It was another draw-heavy round, and the world champion exploited this to rejoin his vanquished predecessor in first place. In the ever popular Anti-Moscow Gambit, Viswanathan Anand dropped an atom bomb on the non-birdlike Peter Leko. Leko defended well against 22.Nxd4(!!), but while it seemed at first glance that he equalized, Anand's quiet 30th move left Black in a surprisingly helpless position. The best Leko could do was to reach a queen and rook ending a pawn down with a bad king, and he resigned shortly after the time control.
If Kramnik had beaten Gelfand with Black, he'd have maintained clear first. He came close, and might have been winning at one point, but couldn't quite pull it off. Another "if" goes for Aronian - Morozevich. Had White won that game, he'd have caught Anand and Kramnik in first, but on the White side of a Semi-Slav turned Dutch he wasn't able to parlay his small edge into anything serious.
In the other games, Svidler - Ponomariov was a successful Berlin Defense for Black - a comfortable draw, while Ivanchuk - Carlsen was a dull London system (but I repeat myself) against Black's King's Indian setup. White got nothing, and the players agreed to a draw before they died of boredom.
Standings After Round 5:
1-2. Kramnik, Anand 3½
3. Aronian 3
4-7. Carlsen, Ponomariov, Gelfand, Ivanchuk 2½ (each with five draws)
8. Morozevich 2
9-10. Svidler, Leko 1½
Round 6 Pairings:
Kramnik - Ponomariov
Leko - Svidler
Carlsen - Anand
Morozevich - Ivanchuk
Gelfand - Aronian
Today's games, with my comments, are here.