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Round 5 (May 21)
Kasparov-Sokolov 1-0
Shirov-Short 1-0
Morozevich-Bareev draw
Georgiev-Topalov draw
Movsesian-Gurevich 0-1
Bacrot-Adams 0-1
Round 5 standings
1-2. Kasparov & Shirov 4.0
3-4. Bareev & Morozevich 3.5
5-6. Adams & Georgiev 3.0
7. Topalov 2.5
8-10. Bacrot, Gurevich & Sokolov 1.5
11-12. Movsesian & Short 1.0
*****
Kasparov vs Sokolov
Sokolov has had some bad experiences with the
Petroff lately, and in this game he was worse almost immediately. Sokolov’s
novelty, 14…Ne7, lead to a very passive position for Black, and half a dozen
moves later Kasparov was all over him like a cheap suit.
View annotated game: Kasparov-Sokolov
Shirov vs Short
England’s former World Championship
challenger is clearly suffering from bad form in this tournament, and in
a shark pool like this, that usually means you’re in for a lot of pain.
Failing to find a fairly simple equalising manoeuvre in the early middlegame,
Short landed himself in an extremely passive position.
For a while it looked as though "Nosher"
might be holding, but Shirov found an unexpected breakthrough in the endgame. A
very nice technical performance by Shirov, and another day of depression for
Short.
View annotated game: Shirov-Short
Morozevich vs Bareev
Not wanting to fall behind Kasparov and Shirov,
co-leaders Bareev and Morozevich went at each other like pitbulls on drugs. It
looked as though Morozevich might have overdone it when he was forced to place
his king on e2, but Bareev was unable to find a decisive blow. Even though this
slugfest eventually ended in a draw, it was probably the most exciting
game of the round.
View annotated game: Morozevich-Bareev
Georgiev vs Topalov
I was expecting the Bulgarian Battle to
end in violent bloodshed, but Georgiev apparently didn’t want to mix it up
with his younger compatriot on this occasion. This encounter went straight from
opening to endgame, and the final result was never really in doubt.
View annotated game: Georgiev-Topalov
Movsesian vs Gurevich
I really don’t know what to say about this
game, except that Movsesian played the opening like absolute lunatic,
advancing both his g- and h-pawn within the first 10 moves. The Czech knows
better than to expose himself like this, but he’s obviously getting desperate.
End result: Gurevich moves out of the basement, and Movsesian moves into it!
View annotated game: Movsesian-Gurevich
Bacrot vs Adams
Once again Bacrot got to play his favourite Bg5-line
against the Queen’s Indian, but Adams had no trouble equalising with his
prepared novelty 10…Nc6. The position remained roughly equal, until
Bacrot committed a fatal error on move 21.
So, what do you know? Mickey still knows how to win!
View annotated game: Bacrot-Adams
- Einar Gausel
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