Wijk aan Zee round 5. Creation.

The leading triumvirate maintained their positions.

Carlsen's indisposition did not stop him reacting accurately and confidently steering his position into the drawing zone: :

Anand - Carlsen

15.dxc6 Bxc6 16.Bb3 d5 - and the isolated pawn only seemed to underline the solidity of the Norwegian's position. Draw. (½-½)!

The lack of interest in the leaders' game did not detract from the overall fighting spirit. Maybe the strength and the chance to make ground on Magnus inspired his opponents from the previous rounds:

Harakrishna - Van Wely

Anand's "little brother" went for the throat: 25.f5 Nce5 26.Qh4 h5 27.Nde2 Houdini 2.0c x64 (http://tatasteel2013.live.whychess.com/) wants to take en passant, ignoring the reality that the extra pawn would be superfluous and only shield the enemy king. 27…exf5 28.Nf4 Kg7 29.Ncd5 Bxd5 30.Nxd5 Qxc2 31.exf5 Rac8 32.Nf4. Another critical position:

It is interesting to wonder who would think of the move the computer regards as best. If you maanaged to find it, you are probably Carlsen! 32… Rh8 How boring...The silicon optimist recommenfs running with the king into the line of fire: 32… Кf8!! The exclamation marks reflect the distinct lack of triviality of the computer decision. (Computerkibitz: Houdini 2.0c x64, Depth: 15 with 21.155 kN in 5s; http://tatasteel2013.live.whychess.com/) We will not give the rest of the variation, but what an idea! 33.fxg6 fxg6 34.Ne6+ Kg8 35.Bd5 Qd2 36.Qe4 Rc1 37.Rhf3 Kh7 38.Rf7+ Nxf7 39.Qxg6+!! I cannot refrain from the pleasaure of giving one final diagram.

НA rare pure mate, with not one superfluous piece! The prize for the best game of the day is ddcided, in my view.

Aronian's opponent fell into a masked trap:

Sokolov - Aronian

The two bishops and open position make Ivan's position unenviable, but of course, there was no need to blunder. There followed 15…a5 which led after 16.Bg5? f6 to a situation where matyerial loss was unavoidable. 17.dxe6 Ba6 18.Qd5 Qxd5 19.exd5 fxg5 (1:0) Is Levon on the way back?

The rest day did not do Hou any favours, as she played the white pieces too tamely although one must credit her opponent:

Hou Yifan - Nakamura

How can one play like this against the Dragon? Black won on move 48.

(Photo: Y Vasiliev)

If youi have not read Vasiliev's article, you would not know Wang Hao's nickname. We have borrowed our colleague's photo for serious use. As to the game:

L'Ami - Wang Hao

White is at the crossroads. Should be play c5 or e5? 20.Nc4 Qa7 21.dxe5 Ne8 22.Qe3 b5 23.Nd2 c4 - and Black had no trouble surviving his minor inconvenience and calmly advanced his pawns and settled the game with this nice picture:

(0:1)

Peter Leko has not made too many marks in recent years. 30-40 years ago the proud title "Challenger" meant more than one's age, but now,w e seem to have forgotten that the Hungarian played a match for the world title. And not only played such a match, but drew it! How many people in history can say that? I know of only Schlechter and Bronstein. Leko is third in this list.

Peaceableness and a lack of willingness to play sharply have long been the Hungarian's visiting card. But one should not get carried away! Today is an example of what is also possible from him:

Leko - Caruana

A moment's loss of concentration cost Fabiano – 39… Qd7?! (39... Qe7) and the pawns came in motion: 40.g4! g5 (40... Bxh4 41.g5! and Black is not to be envied, but the choice of the Italian hope does not prolong the game for long.) 41.fxg6 fxg6 42.g5 hxg5 43.Bxg5 Bg7 44.h5 R8b4 45.hxg6 - There is nothing at all to be done. BLack resigned (1:0).

And what of the otehr groups. The first winner was the youngest player in Group B, the Soviet youngster Dan Dubov. The 1980s "champion of the West" was outplayed in the technical stage:

Dubov - Timman

Without suspecting the danger, Jan played 25…cxd4 and ran into 26.Rc7! Rxc7 27.Rxc7 The Russian youngster helped himself to the Dutchman's pawns in what followed. (1:0)

Anotehr youngster (just a month older) also distonguished himself:

Tiviakov - Rapport

Richard wa sthe first to create threats but for the moment, Tiviakov is holding. But defending such a position is hard work and it is not great surprise that Sergey commits an error: 31.Re4?? – 31…Qa5 - and the check on a2 decided. Scandal! 32.Rc2 Qa2+ 33.Kc1 Qxb3 34.Kd2 Ra2 35.cxd4 Qxd3+ 36.Kxd3 Nb4+ (0:1). The young Hungarian is now sole leader, but how will his meeting with Dubov in round 7 go (Daniel has White)?

For desert - a delicacy from the Elo-favourite of the group:

Smeets - Naiditsch

29…g5! – «Pawns are the soul of chess» 30.g3 Rg7 Jan could not stand the tension - 31.Kh2? – moving out of one unpleasant x-ray into another, even stronger one. 31…f4 32.gxf4 gxf4 33.Bxf4 Nxd4 34.Rd1 Bxe5 35.Nxd4 Qg5!

White resigns (0:1)

But now is the time to stop the flow of goodies - gluttony never leads to any good. See you tomorrow!