Qatar Masters 2015 Round five express

Full report from Doha will follow...

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Magnus Carlsen was in his element today! In a Grunfeld with 3.f3 that led to a sharp middlegame in which White wanted to attack on the kingside and Black on the queenside. Magnus first played some quiet defensive moves but then sacrificed his a-pawn with 17.h4 – the beginning of a very smooth attack. A few moves later he had blown open Li Chao’s kingside. Finally, Li had to give his queen not to get mated. After Carlsen had parried all counterthreats and the dust had settled he was winning.

After 17.h4!, the fans were glued to their computer screens and treated to a fine attacking display by Carlsen.

Carlsen won in 36 moves to become the first sole leader of the tournament.
He enters the rest day with 4.5/5.

The clash of the two elite players, Anish Giri and Wesley So ended in a fighting draw after 62 moves

The clash on board three between Maxim Matlakov and Vladimir Kramnik seemed to be heading towards a draw after the opening and the beginning of the middlegame. However, Kramnik showed what he is very good at – squeezing out a win from a very slight edge. He kept posing small problems to his opponent and reached a promising queen ending in which he sacrificed a pawn to push his passed d-pawn that finally helped him win!

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov continued to play exciting and entertaining chess. With his novelty 10.b4 he created a complicated and unbalanced position. Objectively, this was anything but sound but after his opponent Denis Khismatullin missed a couple of good opportunities to win or to get a clear advantage Mamedyarov finally managed to turn the tables and won in 38 moves.

The final position in the game Nikita Vitiugov vs. Zhang Zhong game. Black to move resigned
because he cannot parry White's threat against g7. A picturesque finish!

Video impressions from round five by Vijay Kumar

Photos by Katerina Savina

Pairings/Results Round 5 on 24.12.2015

Standings after five rounds

... 132 players

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