Shankland, Esipenko and Donchenko are through to the Quarterfinals
The Quarterfinals have an interesting statistic - six players are undefeated. Only two players - Sam Shankland (USA) and Andrey Esipenko suffered a loss each in one 15'+10" Rapid tie-break game. A new World Cup winner and three new Candidates is guaranteed to be crowned in ten days.
Shankland - Dubov: 3-1
GM Sam Shankland (USA) started the day with a fine victory against GM Daniil Dubov. Shankland seized his opportunity when his opponent went wrong in the double rook and knight endgame. He was continuously applying pressure before that.
Shankland - Dubov, Game 3
29...Nh7?? was the final mistake after which things started turning in favor of White 30.Nc4 Rd8 31.d6 Nf8 32.Re7 Ne6 33.Re4 a6 34.d7 Rc3+ 35.Ke2 Kf8 36.Re8+ Rxe8 37.dxe8Q+ Kxe8 38.f5 b5 39.axb5 Rxc4 40.Rxc4 and White won the game in half a dozen more moves with a beautiful finish.
Find out the winning continuation which would definitely make it to future books in both tactics and endgame chapters.
Shankland mentioned in the post-match interview that the second game was a dead dead dead draw. If the games were reversed the outcome of the second game would have been a draw. Dubov pushed hard in a drawn endgame because he had no other choice as it was a must-win game for him. Shankland will face Andrey Esipenko in the Quarterfinals.
Donchenko - Liem: 4.5-3.5
GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) started his day with a win in the first 15'+10" Rapid tie-break game. Then he lost the next game. Once again, he won the first 10'+10" Rapid tie-break and lost the next. Then he drew the first 5'+3" Blitz game and won the next to secure his place in the Quarterfinals. He will face GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) in Round 6.
Replay Donchenko - Liem tie-break games
Esipenko - Grebnev: 2.5-1.5
GM Aleksey Grebnev played uncharacteristically unlike his previous games and lost without landing any offense in the first Rapid tie-break game.
Grebnev played the second game better relatively. However, it still did not seem like the Grebnev who eliminated players like David Navara, Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in earlier rounds.
Jose - Harikrishna: 3.5-2.5
The first two 15'+10" Rapid tie-break game between GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (MEX) and GM Pentala Harikrishna ended in draws. Then Jose struck in the first 10'+10" Rapid tie-break, drew the next to secure his place in the Quarterfinals. He will face GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) in Round 6. Both of them are undefeated till now.
Replay Jose - Harikrishna tie-break games
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Round 5 tie-break scores
GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (MEX) - GM Pentala Harikrishna: 3.5-2.5
