All nine games in round 5 were draws – a sort of truce before the rest day. Aronian leads with 3.5 points. However, the chase pack of 6 players is only half a point back. A win with white against Svidler on table 1 will make life a lot more comfortable going into the final 3 rounds.
The
challenge with these small field swiss events is that by the end of round 6 or
maybe 7 all the players at the top of the leader board have already played each
other. This leaves everyone with must win games in the closing rounds against
relatively weaker opponents.
The pairings
for round 6 are as follows, with tournament points in brackets:
Levon
Aronian (4.5) vs Evgeny Tomashevsky (4)
Hikaru
Nakamura (4) vs Pentala Harikrishna (4)
Peter
Svidler (4) vs Ding Liren (4)
Richard
Rapport (4) vs Dmitri Jakovenko (4)
Emesto
Inarkiev (3.5) vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (4)
Francisco
Vallejo Pons (3) vs Pavel Elanjanov (3.5)
Li Chao (2.5)
vs Anish Giri (3.5)
Boris
Gelfand (2.5) vs vs Teimour Radjabov (3.5)
Jon Ludvig
Hammer (2) vs Alexander Riazantsev (2.5)
Levon
Aronian (4.5) vs Evgeny Tomashevsky (4) DRAW
A 16 move
Queens Indian from Aronian – and this while 8 players are only half a point
back.
Aronian,Levon (2801) - Tomashevsky,Evgeny (2702)
FIDE Grand Prix Palma
2017 Palma de Mallorca (8), 24.11.2017
1.d4 Nf6
2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0–0 0–0 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 Bf6 9.Ne5 E18:
Queens Indian
9...Nxc3 10.Bxc3 Bxg2 11.Kxg2 c5 12.Nf3 cxd4
13.Bxd4 Na6N [13...Be7
14.Qd3 d6 15.Qc3 e5 16.Be3 Nd7 ½–½ Aronian,L (2809)-Grischuk,A (2764)
London 2013]
14.Bxf6 Qxf6 15.Qd4 Qxd4 16.Nxd4 Rfc8 17.b3 ½–½
Richard
Rapport (4) vs Dmitri Jakovenko (4) DRAW
An even
shorter draw at 15 moves. Seems like the players all want an extra rest day.
Rapport,Richard (2692) - Jakovenko,Dmitry (2721)
FIDE Grand Prix Palma
2017 Palma de Mallorca (8), 24.11.2017
1.d4 Nf6
2.Bg5 d5 3.e3 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Qc2 Nc6
6.Nd2 e5 7.dxe5 Nxe5 8.Be2 Be7 9.Ngf3 Ng6 10.0–0 0–0 11.c4 Be6 12.cxd5 Nxd5
13.Bc4 h6 14.Bxe7 Ngxe7 15.a3= ½–½
Emesto
Inarkiev (3.5) vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (4) DRAW
Neither
player made any breakthrough in a Grunfeld, agreeing to split the point just
after the time control.
Inarkiev,Ernesto (2683) - Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2796)
FIDE Grand Prix Palma
2017 Palma de Mallorca (8), 24.11.2017
1.d4 Nf6
2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0–0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 Qxd5 8.Bxc7 Na6 9.Bxa6
Qxg2 10.Qf3 Qxf3 11.Nxf3 bxa6 12.Rc1 f6 D84: Grünfeld: 4 Bf4 Bg7 5 e3
0–0 6 cxd5
13.Rg1 Rf7 14.b3 Bd7N [14...Bf8 15.Nd2 Bb7 16.Ke2 Re8 17.f3 e5 18.dxe5 Bb4 19.Ne4 fxe5 20.Ng5 ½–½ Giri,A (2771)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2796) Leuven 2017]
15.Ba5 e6 16.Nd2 Rc8
17.Rxc8+ Bxc8 18.Ne4 Bf8 19.Ke2 Bb7 20.f3 Kg7 21.Rc1 g5 22.Nc5 Bxc5 23.dxc5 Bc6
24.Rd1 Bb5+ 25.Kf2 Rd7 26.Rxd7+ Bxd7 27.Bc7 e5 28.Bb8 Kg6 29.Bxa7 Kf5 30.Kg3 h5
31.e4+ Ke6 32.h4 gxh4+ 33.Kxh4 f5 34.Kxh5 fxe4 35.fxe4 Bc6 36.Kg4 Bxe4 37.Kg3
Bb1 38.a3 Bc2 39.b4 Ba4 40.Kf3 Kd5 41.Ke3= ½–½
Peter
Svidler (4) vs Ding Liren (4) DRAW
Svidler’s
English opening yielded few opportunities for either player, and when the
queens were exchanged on move 26 the position was completely dry.
