The Week in Chess

Veselin Topalov won the final game to finish against Jon Ludwig Hamer to lead the Norway Chess tournament by a point. Topalov was under severe pressure out of the opening and Hammer tried to take advantage of this with a piece sacrifice. However Hammer didn't make quite the best of it after which a a very complex and tough game followed where Topalov had some advantage but was in danger of running out of pawns. Then after 6 hours play and within one move of the draw (74.f5=) at tired Hammer blundered and had to resign.

Magnus Carlsen scored his first win of the event but he didn't seem all that impressed with his own play. Grischuk at least equalised out of the opening but after allowing the break 26.c5 he was already in time trouble and with only a few seconds he finally blundered with 40...exf4? in a worse position and soon had to resign.

Levon Aronian pressurised Fabiano Caruana for a long time but after allowing 27...a5 much of his advantage went and after allowing 33...g5 (Caruana was in time trouble and Aronian thought he might not play it) the game should have finished in a draw. Caruana saw 39...Qxg3+? (39...Qg6=) won a pawn but didn't see that after 43.Nd4 he might be just lost. Aronian's technique was enough.

Hikaru Nakamura tried to pressurise Viswanathan Anand in a solid but passive position but in the end the game was drawn. Anish Giri tricked Maxime Vachier-Lagrave into a variation they played last month and this proved to be quite drawish.

Round 5 Standings: Topalov 4.5pts, Nakamura 3.5pts, Giri, Anand 3pts, Vachier-Lagrave 2.5pts, Caruana, Aronian, Grischuk 2pts, Carlsen 1.5pts, Hammer 1pt.

Round 6 pairings: Grischuk-Topalov, Caruana-Hammer, Giri-Aronian, Anand-Vachier-Lagrave, Carlsen-Nakamura.