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2/19/2019 – After a bomb threat the first round of the Aeroflot Open had to be aborted 45 minutes after the start of the games. The Cosmos Hotel, the venue of the Aeroflot Open, was evacuated. Moscow had to cope with various bomb threats this afternoon, and shopping centers, cinemas, and theatres were evacuated. Thousands of people are affected.

Bomb alert in Moscow

In Moscow this afternoon there were anonymous bomb threats to numerous shopping centres, cinemas, railway stations and hotels. According to the Russian news agency Interfax, there was a wave of anonymous phone calls with threats. As a precaution, over 10,000 people were evacuated from the buildings concerned.

Such a wave of threats had already occurred in Russia last September. At that time, 1.4 million people were affected. The Russian intelligence service FSB identified "Russians abroad" as the perpetrators. The Russian authorities are reacting very cautiously to all bomb threats since an attack in the St. Petersburg subway in March 2018 caused 18 deaths and countless injuries.

Через 45 минут после начала 1 тура "Аэрофлот Опен" в гостинице "Космос" была объявлена экстренная эвакуация. Первый тур отменен. Подробности последуют в репортаже на нашем сайте pic.twitter.com/uOSMBruA19 — RCF (@ruchess_ru) February 19, 2019

Also affected is the Cosmos Hotel, where the Aeroflot Open started today. Round 1 had to be stopped after 45 minutes because of the bomb threat.

According to unconfirmed information from Moscow tomorrow a double round (rounds 1 and 2) will be played.</s>Shortly after the start, the first round of the Aeroflot Open has been canceled due to a bomb threat at the venue, Hotel Cosmos in Moscow. The round has been postponed until tomorrow.

The traditional Aeroflot Open, the super-strong open tournament sponsored by the Russian national airline company, started today at 3 p.m. local time. With top seeds Wei Yi (China), Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia) and Wang Hao (China), the top 10 boards of the round looked like this:

Bo. No. Name FED Rtg Result Name FED Rtg No. 1 51 GM Moroni Luca Jr 2567 GM Wei Yi 2733 1 2 2 GM Fedoseev Vladimir 2715 GM Petrosyan Manuel 2564 52 3 53 GM Fier Alexandr 2561 GM Wang Hao 2714 3 4 4 GM Dubov Daniil 2703 GM Abdusattorov Nodirbek 2560 54 5 55 GM Karthikeyan Murali 2560 GM Kovalev Vladislav 2703 5 6 6 GM Mamedov Rauf 2703 IM Lomasov Semyon 2559 56 7 57 GM Lalith Babu M R 2556 GM Inarkiev Ernesto 2692 7 8 8 GM Nabaty Tamir 2688 GM Santos Ruiz Miguel 2554 58 9 59 IM Tsydypov Zhamsaran 2547 GM Korobov Anton 2687 9 10 10 GM Safarli Eltaj 2681 GM Hakobyan Aram 2545 60

You can replay these games at the Chess.com/events Aeroflot Open page.

However, about 40 minutes into the round the games were aborted and the players were instructed to leave the building, along with the arbiters, organizers and other hotel guests. As it turned out, the hotel had received a phone call with a bomb threat.

"Of course I am not sure yet, but most likely it was just phone terrorism," said Mark Gluhovsky, an official of the Russian Chess Federation and playing himself in the B tournament. "Other hotels and hospitals also received calls."

The Russian capital has been flooded with fake bomb calls recently. Last week, the Russian news agency Interfax reported that the city’s emergency services received nearly 300 bomb threats, resulting in the evacuation of about 50,000 people (more about this in English at the Washington Post).

GM Jorden van Foreest said that the hotel had been closed for about 3.5 hours. Back in his hotel room, he told Chess.com: "My opponent was thinking and suddenly everyone heard an intercom message about an evacuation. Some people stopped the clocks and stood up, but the arbiters told us to continue playing."

However, half a minuter later the message returned, and all the players were sent outside. "It was pretty cold especially for players who didn't bring warm clothes," said Van Foreest. "We quickly heard from some Russian grandmasters that it was a bomb phone call."

The same round, with the same pairings, will be played tomorrow at 3 p.m. Some players who had favorable opening positions won't be thrilled about what happened.

"I had played a nice novelty in the Volga Gambit which is now worthless," joked Gluhovsky.

Somewhere during the tournament the players will need to play a double round to catch up with the tournament schedule.

Gluhovsky: "For the B and C tournaments, two rounds on one day will not be a big problem, but in the A group, with a seven-hour time control, that's going to be tricky."</s>The round one of Aeroflot Open chess tournament was called off 45 minutes after its start following a bomb scare in Moscow.

The players were asked to leave the venue, the Cosmos hotel. A number shopping centers, cinemas, theatres, railway stations were evacuated at the Russian capital on Tuesday. According to the Russian news agency Interfax, over 10,000 people were evacuated in the city.

The All India Chess Federation said that the players were moved to a nearby school: “All the people in the hotel were evacuated to a nearby school. Chess players were forced to interrupt the game and leave the hall,” AICF said in a release.

“The hotel [Cosmos hotel has been inspected. After confirmation from hotel management, the players have started heading back to the hotel. Indian players are under the care of the All India Chess Federation management. AICF is working closely with the Indian embassy in Moscow. Embassy officials are in the hotel meeting Indians.”
The opening round of the Aeroflot Open, an international open chess tournament, is postponed a day after 45 minutes of play as a bomb threat locks down the Moscow hotel hosting the event. Similar threats also shut down cinemas, shopping centres, and theatres; thousands are evacuated.