Nepomniachtchi beats Wang Hao to lead the Candidates with 3.5/5

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FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2020 (5)

Nepomniachtchi beats Wang Hao to lead the Candidates with 3.5/5

Mark Crowther - Sunday 22nd March 2020

Ian Nepomniachtchi at the board against Wang Hao in Round 5. Photo ©

Ian Nepomniachtchi at the board against Wang Hao in Round 5. Photo © | https://en.candidates-2020.com/main

Ian Nepomniachtchi took the sole lead of the FIDE Candidates in Yekaterinburg by beating Wang Hao in Round 5.

Nepomniachtchi chose a line against Wang Hao's Petroff that has been fairly popular at the top level, his new move 13.h4 led to a position with a nagging edge, Wang never felt entirely comfortable and things just got harder and harder, 32...Qd7 loses, 32...Qe7 was only a little better, 32...Nxd4 is equal according to the computer but neither player seemed to have seriously considered it. Wang resigned in a lost position but almost certainly he should have had Nepomniachtchi to play some more moves to prove it.

Anish Giri seemed on course to beat Fabiano Caruana on the white side of a Slav but as he commented after he just "couldn't quite calculate a winning line till the end" and perhaps that was really the problem, the attack had to be played a little more intuitively than he was prepared to do. Pre-event favourite Caruana is not playing very well right now and a loss today would have put him a long way behind.

The remaining two games were drawn.

Kirill Alekseenko vs MVL was a sharp Najdorf that followed a game between Magnus Carlsen and MVL in London 2019 until the new move 16...g6. Alekseenko knew that sacrificing with 17.Rxg6 was the correct move from having looked at this game but didn't know the details, and after the reply 17...Rxc3 he had a 50 minute think before he played 18.Nxe6 - all this was expected by MVL but Alekseenko continued to make good decisions on his own. After sharp play the game finished in a draw by repetition. Seemed like a well played game.

Grischuk said of his draw against Ding Liren "I think it was a very good game, but not a very interesting one." and Ding himself seemed happy with his play where he drew relatively comfortably on the black side of a Ruy Lopez Anti-Marshall.

Afterwards Grischuk said he was very much of the opinion that the tournament should be halted now. The full quote is below in the main text. If the tournament has to be stopped it has already been said that the event will resume later with the players on whatever score they have at the time.

Round 5 Standings: 1st Nepomniachtchi 3.5pts 2nd Vachier-Lagrave 3pts 3rd-5th Caruana, Wang Hao, Grischuk 2.5pts 6th-8th Ding Liren, Alekseenko, Giri 2pts.

Round 6 23rd March 2020 11am GMT Grischuk-Caruana, Alekseenko-Giri, Nepomniachtchi-Ding Liren, Wang Hao-MVL.

FIDE Candidates Tournament Round 5 Sunday 22nd March 2020

Grischuk vs Ding Liren Round 5 Candidates. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.

Alexander Grischuk calls for the tournament to end due to the Coronavirus.

"My form is terrible. I don't want to play at all with this situation. When it was the beginning I didn't have a clear opinion but now already for several days, I have a very clear opinion: that it should be stopped, this tournament. The whole atmosphere is very hostile. Everyone is with masks, also more security and so on."

"For me, it's very difficult. I just don't want to play, don't want to be here. Considering this, I am quite happy with my result but overall, it's no coincidence that everything else has stopped. We are the only one left, the only major sport event in the world. I think it should be stopped and postponed."

My feelings are a little similar to Grischuk's. Every day I hear more news and get more information the more cautious and safer in behaviour I get. My views have also changed over the weeks about this tournament. At one point I definitely saw no problem with the event going ahead. Now the very least I believe is that this event would not have gone ahead if the organisers knew then what they know now. In a week's time it may just have to stop in the light of new information and no-one be in the slightest bit in disagreement. I don't want the event to stop but it just might have to. It seems that some people still haven't got the message as to the level of peril we're all in, and how that danger might grow immensely in just a few days - at least that's my experience in the UK. Spare a thought for Teimour Radjabov who was probably right all along.

I do not believe the Olympics in Tokyo will take place this year, and it's time to bring up the 44th World Chess Olympiad in Moscow scheduled for 5th to 18th August, I highly doubt that will take place this year either. This is the new reality we live in. I'm expecting a number of classical time control professional tournaments to be played online too, it's only a matter of time, and we can all watch guilt free.

Nepomniachtchi vs Wang Hao Round 5 Candidates. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.

How is the tournament going?

MVL: "Apart from a couple of bad decisions, which are bound to happen I think, I have been playing much better than I have for a while. Especially in terms of classical time control. I'm close to the lead, so I think it's a good thing, but of course it's still only the beginning of the event. There's no reason to rest on my laurels and it's time to consider the rest of the tournament and a lot at stake considering basically only first place matters.

Alekseenko:"I feel better than in the first rounds, now at least maybe it's the first normal game without any big mistakes. I'm sure it's getting better."

"I was a bit surprised when Anish decided to play this Qc2 line, I knew it existed but usually people play Qb3 and this line although I knew something about it I really didn't remember exactly how I'm supposed to play and so I was sort of improvising with 10...Nd7 11...Nb6 and 13...Qb8 and it really didn't work out." Fabiano Caruana

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg RUS (RUS), 15 iii-5 iv 2020																			cat. XXI (2774)
					1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8
1.	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2774	*	*	.	.	½	.	½	.	1	.	½	.	1	.	.	.	3½	2917
2.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2767	.	.	*	*	½	.	½	.	.	.	½	.	½	.	1	.	3	2849
3.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2777	½	.	½	.	*	*	.	.	½	.	½	.	.	.	½	.	2½	2761
4.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2842	½	.	½	.	.	.	*	*	.	.	1	.	½	.	0	.	2½	2761
5.	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2762	0	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	*	*	½	.	½	.	1	.	2½	2763
6.	Alekseenko, Kirill	g	RUS	2698	½	.	½	.	½	.	0	.	½	.	*	*	.	.	.	.	2	2712
7.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2763	0	.	½	.	.	.	½	.	½	.	.	.	*	*	½	.	2	2718
8.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2805	.	.	0	.	½	.	1	.	0	.	.	.	½	.	*	*	2	2710

Round 5 (March 22, 2020)
Nepomniachtchi, Ian	- Wang, Hao	1-0	43	C42	Petroff's Defence
Grischuk, Alexander	- Ding, Liren	½-½	54	C88	Ruy Lopez Closed
Alekseenko, Kirill	- Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	½-½	33	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Giri, Anish	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	42	D12	Slav Defence

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Download the PGN from this page

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