2016 Baku Rd5: A day of brilliancies

2016 Baku Olympiad

All games start at 3 p.m. local time = 1 p.m. in Europe (CEST), one hour earlier in Britain, and 2 p.m. in Moscow. You can find the starting time at your location here.

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Round five

It was a true feast for the chess lovers with great matches, great moments and great games. While the games chosen all have special moments, you are invited to try your hand at them and see if your creativity and skill can match those of the players.

The Russians have been on the comeback trail, and while they won in round five and well, they still depend on their rivals to slip. Sergey Karjakin has been impeccable though and is 3.5/4 on board one. (photo by David Llada)

The biggest match of the day was Azerbaijan against India. Both teams had played gret, and both had superstars in their midst. It was India's day as Pentala Harikrishna defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on board one with black. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi also won, making it 3-1 for India. Please note that Vidit is on 5.0/5! (photo by M. Emelianova)

The Chinese have been trying to keep up that magic that brought them gold in 2014, notably thanks to the incredible performance by this man, Ding Liren. Unfortunately, it was not enough, as they fell to Ukraine in round five. (photo by M. Emelianova)

This man, Yuriy Kryvoruchko, defeated Yu Yangyi and secured victory for his team. (photo by David Llada)

Holland also continued its amazing performance, beating Belarus in round five. The key game was Benajmin Bok's absolutely mind-boggling win over Kirill Stupak. (photo by E. Kublashvili)

Kirill Stupak - Benjamin Bok (analyzed by GM Elshan Morodiabadi)

Norway faced Belgium and won rather easily. It should be noted that the Norwegian team's performance has been rather lackluster thus far, but with Magnus there... anything can happen! (photo by David Llada)

Speaking of fantastic performances. Poland has been fine, and in particular Jan-Krzysztof Duda (center) who has scored an amazing 5.0/5 himself against GM opposition. See his handiwork in round five. It was impressive. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Viorel Iordachescu

The English had lost a really bad match to Holland in round four, but they bounced back with a powerful win over Vietnam. Whatever ailed them before was quietly swept under the carpet as Gawain Jones played a game reminiscent of the great Tal! (photo by M. Emelianova)

Anh Khoi Nguyen - Gawain Jones (annotated by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)

Among the many warriors at the Olympiad, a special shout out must be made to the IBCA, for the blind players who come to compete. FM Stanislav Babarykin (2339) has had a good event so far with 3.0/5 and a 2445 performance. (photo by M. Emelianova)  

Still, the star of the IBCA team so far has been FM Oliver Mueller (2272 FIDE) from Germany, who has also scored 3.0/5 with a 2448 performance, nearly 200 Elo more than his rating. (photo by M. Emelianova)

If the repatrated Latvian, Alexei Shirov, has been somewhat quiet this far, he was not in round five when he locked horns with the equally maverick Richard Rapport. (photo by David Llada)

Alexei Shirov - Richard Rapport

In spite of all the hard competition, one of the wonderful things about an event such as the Olympiad is the opportunity to meet friends, make new ones, and bring people closer. Here are Iranian FM Aryan Gholami, Norwegian GM Aryan Tari, and WGM Zhansaya Abdumalik from Kazakhstan. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Tania Sachdev enjoys some laughs with Pentala Harikrishna (photo by M. Emelianova)

New generations and old: FM Aryan Gholami from Iran with GM Ehsan Maghami (photo by M. Emelianova)

The Women's competition was just as hard fought and just as brilliant. While Russia kept their perfect score by beating the rising team from Kazakhstan, Ukraine did just as well by defeating Serbia 3-1. In particular see Anna Muzychuk's fantastic win on board one. (photo by David Llada)

Jovana Rapport - Anna Muzychuk (annotated by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)

Here is the Women's team of Lithuania with IM Deimante Daulyte, WIM Salomeja Zaksaite, WFM Daiva Batyte, and WFM Laima Domarkaite. Although they failed to defeat the US in round five, their top board did beat GM Irina Krush in a flourish. (photo by David Llada)

Irina Krush - Deimante Daulyte

Video impressions of round five by Vijay Kumar with interviews of the victorious Indians (see 10:20)

About GM Elshan Moradiabadi Elshan Moradiabadi is a GM born and raised in Tehran, Iran. He moved to the US in 2012. Ever since, he has been active in US college chess scenes and in US chess. Elshan co-authored "Chess and the Art of War: Ancient Wisdom to Make You a Better Player" with Al Lawrence. He has also published written articles for ChessBase, and edited opening materials for fellow authors. Elshan Moradiabadi is a veteran instructor and teaches chess to every level, with students ranging from beginners to IM. He can be contacted for projects or teaching at his email. You can contact him at his email or follow him on Twitter.

Round five games (with times per move)