Svidler,Peter (2763) - Ding,Liren (2774)
FIDE Grand Prix Palma
2017 Palma de Mallorca (8), 24.11.2017
1.c4 Nf6
2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.d4 b6 8.Be2 A18:
English Opening: Flohr-Mikenas System (1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e6 3 e4) [8.Bd3 feels
hotter. 8...Bb7 9.Nf3 h6 10.0–0 Bd6 11.Nd2]
8...Bb7 9.Bf3 Bxf3 10.Nxf3 Bd6
11.Qa4+ c6 12.0–0 0–0 13.Rb1 Bc7 14.Re1 Rc8 15.Kh1 15...Qf5N [15...h6 ]
16.Be3 h6 17.h3 a6 18.d5 exd5 19.Bxb6 Bxb6 20.Rxb6 Nd7 21.Rxc6 Nc5
22.Rxc8+ Rxc8 23.Qa5 dxc4 24.Kg1 Qf6 25.Nd4 Nd3 26.Qf5 Qxf5 ½–½
Li Chao (2.5)
vs Anish Giri (3.5) WHITE WINS
Things were
looking bleak for Mr 50% when Li uncorked g5 on move 25. More steady pressure
till move 36 when d6 indicated that the queen side passed pawns would decide
the game.
Li,Chao b (2741) - Giri,Anish (2762)
FIDE Grand Prix Palma
2017 Palma de Mallorca (8), 24.11.2017
1.d4 d5
2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 Bf5 7.e3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Ne5 D14:
Slav Defence: Exchange variation with ...Bf5
9...Qb6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Be2 Ne4
12.f3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Be7 14.c4 Qxb3 15.axb3 Bb4+
16.Kf2 a5! 17.Rhc1N Kd7 18.g4 Bg6 19.cxd5 exd5 20.e4 dxe4 21.d5 c5
22.Bb5+ Kd8 23.Bd6 Rc8 24.Bc6 h5 25.g5! exf3 26.Bxc5 Bxc5+ 27.Rxc5
Re8 [27...Ke7±]
28.Rcxa5 [Don't do 28.Kxf3?! Re5²]
28...Re2+
29.Kxf3 Rxh2 30.b4 [30.Ra7!+- Rb8 31.Kf4]
30...Kc7 31.b5 Rh3+
32.Kf2 [32.Kg2± Rb3 33.Ra7+ Kd6 34.Rd7+ Ke5 35.d6]
32...Rb3 [32...Rb8=
keeps the balance.] 33.Ra7+ Kd6 34.Rd7+ Kc5? [34...Ke5±]
35.Rc1+ Kd4 36.d6! Rb2+ 37.Kg1 Bf5? 38.Rxf7 g6 39.d7 Rd8 40.Re7+- 1–0
Hikaru
Nakamura (4) vs Pentala Harikrishna (4) DRAW
The Indian
GM went all out with a Sicilian Taimanov and although white did have a marginal
advantage through the middle game, it all dried up as the pieces came off. The
result being that Aronian keeps his half point lead going into the final round.
