London Chess Classic 2015 - Round 5 Recap

Opening: B90: Sicilian: Najdorf, Adams attack

Player(s): Anand, Topalov

GM Ronen Har-Zvi recaps Round 5. Sometimes human nature is cruel, but most of us "mortals" feel a bit better about our game when we see the top guns blunder like there were no tomorrow. Today's game between Caruana and Grischuk is a good example of this. Both the super GMs played some unbelievable mistakes: Caruana missed a win on the spot, after Grischuk blundered horribly at move 45; Fabiano had to start it all over again, and after more imprecisions, the game ended in a rather sad draw. The only decisive game - is it a leitmotif in London? - was Anand vs. Topalov. Anand was able to strike back after yesterday's loss, at the expenses of an almost unrecognizable Topalov, who now is down to -3, with very little chances to get back in the race for the final victory of the Grand Chess Tour. Carlsen and Aronian drew their 5th game in a row, and Giri, the only unbeaten player in the whole Grand Chess Tour series, showed again how solid he is, despite being the youngest player in the lot. Nakamura tried hard to get something out of his game with Michael Adams; Naka got a good position after the opening, pawn up, but Adams was never in real danger. The standings still see the trio with Giri, MVL and Nakamura on top with 3/5, then all the rest of the pack with 2.5 and Topalov in last with 1 out of 5. Tomorrow is a rest day; play resumes Thursday the 10th, at 11AM EST. Nakamura will be pleased that the only rest day of the event happens the day he celebrates his 28th Birthday. Best wishes to him! Pairings for Round 6: Giri-Carlsen, Nakamura-Aronian, Topalov-Adams, Grischuk-Anand, MVL-Caruana.