FIDE Grand Prix Tournament 3, Round 5

 

Group A

Oparin's tenure at the top of the group was short-lived, as he was beaten by Nakamura. Aronian joined Nakamura in the lead by demolishing Esipenko; it emerged afterwards that Esipenko had mistaken the orders of the round 5 and 6 games and had prepared for Nakamura instead.

Group B

Dominguez-Mamedyarov was a fairly uneventful draw. Dubov, needing a win against Keymer to keep his qualification chances alive, sacrificed a piece for an attack; this resulted in an ending where he had several pawns for the piece. Enough compensation, but no more than that, and this game was also a draw.

Group C

Predke sacrificed a pawn early on against Shankland and never quite got enough for it. Vachier-Lagrave's game against So was a complex battle in Nimzo-Indian theory, and So emerged the victor after a tense struggle.

Group D

Yu will have been kicking himself after this game, as he blundered in a winning position against Tabatabaei; the latter managed to wriggle out with an ingenious perpetual. Giri, meanwhile, lived up to his reputation with a fifth draw in as many games.

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