4th FIDE GP 2015 - Round 5

Opening: A05: English Opening

Player(s): Jakovenko, Vachier-Lagrave, Karjakin, Tomashevsky

GM Larry Christiansen recaps Round 5. As usual, the Grand Prix Tournaments are joyous draw festivals, and this 4th is not going to break the tradition. Today 4 uneventful draws have characterized a rather tedious round, but at least one game has drawn the interest of the fans. Karjakin of Russia, in a 99-move long struggle won his battle against fellow countryman Tomashevsky. This puts Karjakin in second place, together with Dominguez and Svidler, half a point behind the leader, Caruana of US. Nakamura went for his 5th draw, and now sails in the middle of the standings, with 2.5 points. After 5 rounds, the situation is still very fluid though, and everything can happen. The first 8 players are within 1 point, and a win can change dramatically the standings. The other decisive game today was Jakovenko's win over MVL; sadly, MVL blundered badly at an early stage of the game, and from there on it was only a matter of technique for Jako to get the full point. A rarely seen blunder at this level, especially for the French GM was not in time trouble. Now MVL is last - solo - with 1.5 points. We all hope he will be able to bounce back, and keep fighting during the tournament.