The Week in Chess

There were three decisive games in Round 5 of the Tata Steel Masters and they all were wins for players at, or near the top, of the standings. Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Jorden Van Foreest in spite of being worse out of the opening. Once he equalised after the inaccurate 17.b5?! he quickly took over 20.Nd5?! 24.f4?! and 27.a5?! were all inaccurate from Van Foreest and Abdusattorov brought home the point convincingly after that. Sole leader Praggnanandhaa faced Max Warmerdam with black and chose the French. The Exchange variation has a better reputation that it used to, but I'm not sure Warmerdam wasn't playing for a draw from the start, they agreed a draw on move 40.

World Champion Gukesh beat Vincent Keymer in a Nimzo-Indian. Keymer has been playing very risky and fighting chess in this event but objectively he's made many dubious moves too. 22...f4? and 25...Bb7?! weren't good moves from Keymer and although Gukesh's inferior 30.Rf4?! (30.b5 is better) gave him a lifeline he didn't take it and was lost by move 40, Gukesh brought home the point in 72 moves. Vladimir Fedoseev seemed contented with a draw against Fabiano Caruana, the game looked to be heading that way when Caruana made a losing move, in that most dangerous of times, directly after first time control. It's almost hard to believe just how catastrophic the innocuous looking 41...Bg2? was, but after 42.e5! he was just lost, his bishop cut out of the game until way too late.

The remaining games were drawn, Arjun Erigaisi tried to kick start his event by playing extremely riskily with black against fellow tail-ender Leon Luke Mendonca, he almost overdid it but eventually the games finished in a draw by repetition and both players will be looking for a reset after the rest day. Already Erigaisi can only dream of damage limitation. Giri-Sarana was an interesting Giuoco Pianissimo drawn in 43 moves, Wei Yi-Harikrishna was a French where the Chinese player went wrong and bail out to a draw.

The five rounds before the first rest day instead of the usual four has given this event an unusual feel, things are a little more set with just 8 rounds to go. At the top the tournament it seems wide open but Abdusattorov has certainly impressed with his self confidence. I'm also certainly ready for this rest day, I'm sure the players are too.

In the Challengers Erwin L'Ami leads alone on 4/5. This event too seems wide open at the top.

My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos and annotations to the games, some of which are based on player comments.

Masters Round 5 Standings: 1st= Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov 4pts 3rd= Gukesh, Fedoseev 3.5pts 5th Harikrishna 3pts 6th= Wei Yi, Caruana, Sarana, Keymer 2.5pts 10th Giri 2pts 11th Warmerdam, Van Foreest 1.5pts 13th Mendonca, Erigaisi 1pt

Rest Day Thursday Jan 23rd.

Round 6 Jan 24 at 13.00 GMT Erigaisi vs Caruana, Sarana vs Fedoseev, Keymer vs Giri, Abdusattorov vs Gukesh, Harikrishna vs Van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa vs Wei Yi Mendonca vs Warmerdam.

Challengers Round 5 Standings: 1st L'Ami, Erwin 4pts 2nd Bok, Nguyen 3.5pts 4th= Lu, Nogerbek, Vaishali 3pts, 7th= Yakubboev, Svane, Suleymanli, Gurel 2.5pts 11th Pijpers, Faustino Oro, Divya 1.5pts 14th Bulmaga 0.5pts

Round 6 Jan 24 at 13.00 GMT Yakubboev vs Svane, Bulmaga vs Vaishali, Bok vs Nogerbek, Pijpers vs Lu, Divya vs Oro, Nguyen vs L'Ami, Suleymanli vs Gurel,