Alexander Grischuk and Peter Svidler Pursue Leaders in Moscow

Five rounds of the FIDE Grand Prix leg are completed.

On Tuesday, May 16, the fifth round of the FIDE Grand Prix leg was played in the Central Telegraph building.
 
The leaders’ duel Mamedyarov vs. Ding ended in a draw on move 15. 

The top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave grabbed his first victory by winning against Saleh Salem. In spite of an early exchange of queens in the Caro-Kann Defence, Black didn’t manage to equalize due to his poorly developed pieces. White made his best to strengthen his position and won a pawn. Salem blundered on move 35 and resigned after his opponent’s reply.

Alexander Grischuk celebrated his first win as well. He played Black against Hou Yifan. In the Najdorf Sicilian Grischuk managed to find vulnerabilities in White’s position. After the center had been opened up, Yifan made a mistake and lost material. White laid down arms just before the first time control. 

Michael Adams lost the third game in a row, while his rival Pentala Harikrishna won his first game. The Indian grandmaster outplayed his opponent with White in the Queen’s Gambit, won a pawn and converted his material advantage into the victory. 

Peter Svidler had rather good chances to achieve a solid edge in his game against Teimour Radjabov, but, apparently, the Russian wasn’t acting aggressively enough, and after several precise Radjabov’s replies White’s advantage disappeared. The rivals agreed to a draw in an equal position. 

Anish Giri and Hikaru Nakamura were struggling in the Giuoco Piano. In general, their encounter went on under a total control of the super grandmasters and ended in a draw on move 27.  

Boris Gelfand, who played Black against Ian Nepomniachtchi, one again demonstrated a deep preparation in the Sicilian Defence and succeeded in resolving his opening problems. A draw was agreed on move 46.

A short draw was made in Tomashevsky vs. Hammer game. 

Francisco Vallejo and Ernesto Inarkiev were waging a long maneuvering fight in the English Opening. Their game lasted for more than 6,5 hours, but didn’t exceed the limits of a dynamic equality. The players signed a peace agreement after Black’s 64th move. 

Round 5 standings:

1-2. Ding Liren, Mamedyarov 3.5
3-6. Svidler, Radjabov, Grischuk, Vachier-Lagrave - 3
7-13. Giri, Nakamura, Gelfand, Tomashevsky, Hammer, Nepomniachtchi, Harikrishna - 2.5
14-16. Hou Yifan, Vallejo, Salem - 2
17. Inarkiev - 1.5
18. Adams - 1

Wednesday, May 17, is a free day at the tournament. 

Round 6 pairings:

Ding Liren - Vachier-Lagrave, Radjabov - Mamedyarov, Grischuk - Svidler, Nakamura - Nepomniachtchi, Tomaskevsky - Giri, Gelfand - Harikrishna, Hammer - Vallejo, Salem - Hou Yifan, Adams - Inarkiev.

Event on Chess-Results

Official website

Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich