I was expecting this game to turn into a veritable dogfight, but Shirov wasted no time whipping out the old vacuum cleaner when it became clear that Kasparov had equalised in the opening. Besides being half a point ahead, I think Shirov was haunted by the fact that he’s never beaten The Champ.

Georgiev opted for a fairly boring line in the Dragon variation, but he never really managed to equalise, despite his superior theoretical knowledge. 19…Qd6, allowing White to run his pawn to h6, was a serious mistake, and after a couple of additional errors, there was no way to resist the Russian’s brutal attack.

The Englishman’s growing confidence was reflected in his opening choice: The ultra-sharp Marshall Attack. Topalov chose a line that is supposed to be good for White, but his novelty on move twenty stunk, to put it bluntly. After this, it was Adams all the way.

Not a very exciting game. Bareev was probably still trying to find his teeth after the number Shirov had done on him in the previous round, so his cautious approach in this encounter was quite understandable. After a brief opening test, the players decided to call it a day with a friendly handshake.

Sokolov finally managed to get a little something with the Exchange Variation in the Queen’s Gambit, but Bacrot defended accurately and secured a draw. So, after losing four games in a row, the nightmare is finally over for the young Frenchman!

The battle of the bottom dwellers. Neither of these players had so far managed to win a game, so the final result, a draw, came as no big surprise.