Grenke: Five draws in round five

Split decisions

After five rounds, the table miraculously reflects the two-tier company in the GRENKE Chess Classic: the five players in the top half have not lost any of the 25 games played so far; while among the players in the lower half, there is not a single victory between them. One possible explanation: Within both of the two groups, the players have barely played against each other. In the top half, only three games have been played so far, and the same in the lower group. Of these six matches, of course, all were drawn. The bottom line is: In the second half of the tournament the leaders will be playing each other, so we can look forward to that!

Carlsen chose to transpose to a Stonewall structure against Meier | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Meier ½-½ Carlsen

Just before the time control, Meir had Carlsen dead to rights, but missed the knockout blow allowing the World Champion to turn the tables. Carlsen called it a "bluff", and the result was a quick draw.

Daniel King goes through the game for Power Play Chess:

Power Play 24: A repertoire for black against the Catalan

On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black against the Catalan, based around maintaining the rock of a pawn on d5. Keeping central control ultimately gives Black good chances to launch an attack against the enemy king.

Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ Aronian

From the standings, this was the top contest of the 5th round — but the course of the game was not very exciting. After all, there was a mass liquidation in the middle game resulting in an equal bishop endgame and soon a handshake.

Winning with the Ruy Lopez Vol. 1: Berlin Wall and others

Among the open games the only opening with which White can really fight for an advantage in the long term is the Ruy Lopez. But in order to make this serious effort, he has buckle down and learn a whole series of sub-variations. That is what the professionals do, including of course Viktor Bologan, who now reveals the secrets of his own grandmaster repertoire.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian: The top game of today ended early with a draw | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Anand ½-½ Caruana

Caruana took a more solid posture than in recent days, and Anand's game also looked as if minimising risk was a priority for the Indian. The result was a not very exciting draw:

The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1

The dynamic play based on a strong strategic foundation has always fascinated me, and in these DVDs I have suggested the lines which I personally prefer and employ in practice.

Anand vs. Caruana: The drawing margin was never exceeded | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Naiditsch ½-½ Bluebaum

Matthias Bluebaum came under a terrible attack after a tactical mistake in time trouble against Arkadij Naiditsch. But the German managed to survive after a tough struggle netted a well-earned half point!  

The English Opening Vol. 1

Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.

Naiditsch missed a potential first victory against Bluebaum, whose only loss came in round 1 | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Hou Yifan ½-½ Vitiugov

In the final position, Vitiugov had indeed an extra pawn, but his bishop was far worse than his Chinese opponent's knight, and the draw was thus inevitable.

Standings after five rounds

All games

Round five recap

Commentary webcast

GMs Jan Gustafsson and Peter Leko

Translation from German: Macauley Peterson

Links

• Grenke Chess Classic official site
• Grenke Chess Open official site
• Grenke Open: 13-year-old-steals the spotlight
• Round 4: Three on three
• Round 3: Black strikes back
• Round 2: The power of white
• Round 1: An exciting start as Carlsen and Caruana face off