has a big lead in development, great pieces, weak squares to attack, not to mention that Black is very awkward and getting his king castled will be quite a project. 11...h6 12.Bf4 Nh5 What’s the saying: “Knights on the rim are dim’’? This knight is so dim that it doesn’t move again in the game and in many lines is picked off by White. 13.Bc7! This surprisingly quiet move really ties Black up 13...Bc6 The computers prefer 13...Qe6 buy still after 14.0–0 Be7 15.Nd5 0–0 16.Rfe1 Nc6 17.Bc4 Qg6 18.Ne5 (or 18.Nxe7+ Nxe7 19.Ne5 Qg5 20.Bd6 Nf4 21.g3 Ne6 22.h4 Qh5 23.Bxe6 fxe6 24.Bxe7)18...Qg5 19.Nxd7 White is still winning. Another try for Black is 13...Na6 but after 14.Nb5 Qe6 15.0–0 Be7 16.Rfe1 0–0 17.Bc4 Qg6 18.Ne5 Qg5 19.h4 Qxh4 20.Ng6; or 13...d6 14.Nb5 Qd7 15.0–0–0 Be7 16.Nxd6+ Bxd6 17.Bxd6 Nc6 18.Bb5 0–0–0 19.b4 Qxd6 20.Rxd6 Rxd6 21.bxc5 White is winning in each. 14.0–0–0 d6 Again14...Qe6 15.Nd5 Bd6 16.Bc4 Qg6 17.Bxd6 Qxd6 18.Kb1 Nf4 (or 18...Qf8 19.Qc3 Bxd5 20.Bxd5 Nc6 21.Ne5 Nxe5 22.Qxe5+ Qe7 23.Qxh5) 19.e5 15.Nb5 d6 is the target. 15...Qd7 15...Nf4 16.Nxd6+ Kd7 17.Bxb8 Rxb8 18.Nxf7 Kc7 19.Nxh8 16.e5! Bxb5 16...d5 17.Bf5 Qe7 18.Nd6+ Qxd6 19.exd6 17.Bxb5 Qxb5 18.exd6 Now, there are too many threat for Black deal with. 19.Qe4+ and 19.Rhe1+ are the main ones. 18...Be7 18...Nd7 19.Qe4+; or 18...Nf6 19.Rhe1+ Kd7 20.a4 Qb4 21.Qf5+ Kc6 22.Ne5+ Kb7 23.Qf3+ Ka6 24.Qxa8; 18...Nc6 19.Qe4+ Be7 20.dxe7 with 21.Rd8+ being the big threat for which there seems to be no defense. 19.dxe7 Nd7 20.Qe4 Where to old rook? 20...Rc8 21.Qb7! Rxc7 21...Kxe7 22.Rhe1+ Kf6 23.Rd6+ Kf5 24.Qe4# 22.Qa8+ Kxe7 23.Rhe1+ Kf6 24.Rd6+ Asthere’s mate next after 24...Kf5 25.Qe4+; 1–0
Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes@gmail.com.
