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10/6/2016 – Some days you have quiet rounds where the top seeds do their business without much fuss, most of them win with a few draws but the fifth round of the Isle of Man tournament saw a few big names have a real setback. Second seed Hikaru Nakamura, former world championship challenger Peter Leko and top Paraguayan GM Axel Bachmann were all defeated by lower-rated opponents in very sharp games. Report with games and test positions.

Isle of Man - round five

By Manuel Weeks

Photos by Harry Gielen

Nakamura lost against young Dutchman Benjamin Bok in a very double edged Benoni where he was always a bit behind in development. It is a game typical of the variation: White takes up more space but has to waste a few extra pawn moves, and move a knight twice early on. As long as White is given a bit more time then the space advantage and the typical weaknesses of the Benoni structure will give him a real edge. However, Black has a lot of early piece activity to compensate. This is a incredibly complex game well worth playing through and studying.

It was a significant feather in his cap, as Benjamin Bok took his greatest scalp to date

Hikaru Nakamura - Benjamin Bok

Wesley So grinded away on the white side of a minority attack against Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein to no avail on board one while on board two Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov showed that knowledge and understanding of rook endings can still be useful in modern classical chess as he won against Azerbaijan GM Arkadij Naiditsch in a long drawn out endgame.

It may sound incredible, but Alexei Shirov, who was co-leader with a perfect 4.0/4, opted for a bye in round five. This was not for health reasons, but rather a superstition! He will be back for round six, rest assured.

The “quiet” Italian has become a very popular opening choice for many 1.e4 players, if for no other reason than it avoids the Berlin variation of the Spanish and it can lead to complex play with all of the pieces still on the board. Young Jorden Van Foreest played it against Hungarian legend Peter Leko with an early Bg5. This is not supposed to be very dangerous but at least Black has pushed h6 and g5 in front of his own king. Forcing the normally unbeatable Leko to have some weaknesses to defend is already a big concession!

17-year-old Jorden van Foreest, with 4.0/5 and a 2813 performance, rained hail and fire upon...

... the otherwise ultrasolid Peter Leko.

Jorden van Foreest - Peter Leko

Australian grandmaster Max Illingworth has had an average year since gaining the GM title but the air of the Isle of Man seems to agree with him as he defeated the strong Paraguayan GM Axel Bachmann in a very clean game that started from a Pirc defence. Bachmann surrounded the white d5 pawn but missed a series of tactical blows that left the black position in ruins. Illingworth was already one of the lowest players in the three point score group and now he sits proudly on 4.0/5.

Australian GM Max Illingworth is at 4.0/5

Max Illingworth - Axel Bachmann

Fabiano Caruana has been superb as well, and sits at the top of the group on 4.0/5

Armenian Sergei Movsesian never solved his opening problems and paid the price for it

Top seed Fabiano Caruana played the trendy 7.Qf3 against the Taimanov Sicilian. This variation has been giving black headaches in recent times. Armenian Sergei Movsesian cannot really claim to have solved his opening problems as the American sacrificed a pawn for obvious compensation. Movsesian offered his weak d-pawn or the b-pawn which opened lines on his own king but the top seed was up to the challenge. Play through the game to see the line that Taimanov players fear more than any other.

Fabiano Caruana - Sergei Movsesian

The young Indian wonderkid Praggnanandhaa lost today to top Armenian GM Hrant Melkumyan but not without an amazing drawing resource he had.

Hrant Melkumyan - R. Praggnanandhaa

There are always interesting subplots away from the top boards, there is a sizable women’s prize and the women’s world champion Hou Yifan is showing the way but the pairing gods are not helping, so far she has survived tough games against Maxim Rodshtein and Michael Adams and tomorrow finds herself opposite top seed Fabiano Caruana! Liz Paehtz has been talking about slowing down her chess activities for a while now but her chess seems to have matured as well! The top female German is participating in her own super GM tournament, starting from round two her opponent list reads Fressinet, Melkumyan, Eljanov and Meier the lowest rated player being 2648. Who does Elisabeth play tomorrow? None other than Hikaru Nakamura! These two ladies are certainly leading the way!

Tomorrow Alexey Shirov comes back to face Pavel Eljanov while the big winner of today, Benjamin Bok is playing in his own mini US Championship by sitting across from Wesley So! At 1:30 PM UTC time there will be some incredible clashes that can be seen on Playchess direct from the Isle of Man!

Top pairings and results of Round 5

Full results of all 68 games

Top standings after five rounds

Click for complete standings

Pairings of round 6 (October 6, 2016)

Watch it live on Playchess!