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 Grischuk	RUS	2771	0.5-0.5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	49	Anti-Grünfeld	White's temporary pawn sacrifice led to lively play even after the queen exchange
Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	0.5-0.5	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	56	Nimzoindian with g3	Aronian snatched a pawn and pressed for a win but Karjakin was able to hold firm
Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	79	Spanish Berlin	The 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 Eljanov	UKR	2742	1-0	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	53	Semi-Slav Meran	In the middlegame Eljanov was able to win a pawn, and held onto his advantage in the endgame despite Black's activity
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	0.5-0.5	Wang Hao	CHI	2727	34	Semi-Tarrasch	White'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.

Standing	Name	Country	Rating	World rank	Age	+	=	-	Points
1	Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	3	28	2	3	0	3.5
2=	Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	6	27	1	4	0	3
2=	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	8	25	1	4	0	3
2=	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	9	20	1	4	0	3
2=	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	15	23	1	4	0	3
2=	Wang Hao	CHI	2727	18	21	1	4	0	3
7	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	4	35	1	3	1	2.5
8=	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	13	27	1	1	3	1.5
8=	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	14	42	1	1	3	1.5
10	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	16	38	0	2	3	1

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

Round 1 (5th of November):

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	43	Queen's Gambit Declined Lasker
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	1-0	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	57	Petroff Defence
Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	0-1	Wang Hao	CHI	2727	51	French Defence
Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	1-0	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	41	Queen's Gambit Ragozin
Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	1-0	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	58	Catalan/Bogoljubov

Round 2 (6th of November):

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	0.5-0.5	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	39	Nimzoindian Defence 4.g3
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	1-0	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	61	Slav Defence
Wang Hao	CHI	2727	0.5-0.5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	39	Catalan Opening
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	0.5-0.5	Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	39	Queen's Gambit Declined
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	1-0	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	40	Catalan/Bogoljubov

Round 3 (7th of November):

Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	0-1	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	71	Spanish Breyer
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	70	Spanish Berlin
Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	1-0	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	43	Catalan Opening
Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	0.5-0.5	Hao Wang	CHI	2727	22	Slav Defence
Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	0-1	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	51	Nimzoindian Defence 4.Qc2

Round 4 (8th of November):

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	0.5-0.5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	35	Slav Defence
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	0.5-0.5	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	63	Spanish Neo-Archangel
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	0.5-0.5	Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	43	Catalan/Bogljubov
Hao Wang	CHI	2727	0.5-0.5	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	79	English Opening
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	0.5-0.5	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	33	Petroff Defence

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