Nakamura,Hikaru (2780) - Harikrishna,P (2738)
FIDE Grand Prix Palma
2017 Palma de Mallorca (8), 24.11.2017
1.e4 c5
2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.f4 a6 7.a3 b5 8.Be3 Bb7 B48:
Sicilian: Taimanov: 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be3 a6 without Be2
9.Nb3 [9.Bd3 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Nf6 11.Qf3 Bc5 12.Bxc5 Qxc5 13.0–0–0 Rc8 14.Qg3 0–0
15.e5 Nh5 16.Qh4 1–0 (31) Savchenko,B (2608)-Grachev,B (2673) Moscow 2014]
9...Na5
10.Nxa5 Qxa5 11.Bd3 Qc7 12.0–0 Nf6 13.Qe2N [13.Kh1 h5 14.e5
Ng4 15.Bg1 ½–½ Lorenz,N (1923)-Jahn,C (2116) Germany 2016]
13...Bc5
14.Bxc5 Qxc5+ 15.Kh1 d5 16.e5 Nd7 17.Qg4 g6 18.Ne2 a5 19.h4 b4! 20.axb4 axb4
21.Rxa8+ Bxa8 22.Ra1 Bb7 23.Kh2 Qb6 24.h5 Nc5 25.Qh4 Rg8 26.Qf2 d4 27.hxg6 hxg6 28.Qxd4 Qc6 29.Qf2 g5 30.Rd1 Nxd3 31.cxd3 Qc2 32.Rf1 Qxd3 33.fxg5
Qh7+ 34.Kg1 Rxg5 35.Ng3 Qg6 36.Qa7 Rxg3 37.Qb8+ Ke7 38.Qd6+ Ke8 39.Qb8+ Ke7
40.Qd6+= Ke8 41.Qb8+ ½–½
Boris
Gelfand (2.5) vs vs Teimour Radjabov (3.5) BLACK WINS
Poor
Gelfand! All was going smoothly until it wasn’t anymore. When Radjabov uncorked
Nxd5 on move 28 to grab the initiative, things stated to look bleak, quickly.
In the end there was no way to defend against black’s both c and a passed pawns.
Gelfand,Boris (2719) - Radjabov,Teimour (2741)
FIDE Grand Prix Palma
2017 Palma de Mallorca (8), 24.11.2017
1.d4 Nf6
2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0–0 0–0 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 d6 10.Rad1 E18: Queen's Indian: Old Main Line (4 g3 Bb7 5 Bg2 Be7
6 0–0 0–0 7 Nc3)
10...Nd7 11.Rfe1 c5 12.e4 a6 13.d5N [13.e5
Bxf3 14.Bxf3 cxd4 15.Qxd4 Nxe5 16.Bxa8 Qxa8 17.Rxe5 dxe5 18.Qxb6 1–0 Moroni,L (2448)-Romanov,E (2636) Llucmajor 2017]
13...e5 14.b3 g6 15.Rf1 Bc8
16.Ne1 Rb8 17.a4 f5 [17...Bg5!? 18.Qe2 Bb7=]
18.f4 exf4 19.gxf4 fxe4
20.Nxe4 b5 21.a5 bxc4 22.bxc4 Rb4 23.Rc1 Nf6 24.Ng5 Qxa5 25.Nd3 Ra4 26.Qe3 Qd8
27.Rce1 Bf5 28.Bh3 Nxd5! 29.cxd5 Bxg5! 30.Bxf5 Rxf5 31.Qe6+ Kg7
32.fxg5 Qxg5+ 33.Kh1 Ra2 34.Qe7+ Qxe7 35.Rxe7+ Kf8 36.Ree1 Rxf1+ 37.Rxf1+ Ke7
38.Re1+ Kd7 39.Re3 [39.Nf4=]
39...a5 40.Rh3 h5 41.Nf4 [41.Kg1µ]
41...a4
42.Nxg6 [42.Kg1µ]
42...a3 43.Rf3 [43.Rc3µ]
43...c4! 44.Nf4
Ra1+ 45.Kg2 a2! 46.Ra3 c3! 47.Ne2 c2 48.Kf2
Rh1–+ 0–1
Jon Ludvig
Hammer (2) vs Alexander Riazantsev (2.5) DRAW
Hammer threw
all his nails and more at the Russian GM’s French Defence. It was going great
until he missed Ke3 on move 59 and allowed d2! After that the huge advantage
was ground down to a stalemate on move 80.
