Candidates Tournament, Round 5: Four Draws and Many Missed Opportunities
Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian continue to lead the Candidates' tournament after five rounds, but they could have found themselves in a four- or even five-way tie for first, or even in a three- (of four-) way tie for second half a point behind Peter Svidler.
Carlsen chose a dubious move in the Gruenfeld and quickly got into trouble against Vassily Ivanchuk. Twice, in fact, but both times his choice of active defense enabled him to avoid falling into disastrous danger. Ivanchuk was better almost from A to Z, but maybe never quite enough to say that he should have won.
The same cannot be said of Vladimir Kramnik, who missed an outright winner on move 24 and had Aronian on the ropes in the endgame as well. This was a huge opportunity for Kramnik, and against one of his main rivals. So far he has not made the most of his opportunities in the tournament, and it's starting to get a little late for him to make a push.
Svidler, on the other hand, could have joined the leaders with a win (or even leapfrogged them had they lost), and he had victory in his hands. Boris Gelfand badly botched the opening, and Svidler had an overwhelming position: a great center, beautiful bishops, and a ready-made attack against Gelfand's king. Somehow he let all of it slip, and near the end he was even in some danger of losing. (23.e6? was a particularly damaging move.) Some (very) resourceful defense and a missed opportunity by Gelfand finally let him escape with a draw.
Finally, Teimour Radjabov, like Kramnik, could have caught the leaders with a win, had both of them lost, and towards the end of his game with Alexander Grischuk he started to get some (slight) chances. Most of the way though, he was in some trouble; lost, in Grischuk's mind.
The games, with my notes, can be replayed here.
Standings:
1-2. Carlsen, Aronian 3.5
3. Svidler 3
4-5. Kramnik, Radjabov 2.5
6. Grischuk 2
7-8. Gelfand, Ivanchuk 1.5
Round 6 Pairings:
- Svidler - Carlsen
- Kramnik - Ivanchuk
- Grischuk - Gelfand
- Radjabov - Aronian
Reader Comments