The heartening part about this victory was Praggnanandhaa's technique. Once he had the pawn, he played absolutely without any errors. To do this against a world class opponent and truly commendable. Technique is not Praggnanandhaa's stronghold. One would remember his loss to Maksim Chigaev at the Tata Steel Challengers where Pragg was a pawn up and still lost the game. Pragg seems to have done his homework and that is showing in his games. With four rounds to go, Pragg will face Peter Michalik, David Anton Guijarro, Jan Krejci and Alexei Shirov.
Ranking crosstable after Round 5
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | GM | Michalik Peter | 2565 | CZE | * | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 3,0 | 0,0 | 8,00 | 3 | |||||
| 2 | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2580 | CHN | 1 | * | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 3,0 | 0,0 | 7,25 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2643 | ESP | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3,0 | 0,0 | 7,00 | 3 | |||||
| 4 | GM | Krejci Jan | 2570 | CZE | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3,0 | 0,0 | 6,75 | 2 | |||||
| 5 | GM | Stocek Jiri | 2592 | CZE | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | 0 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 6,75 | 3 | |||||
| 6 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2532 | IND | 1 | ½ | * | ½ | 0 | ½ | 2,5 | 0,0 | 6,25 | 2 | |||||
| 7 | GM | Nguyen Thai Dai Van | 2546 | CZE | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 5,50 | 2 | |||||
| 8 | GM | Shirov Alexei | 2667 | ESP | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 4,25 | 2 | |||||
| 9 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | 2600 | POL | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | * | 1,5 | 0,0 | 4,00 | 3 | |||||
| 10 | GM | Paravyan David | 2627 | RUS | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | * | 1,5 | 0,0 | 3,75 | 2 |
Masters section:
We reported on rounds 1-3 with Vidit's win over Gelfand and Harikrishna's victory against Duda. In the fourth round Vidit was outplayed by Sam Shankland. Usually Vidit is extremely solid with the white pieces, but against Sam's Grunfeld, something went wrong right out of the opening and the US Champion finished off the game well. In round five Vidit drew with the black pieces against Viktor Laznicka. He is on 2.5/5. Harikrishna after losing to Vitiugov in round two, beat Duda and then followed it up two draws in rounds four and five, against Wojtaszek and Rapport. Hari has faced all three top scorers in the tournament - Duda, Vitiugov and Wojtaszek. Hence, we can expect a strong finish from him in the rounds to come.
Ranking crosstable after round 5 in Masters
Duda is the leader in the tournament. In spite of his loss to Harikrishna he has come back strong in round four with a win over David Navara.
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | 2731 | POL | * | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 6,75 | 3 | |||||
| 2 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2726 | RUS | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 3,0 | 0,0 | 6,75 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | 2722 | POL | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3,0 | 0,0 | 6,25 | 2 | |||||
| 4 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2730 | IND | 1 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 2,5 | 0,0 | 7,25 | 2 | |||||
| 5 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2655 | ISR | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | 0 | ½ | 2,5 | 0,0 | 6,75 | 3 | |||||
| 6 | GM | Shankland Samuel | 2731 | USA | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | ½ | 2,5 | 0,0 | 6,25 | 3 | |||||
| 7 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2711 | IND | ½ | 1 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 2,5 | 0,0 | 5,75 | 3 | |||||
| 8 | GM | Navara David | 2739 | CZE | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 2,0 | 0,0 | 5,50 | 2 | |||||
| 9 | GM | Rapport Richard | 2738 | HUN | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 4,00 | 2 | |||||
| 10 | GM | Laznicka Viktor | 2670 | CZE | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | 1,5 | 0,0 | 4,25 | 2 |
Round 7 will see Harikrishna and Vidit being pitted against each other. Hari will have the white pieces. The action each day begins at 7.30 p.m. IST and you can follow all the games on ChessBase Live.
