Fifth round in the Tal Memorial

In the fifth round Pavel Eljanov 'got one back' by beating Boris Gelfand. The other games were drawn so Levon Aronian still leads.

A hard fought round overall with a series of complex endgames. The longest game was between the renowned fighters Shirov and Nakamura, where both players were valiantly seeking the full point with their active kings.

Here is a summary of today's events:

Round 5 (10th of November):

Alexander GrischukRUS27710.5-0.5Shakhriyar MamedyarovAZE276349Anti-GrünfeldWhite's temporary pawn sacrifice led to lively play even after the queen exchange
Levon AronianARM28010.5-0.5Sergey KarjakinRUS276056Nimzoindian with g3Aronian snatched a pawn and pressed for a win but Karjakin was able to hold firm
Alexei ShirovESP27350.5-0.5Hikaru NakamuraUSA274179Spanish BerlinThe American sacrificed the exchange for some positional compensation on the queenside, Shirov 'sacced' back for a seemingly favourable endgame with rooks and opposite bishops, but the game remained tense throughout
Pavel EljanovUKR27421-0Boris GelfandISR274153Semi-Slav MeranIn the middlegame Eljanov was able to win a pawn, and held onto his advantage in the endgame despite Black's activity
Vladimir KramnikRUS27910.5-0.5Wang HaoCHI272734Semi-TarraschWhite's slight pressure was met with a piece sacrifice as Wang Hao activated his rooks on the seventh to force a perpetual

The table after five rounds is as follows with six of the ten players on plus scores. Note that all ten players are in the world top twenty.

StandingNameCountryRatingWorld rankAge+=-Points
1Levon AronianARM28013282303.5
2=Alexander GrischukRUS27716271403
2=Shakhriyar MamedyarovAZE27638251403
2=Sergey KarjakinRUS27609201403
2=Hikaru NakamuraUSA274115231403
2=Wang HaoCHI272718211403
7Vladimir KramnikRUS27914351312.5
8=Pavel EljanovUKR274213271131.5
8=Boris GelfandISR274114421131.5
10Alexei ShirovESP273516380231

As a reminder the results of the earlier rounds were as follows:

Round 1 (5th of November):

Shakhriyar MamedyarovAZE27630.5-0.5Hikaru NakamuraUSA274143Queen's Gambit Declined Lasker
Sergey KarjakinRUS27601-0Boris GelfandISR274157Petroff Defence
Alexei ShirovESP27350-1Wang HaoCHI272751French Defence
Levon AronianARM28011-0Vladimir KramnikRUS279141 Queen's Gambit Ragozin
Alexander GrischukRUS27711-0Pavel EljanovUKR274258Catalan/Bogoljubov

Round 2 (6th of November):

Shakhriyar MamedyarovAZE27630.5-0.5Sergey KarjakinRUS276039Nimzoindian Defence 4.g3
Boris GelfandISR27411-0Alexei ShirovESP273561Slav Defence
Wang HaoCHI27270.5-0.5Levon AronianARM280139Catalan Opening
Vladimir KramnikRUS27910.5-0.5Alexander GrischukRUS277139Queen's Gambit Declined
Hikaru NakamuraUSA27411-0Pavel EljanovUKR274240Catalan/Bogoljubov

Round 3 (7th of November):

Alexei ShirovESP27350-1Shakhriyar MamedyarovAZE276371Spanish Breyer
Sergey KarjakinRUS27600.5-0.5Hikaru NakamuraUSA274170Spanish Berlin
Levon AronianARM28011-0Boris GelfandISR274143Catalan Opening
Alexander GrischukRUS27710.5-0.5Hao WangCHI272722Slav Defence
Pavel EljanovUKR27420-1Vladimir KramnikRUS279151Nimzoindian Defence 4.Qc2

Round 4 (8th of November):

Shakhriyar MamedyarovAZE27630.5-0.5Levon AronianARM280135Slav Defence
Sergey KarjakinRUS27600.5-0.5Alexei ShirovESP273563Spanish Neo-Archangel
Boris GelfandISR27410.5-0.5Alexander GrischukRUS277143Catalan/Bogljubov
Hao WangCHI27270.5-0.5Pavel EljanovUKR274279English Opening
Hikaru NakamuraUSA27410.5-0.5Vladimir KramnikRUS279133Petroff Defence

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