It was another relatively peaceful round at Tata Steel 2021 with just one decisive outcome – Nils Grandelius beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and grabbed the sole lead again. A group of four players that includes Carlsen, Giri, Harikrishna, and Caruana is a half-point behind.

The Swedish GM challenged the Frenchman on the opponent's home turf, the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defense, and was rewarded for his resolve. After Nils introduced a logical novelty on move 15 (the first line of Stockfish 12) Maxime reacted precisely up to some point but did not find an important subtlety 15…Nh5 and found himself a pawn down in an inferior position. Although Grandelius’s conversion was not optimal (in his own words), he gradually coordinated his pieces and launched a crushing attack on Black’s king. Although it did not result in a checkmate, Maxime capitulated facing further material losses.

Magnus Carlsen tested his young opponent Alexander Donchenko in an endgame that emerged from a rare line of Najdorf variation. The young German passed the test and held the World Champion to a draw, although it seems that on move 36 Magnus could have posed more serious problems. Carlsen sacrificed a piece to advance his d-pawn and even won an exchange but it still was not enough to score a full point.

Alireza Firouzja desperately tried to convert his two bishops and a slightly better pawn structure into something tangible but did not succeed. His opponent, Jorden Van Forest maneuvered with great accuracy and comfortably reached a draw.

David Anton breached the Berlin Defense of Arian Tari (17…f6 looks dubious) and got a winning position but failed to finish the job. Apparently, the Spaniard underestimated Black’s defensive idea of sacrificing an exchange on e5 that eventually saved the Norwegian a half-point. After giving up his rook for Black’s b-pawn Anton still had an upper hand in a very interesting position with three pawns for a bishop but missed the best continuation one more time (45.Kf2? instead of 45.a4!). The drama did not end there as pushing for a win in a drawn position David went too far and played a fatal 52.Kf4?? However, Arian returned the favor by playing 54…c2 with an immediate draw whereas after 54…Bb5 White would have lost due to an imminent zugzwang.

Andrey Esipenko faced Fabiano Caruana with Black and was up to the challenge. The last year winner’s attempts to gain any advantage were skillfully thwarted by the young Russian.

Anish Giri and Pentala Harikrishna had a discussion in one of the lines of Queen’s Gambit Accepted, in which White introduced a novelty on move 8. Anish got some edge in subsequent maneuvering play revolving around Black’s d3-pawn but after erroneous 25.Bc3? he let Pentala equalize immediately and offered a draw that was accepted.

In the Polish duel, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek quickly traded most of the pieces and agreed on a draw by repetition on move 27.

Standings after Round 5: 1. Nils Grandelius – 3½  2-5. Pentala Harikrishna, Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, – 3; 6-9. Jorden Van Foreest, Andrey Esipenko, Alireza Firouzja, Radoslaw Wojtaszek – 2½; 10-13.  Jan-Krzysztof Duda, David Anton, Arian Tari, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 2; 14. Alexander Donchenko – 1½.

Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

Official website: tatasteelchess.com/