14th February, 2003

ITíS time to fasten your seatbelts once again, as the Aeroflot Open takes to the air in Moscow with one of the biggest and strongest fields for an Open event, which started Tuesday at the 2876 roomed Hotel Rossija by the Kremlin.

A total of 481 players from 38 nations, pooled into three sections based on their ratings, ranging from unrated to grandmaster have descended on the Russian capital for the second year running to compete in the Aeroflot Chess Festival, which this year has a prize fund of over $100,000. Keeping in the aviation theme, everything in the tournament is being conducted in the style of a commercial airline flight, with the organizing staff in charge suitably kitted out in uniforms of "pilots", "navigators" and "flight personnel" running the show.
The top-rated ëAí group has a field of 201 players battling it out for the total prize fund of $61,000, including 143 grandmasters with ratings of 2400 or higher, with the top seeds being Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Alexander Dreev and Alexander Morozevitch. The winner of this group will not only get the $25,000 first prize, but also a berth into the July elite tournament in Dortmund, Germany.

Another 170 players, with ratings down to 2150 make up the field for the ëBí group, which has a total prize fund of $36,000. The final ëCí group is open to anyone with a FIDE rating lower than 2201, and also has a generous prize fund of $17,000.

The only big shock of the early opening rounds proved to be the crash-landing of the Muscovite former world number four Alexander Morozevich, whose rating (and subsequent world ranking) over the last year has plummeted due to his dramatic loss in form.

M Gagunashvili ñ A Morozevich
Aeroflot Open ëA', (2)
Slav Defence
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 a6 5 a4 e6 6 Bg5 a5 7 e3 Be7 8 Bd3 Nbd7 9 0-0 0-0 10 Qe2 dxc4 11 Bxc4 Nd5 12 Bf4 Nxf4 13 exf4 Nb6 14 Bb3 Nd5 15 g3 f5 16 Rfe1 Bf6 17 Rad1 Bd7 18 Ne5 Re8 19 Na2 Re7 20 Nc1 Be8 21 Ncd3 h6 22 h4 Kh7 23 Nc5 b6 24 Ncd3 Rc8 25 h5 Rcc7 26 Bc2 c5 27 dxc5 bxc5 28 g4 c4 29 Nc1 Kg8 30 gxf5 Qc8 31 fxe6 Nxf4 32 Qg4 Nxe6 33 Bf5 Rc5 34 Rd6 Qc7 35 Bxe6+ Kf8 36 Qd4 Rxe5 37 Rxe5 Bxh5 38 Rf5 Rf7 39 Qd5 Bg6 40 Qa8+ 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON