Kramnik hits the target but Shirov dominates!

Two black wins, one by Vladimir Kramnik and the other by, yes that's right...Alexei Shirov. Five straight wins is almost unheard of at this level. Carlsen, Ivanchuk and Nakamura share a distant second.

The leader Alexei Shirov went on to win after declining a repetition in a complex position against Van Wely. He is obviously very confident! His score of 5/5 is an astonishing achievement!

Nakamura versus Carlsen was an interesting tussle. I wonder what was really going on, did Nakamura miss a win?.

Kramnik played a Pirc which clearly came as a surprise to Smeets who reacted by taking far too much time during the early phase. He thus got himself into serious time trouble which didn't help his cause and Kramnik duly won. Kramnik ends his sequence of draws and moves into fifth alone.

Peter LekoHUN27390.5-0.5Viswanathan AnandIND2790C64Spanish Classical
Fabiano CaruanaITA26750.5-0.5Leinier DominguezCUB2712D76Neo-Grünfeld
Sergey TiviakovNED26620.5-0.5Sergey KarjakinRUS2720C77Spanish Worrall
Jan SmeetsNED26570-1Vladimir KramnikRUS2788B07 Pirc Defence
Loek van WelyNED26410-1Alexei ShirovESP2723A29English Four Knights
Nigel ShortENG26960.5-0.5Vassily IvanchukUKR2749B40 Sicilian with 3 g3
Hikaru NakamuraUSA27080.5-0.5Magnus CarlsenNOR2810D77Spanish Delayed Exchange

Here are the standings after round 5, with Shirov 1.5 points ahead!

SeedNameCountryRatingPoints
1Alexei ShirovESP27235
2=Magnus CarlsenNOR28103.5
2=Vassily IvanchukUKR27493.5
2=Hikaru NakamuraUSA27083.5
5Vladimir KramnikRUS27883
6=Viswanathan AnandIND27902.5
6=Sergey KarjakinRUS27202.5
6=Leinier DominguezCUB27122.5
9=Peter LekoHUN27392
9=Fabiano CaruanaITA26752
9=Sergey TiviakovNED26622
12Nigel ShortENG26961.5
13Loek van WelyNED26411
14Jan SmeetsNED26570.5

B-Group

In round five, two Grünfeld Exchanges, two Caro-Kanns and two Catalans! Anish Giri comfirms his excellent form with a win over Emil Sutovsky, whereas David Howell beat Ni Hua to leap into second place.

Tomi NybackFIN26430.5-0.5Erwin l'AmiNED2615E04Catalan Opening
Anish GiriNED25881-0Emil SutovskyISR2666D85Grünfeld Defence
David HowellENG26061-0Ni HuaCHN2657B12Caro-Kann/French
Anna MuzychukSLO25230.5-0.5Dimitri ReindermanNED2573B04Alekhine's Defence
Arkadij NaiditschGER26871-0Liviu-Dieter NisipeanuROM2681B14Caro-Kann Panov Attack
Wesley SoPHI26560.5-0.5Penteala HarikrishnaIND2672E06Catalan Opening
Varuzhan AkobianUSA26280-1Parimarjan NegiIND2621D85Grünfeld Defence

There are some big names in the lower half of the table.

RankTitleNameCountryRatingPoints
1GMAnish GiriNED25884
2GMDavid HowellENG26063.5
3=GMNi HuaCHN26573
3=GMPenteala HarikrishnaIND26723
3=GMErwin l'AmiNED26153
3=GMArkadij NaiditschGER26873
3=GMParimarjan NegiIND26213
8=GMWesley SoPHI26562.5
8=GMTomi NybackFIN26432.5
10=GMLiviu-Dieter NisipeanuROM26812
10=IMAnna MuzychukSLO25232
12=GMEmil SutovskyISR26571.5
13GMVaruzhan AkobianUSA26281
14GMDimitri ReindermanNED25731

Group C

It was also a good day for youth in the C-tournament with Ray Robson winning with the Black pieces to become sole leader.

Marya MuzychukUKR24471-0Soumya SwaminathanIND2323B19Caro-Kann Defence
Stefan KuipersNED23400.5-0.5Robin SwinkelsNED2495B47Sicilian Taimanov
Zhaoqin PengNED24020-1Ray RobsonUSA2570E10Blumenfeld Counter Gambit
Benjamin BokNED23220.5-0.5Abhijeet GuptaIND2577B67Sicilian Richter-Rauzer
Daniele VocaturoITA24951-0Nils GrandeliusSWE2515C53Closed Italian
Sjoerd PlukkelNED22790.5-0.5Kjetil LieNOR2547B28Sicilian 2...a6
Li Chao-bCHN26040.5-0.5Robin van KampenNED2456B90Sicilian Najdorf

In contrast to group B, the favourites dominate the top half of the table.

RankTitleNameCountryRatingPoints
1GMRay RobsonUSA25704.5
2GMLi Chao-bCHN26044
3GMDaniele VocaturoITA24953.5
4=GMAbhijeet GuptaIND25773
4=GMKjetil LieNOR25473
4=IMRobin SwinkelsNED24953
7=GMZhaoqin PengNED24022.5
7=IMRobin van KempenNED24562.5
9=WGMMarya MuzychukUKR24472
9=FMStefan KuipersNED23402
9=FMBenjamin BokNED23222
12IMNils GrandeliusSWE25151.5
13-Sjoerd PlukkelNED22791
14WGMSoumya SwaminathanIND23230.5

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