Linares, Round 5: Topalov, Gashimov Win; Topalov Leads at the Halfway Point
Today's round was very lively, with two sharp, exciting, error-filled decisive games.
Topalov went all out for the attack against Grischuk, even speculatively sacrificing a piece. His concept was sound, but there were many errors in the follow-up. This is unsurprising on one level, as the position was very complicated, but it seemed to me that a rather mundane and somewhat surprising explanation accounts for even more: Topalov was rushing in Grischuk's time trouble! As a result, Grischuk was probably winning for much of the time scramble, but by the time control at move 40 the position was equal (but still imbalanced). Grischuk was unable to solve the problems - maybe he was unsure whether to play for a win or a draw, and chose neither - and Topalov steadily outplayed him from there in a queen and bishop vs. queen and knight ending.
Vallejo - Gashimov saw the third Benoni of the tournament - the second from Gashimov - and once again White seemed to gain the upper hand from the opening. Once again, though, Gashimov did a better job of handling the middlegame, and Vallejo seemed to self-destruct in time pressure, going from better to having dead equality if he wanted it to completely lost, and all before the first time control.
Finally, Aronian - Gelfand wasn't so interesting by comparison to the other games, but it was an honest day's effort. Aronian had a nagging edge, but Gelfand defended well to hold a queens and opposite-colored bishop ending a pawn down.
That completes the first half of this double round-robin, and the standings are as follows:
1. Topalov 3½
2-4. Aronian, Gashimov, Grischuk 2½
5-6. Gelfand, Vallejo Pons 2
Round 6 Pairings:
Topalov - Vallejo
Grischuk - Aronian
Gashimov - Gelfand
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