Two young GMS test veterans in Aeroflot

The strongest Russian Chess Federation International thus far – the Aeroflot Open – gets underway Feb. 19-28 in the capital city of Moscow.

World No. 21 and Gibraltar open champion Vladislav Artemiev returns to action as he headlines the 17th edition of the tournament. The 20-year-old Russian stunned the chess world last month by dominating the elite GM field at Gibraltar.

He will be joined by another youngster, 19-year-old Wei Yi of China, the current Asian Continental champion and ranked 22nd in the world.

Other big names this year included hometown bets Vladimir Fedoseev and Daniil Dubov, Chinese Wang Hao, Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus and Azeri Rauf Mamedov, all rated 2700 and above. The nine-round classical Swiss system event drew a 70-strong GM field.

Total cash prize is 121,000 euros with the champion getting 18,000 and the right to participate in the 2019 Dortmund (Germany) super GM tournament.

Dubbed as the world chess mecca, the annual tournament was conceived of by the Russians in 2002.

* * * It is a Russian patent to sacrifice the Exchange (Rook for Bishop or Rook for Knight) to obtain positional advantage or simply get out of difficulties. Artemiev opens a page from the Russian School of Chess in the capti- vating game below. He allows Navarra to win the Exchange in return for a Pawn, complete control of the long diagonal a8-h1 plus a good Knight against a bad Bishop. It is not decisive, but it offers White the middle game initiative, and Black falters under the constant pressure of that initiative.