Medias Kings Rd5: Thrilling chess by all; Carlsen leads

by ChessBase
6/15/2011 – The fifth round was certainly a looker with all games featuring action-packed chess. Carlsen beat Nisipeanu with his signature play, and is now on 3.5/5 with a nigh 2900 performance. Karjakin faced Ivanchuk's Giuoco Piano and shocked him with 16...Bxh3!! in a fantastic attack. Radjabov and Nakamura played a Najdorf that drew after mind-boggling tactics. Commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco.

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ROMGAZ and the Chess Club Society "Elisabeta Polihroniade” of Bucharest are staging a double round robin tournament with six top GMs: the world's second highest ranked player, Magnus Carlsen of Norway; Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk, currently the world's number five; Sergey Karjakin, former child prodigy and youngest GM of all time; top US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, clear winner of this year's Wijk aan Zee tournament; Teimour Radjabov, one of Azerbaijan's top GMs, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the best Romanian player. The competition is taking place from June 11th to 22nd 2011 in Medias, Romania.

Round five results

Round 5: Wednesday, June 15, 15:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
½-½
 Hikaru Nakamura
Vassily Ivanchuk 
0-1
 Sergey Karjakin
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

Commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco

The last round of the first half of Kings’ Tournament turned out to be very exciting with two decisive games and one interesting draw. The curious thing is that both decisive games started with quiet openings, while Radjabov-Nakamura displayed a very sharp line in Sicilian Najdorf, which looked like anything but a draw. Nakamura’s opening preparation was impressive once again and Radjabov had a difficult task to find many precise moves over the board in a wild position. He managed it very well, but obviously was consuming more time than his opponent. The players entered an endgame with slightly better chances for Black, which Radjabov succeeded to hold rather confidently.


Teimour Radjabov on the defence in his round five game against...


... Hikaru Nakamura, who played a sharp Sicilian Najdorf

Carlsen-Nisipeanu was a Queen’s Gambit Accepted, the variation 7.dxc5, where White exchanges queens right in the opening. Then Nisipeanu mixed something up and produced a novelty that quickly led to an unpleasant position for Black, where White’s bishops’ pair dominated. Carlsen converted his advantage into a full point with an amazing ease.


Magnus Carlsen converting his advantage sith consummate ease


On the receiving end: Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

In Ivanchuk-Karjakin the Ukrainian chose a quiet line in Italian Game and it seems that there will be long maneuvering before (and if!) anything captivating could happen. Then suddenly Ivanchuk overlooked a well hidden tactical resource, which immediately secured Black a large advantage. Karjakin was precise until the end and won his first game in the Kings’ Tournament.


Sergey Karjakin playing the black side of an Italian Game


Vassily Ivanchuk on his way to a second loss in this tournament

Thus after the first half of the tournament Carlsen is leading with 3.5 point out of five, Karjakin is in the sole second place with 3.0 points, Nakamura is alone third with 2.5 points and three players are sharing places 4-6 with 2.0 points each: Nisipeanu, Ivanchuk and Radjabov.


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Commentator Dorian Rogozenco analyses with Hikaru Nakamura after the game


Animated and expressive in his analysis: GM Teimour Radjabov


Trying to convince the resident GM of a line he saw in the game


Sergey Karjakin discussing his game with Dorian Rogozenco


Pleased as Punch after his stunning win over former compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk


Our commentator analyses with Magnus Carlsen minutes after the game

[Click to replay games on traditional replay page]

All pictures by Pascal Simon, ChessBase


Standings after five rounds

Schedule and results

Round 1: Saturday, June 11, 15:30h
Vassily Ivanchuk 
1-0
 Teimour Radjabov
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Hikaru Nakamura
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin
Round 2: Sunday, June 12, 15:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin
Hikaru Nakamura 
1-0
 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Vassily Ivanchuk 
½-½
 Magnus Carlsen
Round 3: Monday, June 13, 15:30h
Magnus Carlsen 
½-½
 Teimour Radjabov
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
1-0
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
 Hikaru Nakamura
Round 4: Tuesday, June 14, 15:30h
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
½-½
 Teimour Radjabov
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
 Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura 
½-½
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Round 5: Wednesday, June 15, 15:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
½-½
 Hikaru Nakamura
Vassily Ivanchuk 
0-1
 Sergey Karjakin
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Round 6: Friday, June 17, 15:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
   Vassily Ivanchuk
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Magnus Carlsen
Sergey Karjakin 
   Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
GamesReport
Round 7: Saturday, June 18, 15:30h
Sergey Karjakin 
   Teimour Radjabov
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
   Hikaru Nakamura 
Magnus Carlsen 
   Vassily Ivanchuk
GamesReport
Round 8: Sunday, June 19, 15:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
   Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk 
   Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Sergey Karjakin
GamesReport
Round 9: Monday, June 20, 15:30h
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Teimour Radjabov
Sergey Karjakin 
   Vassily Ivanchuk
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
   Magnus Carlsen
GamesReport
Round 10: Tuesday, June 21, 13:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
   Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Magnus Carlsen 
   Sergey Karjakin
Vassily Ivanchuk 
   Hikaru Nakamura 
GamesReport

Links

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