The headliners had the day off to help them recover from traveling (the venue changed, and will change again later in the event), but the Challengers' Group was in action for round 5 of their tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Their event has been exceedingly hard-fought with heaps of decisive games; in fact, there was only one draw there in round 3 and no draws at all in round 4.
After five rounds, Baadur Jobava leads with 4.5/5, half a point ahead of Ivan Saric and Anna Muzychuk. In round 5 Jobava beat his co-rating favorite, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, and did so with the Budapest line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Bf4 g5. The Budapest Gambit is a rare bird in grandmaster play, but in this event it has been used twice, resulting in a pair of wins for Black. Jobava's win was a convincing one, too, so perhaps it's time for another look at the opening.
I've analyzed three other games from the round for your viewing pleasure, and you can find them here. First up is the remarkable ending between Bok and Timman. The old veteran played brilliantly to obtain a winning position from the single rook ending, only to give it away at the final hurdle by stumbling into a threefold repetition. The next game is a brilliant attacking win by Sabino Brunello, complete with sacrifices, and then the final game is the theoretically interesting draw between Yu Yangyi and Kayden Troff in the Byrne Attack of the Najdorf.
Back to the top dogs tomorrow.