GM Mikhail Golubev annotates games
Round 5
Nisipeanu - Dominguez
In the Sicilian Najdorf, Nisipeanu used his special line 6.Be3 e5 7.Nde2!?, which he played for the first time in the game against Veselin Topalov in 2006. On the 10th move Nisipeanu deviated from his second game against Topalov in this variation, and played 10.g3 (instead of 10.dxe5). A complex fight followed. White could not win the exchange by17.Bxa8? because of 18...Be3+ 18.Kh2 Qxa8 and then 19...Ng4+ decides. So, Nisipeanu played 17.Nd5!, after which White, as it seems, is somewhat better. At some point Dominguez did not use the obvious possibility to exchange queens. Nisipeanu made a strong move 29.Qa7!, threatening with 30.Re6. Still, after that interesting was the incredible 29...Rxc2!? 30. Re6 Qb2 31.Rg6+ (or 31. f6+ Kg6! 32. Be4+ Kh6 33. Bxc2 Qc3!) 31...Kh8 32. Rxg5 Rxg2 33.Qc7 Rgd2 - hard to be sure but it looks like a draw. After 29...Kg8 White was clearly better, while Black preserved chances for a draw. Afterwards Dominguez managed to hold his position.
0.5-0.5
Karjakin - Shirov
In the Neo-Archangelsk Variation of the Ruy Lopez Black obtained, as it seems, a fully playable position. Gradually Black developed a serious activity: Karjakin's move 26.Kh2 looks especially risky. After this move, deserved attention 26...Nd3 27.Qxd3 e4+ 28.Bg3 Qxg3+ 29.Kxg3 exd3 with the idea of 30.Re4 f5 31.Rd4 g5 32.Rxd3? Nf4 33.Rd7 Re2 -+. But Shirov decided to preserve queens on the board and played 26...Re6, which looks interesting as well. Still, Karjakin managed to consolidate. Black sacrificed the exchange, possibly underestimating the reply 40.Rdd3!. A hard loss for Shirov.
1-0
Svidler - Van Wely
In a very long theoretical line of the Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Svidler introduced a good novelty 23.Rh3!? (thereby deviating from the game Shirov-Van Wely, Wijk aan Zee 2007, where White played 23.Qg2). Queens were exchanged soon, what led to an endgame with somewhat better chances for White who has the bishop's pair. Nevertheless, the game ended in a draw on the 35th move.
0.5-0.5
Sasikiran - Rublevsky
The variation of the 5...Bf5 Slav already was tested in the first round game Nisipeanu-Jakovenko. Instead of Nisipeanu's 10.Rd1 Sasikiran played a main move 10.e4, but he hardly obtained any advantage. Black developed counterplay against the weak f4 pawn. After all, he won this pawn on the 37th move!
0-1
Onischuk - Eljanov
The opponents played an old, classical line of the Nimzo-Indian. Black solved, as it seems, all problems with a help of the small move 18...Bd5!, transferring his bishop to b7. (Instead of this, Black played 18...Nb8 in the game Kramnik-Anand, Wijk aan Zee 2001). On the 25th move Black sacrificed a pawn for the positional compensation. Step by step, Eljanov developed a really dangerous initiative. Onischuk managed to complicate matters by the exchange sacrifice. The game ended in a draw by repetition of moves in the mutual time trouble.
0.5-0.5
Jakovenko - Ivanchuk
In the Sicilian Sveshnikov White, Ivanchuk sacrificed a pawn and obtained a reasonable compensation. Instead of 12.Rxd6, bad for White would have been 12.Nf5 d5 13.Rxd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 e4 15.Qxe4 Re8. On the 26th move interesting was 26...b4!, while one move earlier 25...Ra8 possibly deserved attention. White got some winning chances in the bishops ending. Still, Black's pawn structure on the kingside was optimal, what helped him much in the defence. Jakovenko did not find any realistic plan and agreed for a draw quite quickly.
0.5-0.5