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The 11th Aeroflot Open is taking place in Moscow from February 7 to 15, 2012, for the first time in the Cosmos Hotel (above), which is one of the largest in Moscow. Tourney mode: Open tourney 9 rounds Swiss System. Time control: 100 minutes/40 moves + 50 minutes/20 moves + 15 minutes + 30 seconds/move starting with the first move. Game start: all rounds 12:00 (15:00 local Moscow time). Tiebreak systems: For tournament A and B: 1st: The number of games played with Black. Byes and forfeited games will be considered as games played with White. 2nd: The average of the opponents' ratings minus the highest and the lowest rating. You can find more on all the regulations of the tournament here.
With three rounds to go Moscow is in the middle of one of the coldest days of this winter: –25° C or –13°F (considerably colder than the deep freeze section of your refrigerator). In spite of this the correspondent of the Russian Chess Federation, Eteri Kublashvili, came over to the tournament venue to talk with participants. Before we come to that, however, let us look at the latest scores:
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You will immediately notice the sterling performance of 19-year-old Fabiano Caruana (picture above), who is playing at a 2831 level. After three rounds and 2.5 points he was at 2910, which we duly celebrated in our previous report. But then Fabiano lost unhappily to the tournament leader Anton Korobov in round four, validating the Portuguese saying: "Não se pode elogiar" ("You cannot compliment him/her"), which paraphrases to: the creator of the universe reads chess news sites and if he thinks people are getting too cocky he will cut them down to size. However, Fab Fab, whom we have been embarrassing on our news page for a number of years now, fought back with two consecutive wins (against GMs Ildar Khairullin, 2638, and Hrant Melkumyan, 2620) to climb into equal second place and is now poised for a go at first. Yes, yes, we know: Não se pode elogiar.
About her unusual little interview with Fabiano Caruana, Eteri Kublashvili reports that "despite his young age and lean physique" Fabiano has a deep voice, "like an Italian bass".
Fabiano, congratulations on winning today! How are you playing in Moscow?
Everything is going fine. True, I lost one game, but then things went smoothly. In Moscow, it is very cold, so I do not go out – there is no time anyway. But a year ago, when I was playing in GUM at the World Championship Blitz, I saw the Red Square, Kremlin, the Mausoleum.
You now live in Italy?
No, my family and I live in Lugano, Switzerland.
As an Italian, are interested in football, cars?
No, not really. I do sports, play squash, sometimes go to the gym, ride a bike. I love to watch movies.
What is your favorite movie?
Fabiano Caruana [portrait by Frits Agterdenbos, ChessVista]
I like so many, so it is difficult to pick one. Maybe Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
And how do you like Russian women?
Very nice. Women should be given a lot of time, they love to have fun, they do not like to sit around. For me to like someone it is not necessary for her to play chess.
And your family, does everyone play chess?
Very little, almost not at all.
Who taught to play chess?
I learnt it in school, at around five years of age. I started playing with other children.
Who are you training with now?
Grandmaster Vladimir Chuchelov.
How do you evaluate this tournament and the participants?
A very strong tournament, one of the strongest Opens in the world. The leading players are rated above 2700, so it is a very tough tournament to play.
Source: Russian Chess Federation web site
Tournament leader Anton Korobov during his game against Fabiano Caruana,
who missed clear
drawing chances when he played 31...Ra5? instead of 31...Rxb3=+ [photo Chess-News]
| # | Name | Rating | +/– |
Games |
Age (born) |
| 1 | Carlsen | 2834.6 | -0.4 |
13 |
21 (30.11.1990) |
| 2 | Aronian | 2825.3 | +20.3 |
16 |
29 (06.10.1982) |
| 3 | Kramnik | 2801.0 | 0.0 |
0 |
36 (25.06.1975) |
| 4 | Anand | 2799.0 | 0.0 |
0 |
42 (11.12.1969) |
| 5 | Radjabov | 2784.4 | +11.4 |
13 |
24 (12.03.1987) |
| 6 | Nakamura | 2770.8 | +11.8 |
23 |
24 (09.12.1987) |
| 7 | Caruana | 2769.4 | +33.4 |
29 |
19 (30.07.1992) |
| 8 | Karjakin | 2766.2 | -2.8 |
13 |
22 (12.01.1990) |
| 9 | Morozevich | 2764.8 | +1.8 |
10 |
34 (18.07.1977) |
| 10 | Ivanchuk | 2763.7 | -2.3 |
23 |
42 (18.03.1969) |
| 11 | Grischuk | 2761.0 | 0.0 |
0 |
28 (31.10.1983) |
| 12 | Mamedyarov | 2752.0 | +5.0 |
10 |
26 (12.04.1985) |
| 13 | Topalov | 2751.9 | -18.1 |
13 |
36 (15.03.1975) |
| 14 | Kamsky | 2741.3 | +9.3 |
13 |
37 (02.06.1974) |
| 15 | Svidler | 2740.9 | -8.1 |
13 |
35 (17.06.1976) |
| 16 | Tomashevsky | 2740.7 | +0.7 |
6 |
24 (01.07.1987) |
| 17 | Gashimov | 2736.8 | -24.2 |
18 |
25 (24.07.1986) |
| 18 | Wang Hao | 2733.0 | 0.0 |
0 |
22 (04.08.1989) |
| 19 | Dominguez | 2730.0 | 0.0 |
0 |
28 (23.09.1983) |
| 20 | Jakovenko | 2729.0 | 0.0 |
0 |
28 (28.06.1983) |
In the live ratings list (of IM Artiom Tsepotan and IA Dr. Christopher Wright) we see that Fabiano has advanced to seventh place in the world and is knocking loudly at Hikaru Nakamura's door. Certainly Carlsen and Aronian will be training their orbital cameras on this young upstart. A plus of 33 points in one rating period and at this level of play is truly remarkable.
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client and get immediate access. Or you can get our latest Fritz 13 program, which includes six months free premium membership to Playchess. |
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