Gashimov Memorial 2016 - GOTD Round 5

Opening: B31: Sicilian: Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (with ...g6, without ...d6)

Player(s): Caruana, Radjabov

Fabiano is playing phenomenal chess, and today he won again. Anish Giri is the only one able to keep the incredible pace, at least for now. Four decisive results today, for the most lively round in Shamkir so far. Safarli played a good opening against Giri, and the players reached a critical position at move 21, when Giri played e4. At this point Safarli started playing a bit passively, and Giri took advantage of this attitude, maximizing the potentiality of all his pieces, getting a clear edge that led Anish to a relatively quick victory. Harikrishna beat Eljanov, who's having a nightmarish event, after the not-so-brilliant performance in Norway. Harikrishna played an excellent game, highly tactical. Karjakin won his game against Hou Yifan, to climb in solitary third position with 3 points, looking from some distance at the fantastic duo up there. In a typical double-sided Sicilian scheme, Radjabov in his game against Caruana had a pawn storm going on the queen side, whereas Fabiano concentrated his forces toward black's king side. But Teimour slowed down his attack, and Caruana paralyzed the advancing pawns. From there on, Fabiano made it look easy, playing precisely and prying open the enemy's king defense. Despite Radjabov's attempts to organize and build a fortress around his exposed Sire, Caruana was able to finish him off in elegant style, with a pawn on the 7th rank shielded and protected by a knight on the 8th, leaving no chances whatsoever to the Azeri GM. Tomorrow is a rest day. Play resumes Wednesday June the 1st at 7AM EDT - 13:00 CEST.

Teacher's library (515) B31 Caruana Radjabov recap