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
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:
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.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian: The top game of today ended early with a draw | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
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:
Anand vs. Caruana: The drawing margin was never exceeded | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
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!
Naiditsch missed a potential first victory against Bluebaum, whose only loss came in round 1 | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
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.
GMs Jan Gustafsson and Peter Leko
Translation from German: Macauley Peterson
