The Week in Chess

The 5th round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Tashkent saw the leader Alexander Morozvich defeated by Ruslan Ponomariov allowing four other players to catch him on 3/5. Morozevich blundered with 27...Nc8 in Tarrasch French where his position was already a bit loose allowing a dangerous sacrifice of two minor pieces for rook and didn't managed to defend. Rustam Kasimdzhanov defeated Wang Hao on the black side of a sharp Scotch game. Gata Kamsky played a Leningrad Dutch as black against Boris Gelfand in an attempt to get a poor tournament going. Gelfand's pieces became uncoordinated and Kamsky made no mistake bringing home the full point. Mamedyarov-Caruana was a deeply theoretical Meran which may have been analysed almost to a draw by both players in preparation. Dominguez-Svidler saw black get a very nice position but he couldn't make much of it and the game finished in a draw. Karjakin tried a bit against Leko's Nimzo Indian before repeating after first time control.