Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran lost to co-leader Russian GM Daniil Dubov to lose the lead at the Aeroflot Open, 2015. Playing the black side of a Ruy Lopez, Sasikiran was holding tight in a rook endgame until an unfortunate slip cost him the game.
Reaching the time-control, white had just played 40.Ra3 with the point that 40…Rxc2? 41.Rc3 Rxg2 42.Rg3+ and the b pawn queens. Hence, black should have played something like 40…Kf6! where he holds. Instead, Sasi went captured on c2 and ended up losing after 40…Rxc2 41.Rc3 Rd2 when the b-pawn is simply too fast.
Dubov shares lead with Nepomniachtchi
Sasi’s slip proved costly for him, enabling GM Dubov to share the lead with GM Nepomniachtchi who won his game.
Meanwhile, GM Adhiban registered a very important victory with the black pieces agains GM Korobov of Ukraine where he nursed his advantage to a winning rook endgame. This win took his tally to a commendable 4.5/6 in the super-strong field.
The other Indians in the fray had a bad day with GM Sethuraman, GM Vishnu Prasanna and IM Swayams Mishra drawing their games. GM Ankit Rajpara had to face defeat despite playing the white pieces while GM Gujrathi lost defending with black pieces. GM Sandipan Chanda too slipped to suffer another loss.
Results of Indian players in Group A
| Name | Rtg | Result | Name | Rtg |
| Dubov Daniil | 2627 | 1 – 0 | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2682 |
| Korobov Anton | 2694 | 0 – 1 | Adhiban B. | 2646 |
| Jumabayev Rinat | 2572 | 1 – 0 | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2625 |
| Mozharov Mikhail | 2555 | ½ – ½ | Sethuraman S.P. | 2623 |
| Swayams Mishra | 2440 | ½ – ½ | Goganov Aleksey | 2598 |
| Kotronias Vasilios | 2565 | ½ – ½ | Vishnu Prasanna. V | 2477 |
| Ankit R. Rajpara | 2477 | 0 – 1 | Yilmaz Mustafa | 2570 |
| Sandipan Chanda | 2569 | 0 – 1 | Asgarizadeh Ahmad | 2412 |
(winners are in bold)