Hammer,Jon Ludvig (2629) - Riazantsev,Alexander (2651)
FIDE Grand Prix Palma
2017 Palma de Mallorca (8), 24.11.2017
1.e4 e6
2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bd3 Nb4
C01: French: Exchange Variation
6.Bb5+ c6 7.Be2 Bf5 8.Na3 Na6N [8...a5 9.c3 Na6 10.Nc2 Bd6 11.0–0 Ne7 12.Ne5 0–0 13.Ne3 0–1 Toufighi,H
(2386)-Volkov,S (2628) playchess.com INT 2006]
9.0–0 Nc7 10.Re1 Be7 11.c3
Nf6 12.Nc2 0–0 13.Ne3 Be4 14.Ne5 c5 15.f3 Bg6 16.Bd3 Re8 17.Nf5 Bf8 18.g4 Nd7
19.Kg2 Nxe5 20.dxe5 f6 21.Bf4! Bxf5 22.gxf5 [Much worse is 22.Bxf5 fxe5
23.Bxe5 (23.Rxe5 Rxe5 24.Bxe5 Bd6=) 23...Bd6=]
22...fxe5 23.Bxe5 Be7
24.f4 Bf6 25.Qh5 Re7 26.c4 d4 27.Re2 Qe8 28.Qxe8+ Nxe8 29.Kg3 Kf8 30.Rae1 Rd8
31.Bxf6 Rxe2 32.Bxg7+ Nxg7 33.Rxe2 Kf7 34.Kf3 b6 35.a3 a5 36.b4 axb4 37.axb4
Ne8 [37...Re8=]
38.Re6 Rd6 39.bxc5 bxc5 40.Re5 Rc6 41.Be4 Rc7 42.Bd5+
Kf8 43.Re6 Re7 44.Rc6 Rc7 45.Re6 [45.Ra6!± Kg7 46.Ke4]
45...Re7
46.Rb6 Kg7 47.Rc6! Nf6 48.Rxc5 Re3+ 49.Kf2 Ng4+ 50.Kg2 Rc3 51.Rc7+
Kh6 [51...Kf8 52.Be6 (52.Rxh7 d3+-) ]
52.h3? Ne3+ 53.Kf2 Nxd5
54.Rc6+ Nf6! 55.Rxf6+ Kg7 56.Rc6 Rxh3 57.c5 Rh2+ 58.Kf3 d3? [58...h5!²]
59.Ke4? [59.Ke3+-]
59...d2! 60.Rd6 h5! 61.c6 h4 62.f6+ Kg6! 63.f7+
Kxf7 64.Kf5! d1Q 65.Rxd1 Rc2 66.Rd7+! Ke8 67.Rc7 Kd8 68.Rh7 Rxc6 69.Rxh4 Ke7=
70.Kg5 Kf7 71.f5 Ra6 72.Rh7+ Kf8 73.Rh6 Rxh6 74.Kxh6 Kf7 75.Kg5 Kg7 76.f6+ Kf7
77.Kf5 Kf8 78.Kg6 Kg8 79.f7+ Kf8 80.Kf6 ½–½
Francisco
Vallejo Pons (3) vs Pavel Elanjanov (3.5) DRAW
A drawn out
affair out of the Berlin Wall of the Ruy Lopez that went on for close to 8
hours before the players shook hands.
