Which is not to say that today's Tal Memorial games were uninteresting. The day's one decisive game was Caruana-Tomashevsky, which got the young Italian (send him back!) back to 50%. Tomashevsky found an interesting pawn sac in an anti-Marshall, hoping to keep White's bishop entombed on b1 (and thereby the rook on a1 as well). It was an ingenious idea, but it didn't work out - or at least Black was unable to make it work. Maybe he didn't see the idea of 22.Be3 and 23.Nd2 coming, or maybe he just couldn't find anything to do about it. After 24.Nc4 Caruana's light-squared bishop would escape after 24...Bxc4 25.Qxc4, so Tomashevsky tried a desperate exchange sac to keep it caged. Ultimately, it didn't work either, and Black resigned a few moves later.
The most significant game for the current standings was the battle of the co-leaders, Morozevich-Radjabov. White obtained a slight edge in an obscure line of the Open Ruy, but once Radjabov managed to exchange his slightly weak a-pawn while keeping Morozevich's potentially superior minor piece restricted it was time to call it a day.
Had Kramnik won against Aronian, he would have joined Morozevich and Radjabov in first. He played the Scotch Four Knights, revisiting the opening from his victory in game 3 of his April match against Aronian. There Aronian played the rare 5...Bc5; this time he went for the main line with 5...Bb4. Commentators of that earlier game (myself included) wondered why Kramnik headed for such an insipid line; today, we got our answer. Instead of 10.Bg5, which had been played almost 6000 times in the database (and surely hundreds of thousands of times in other games), Kramnik chose 10.h3, which appears in only eight database games. But is it good? In the game it worked very well, and Kramnik obtained a comfortable edge. But during the game, I didn't understand why, after 10.h3 Re8 11.Qf3 c6 12.Bf4, Aronian chose the passive and awkward-looking 12...Bd7 rather than 12...Bd6. I just now consulted with my engine, and it too likes ...Bd6. Further, it has no interest whatsoever in Black's putting the light-squared bishop anywhere but e6. So I'm not sold on Kramnik's idea as the start of a new chapter in the biography of the Scotch Four Knights.
Anyway, Black wound up slightly worse, but Kramnik was unable to find anything better than a doubled, non-passed extra pawn in an ending with queens and opposite-colored bishops. He doesn't seem to have extracted the maximum out of his advantage, but just how big his advantage was is unclear.
The most exciting draw of the day - in fact, the most exciting game of the day, period - was Carlsen-Grischuk. Carlsen came out of the opening with a good position except for one little thing. The white bishop on g3 was stuck, a la the famous Winter-Capablanca game. As the time control neared, the play became wild. Both players felt they were better, and at least Carlsen afterward commented on just how complicated the position was - too complicated for him! Carlsen was sac'ing and attacking, while Grischuk was on the verge of consolidating his extra material but never quite able to do so. In the end, at the end of the time control, the players repeated the position and called it a day.
Finally, the last game to finish, as usual, was Nakamura's. He was significantly worse out of the opening against McShane, but defended well and by the end of the time control reached a superior but drawn rook ending. After move 43 the stage was set: Black (Nakamura) had a rook and three (f, g and h) pawns, McShane a rook and two (g and h) pawns. This is a much easier ending to hold than the typical rook and four vs. rook and three ending, but Nakamura gave it his best shot, continuing to move 79 before forcing stalemate.
Round 5 Pairings:
- Grischuk (1.5) - Caruana (2)
- Radjabov (3) - Carlsen (2)
- Aronian (2) - Morozevich (3)
- Nakamura (1.5) - Kramnik (2.5)
- Tomashevsky (1) - McShane (1.5)