Vallejo Pons,Francisco (2705) - Eljanov,Pavel (2707)
FIDE Grand Prix Palma
2017 Palma de Mallorca (8), 24.11.2017
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0–0 6.0–0 d6 7.h3 a6 C65:
Ruy Lopez (Berlin Defence)
8.Ba4 Ba7 9.Re1 Ne7 10.Nbd2 Ng6
11.Nf1 d5N [11...c6 12.Ng3
1/2–1/2 (12) Grischuk,A (2750) -Tomashevsky,E (2696) Moscow 2017]
12.Bg5 h6
13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.exd5 Nf4 15.Ng3 Qg6
16.d4 exd4 17.Nxd4 Nxd5 18.Bb3 c6 19.Bxd5 cxd5 20.Qf3
Bxd4 21.cxd4 Be6 22.Nh5 Rac8 23.Rac1 Rxc1 24.Rxc1 Qe4 25.Qd1 Rc8 26.Rxc8+ Bxc8
27.a3 Bf5 [27...Bd7 with more complications. 28.Qd2 Qb1+ 29.Kh2 Qg6 30.Ng3
Qf6]
28.Qd2 Qd3 29.Qxd3 Bxd3= 30.f3 f6 31.Nf4 Bc4
32.g3 Kf7 33.Kf2 g5 34.Ng2 Ke6 35.Ne3 Bd3 36.Ng4 h5 37.Ne3 a5 38.h4 b6 39.Nd1
Kd6 40.Nc3 Bc2 41.Ke3 Bf5 42.Nd1 Ke6 43.Nf2 Bg6 44.Kd2 Be8 45.Ke3 Bg6 46.Nh3
Bf5 47.Ng1 Bg6 48.Ne2 Bf5 49.Kd2 Kd6 50.Nc3 Bd7 51.b3 Bf5 52.Nd1 Bd7 53.Nf2 Ke6
54.Ke3 Kd6 55.Nd3 Bf5 56.Nc1 Bd7 57.Na2 Bf5 58.b4 axb4 59.Nxb4 Bb1 60.Ke2 Ke6
61.Kd2 Bg6 62.Na2 Kd6 63.Kc3 Bb1 64.Nc1 Bf5 65.Ne2 Bh3 66.Kd2 Bd7 67.f4 gxh4
68.gxh4 Bg4 69.Ng3 Kc6 70.Nf1 Kb5 71.Ne3 Bf3 72.Kc3 Ka4 73.Kb2 Be4 74.Nd1 Kb5 75.Kb3 Bd3 76.Nc3+ Kc6 77.Kb4 Kd6 78.Nd1 Kc6
79.Ne3 Kd6 80.Kc3 Be2 81.Nf5+ Kd7 82.Kb4 Kc6 83.a4 Bg4 [83...Bd1=]
84.Ng7
[84.Nh6!± ]
84...Be2 85.Ne8! Kd7 86.Ng7 [86.Nxf6+± Ke6
87.Ne8]
86...Kd6 87.Nf5+ Kc6 88.Ng3 Bg4 89.Nf1 Bf3 90.Ne3 Be4 91.Kb3 Kd6
92.Kc3 Kc6 93.Kb4 Bd3 94.Kc3 Be4 95.Nf1 Bf3 96.Ng3 Bg4 97.Kb4 Kc7 98.Nf1 Kc6
99.Ne3 Bd7 100.f5 Bc8 101.a5 bxa5+ 102.Kxa5 Bb7 103.Ng2 Bc8 104.Nf4 Bxf5
105.Nxh5 Kd6 106.Nxf6 Ke6 107.Nh5 Bg4 108.Ng3 Bf3 109.Kb4 Kf6 110.Kc3 Kg6
111.Kb3 Bg4 112.Kb2 Bc8 113.Kc3 Ba6 114.Kd2 Bc4 115.Ke3 Bb3 116.Kf3 Ba4 117.Kf4
Bd1 118.Nf5 Kh5 119.Kg3 Ba4 120.Ne3 Bc6
121.Ng4 Bb7 122.Ne5 Ba6 123.Nd7 Kg6 124.Nb6
Bb7 125.Nd7 Kf5 126.Kf3 Bc6 127.Nb6 Be8 128.Nc8 Bh5+ 129.Ke3 Kg4 130.Ne7 Bf7 131.Nc6 Be6 132.Nb4 Bg8 133.h5
Kg5 134.h6 Kxh6 135.Kf4 Kg7 136.Ke5 Kf7 137.Nxd5 Kf8
138.Kd6 Bf7 139.Nc7 Bb3 140.d5 Bxd5 ½–½
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