Karjakin Takes Sole Lead At Corus
Sergey Karjakin (pictured) pulled off his second win in an exciting fifth round in Wijk Aan Zee to take the sole lead in the A Group on 3.5/5. His victim was Daniel Stellwagen in a Sicilian Taiminov.
A better result for the home players came when Van Wely destroyed Radjabov's favourite King's Indian defence in just 31 moves.
The much anticipated clash between Ivanchuk and Carlsen only lasted 24 moves and ended in a repetition of moves - a curious encounter.
Other wins in the A Group went to Aronian and Dominguez who beat Movsesian and Morozevich respectively. Morozevich now finds himself at the bottom of the leaderboard on a very disappointing 1.5/5.
The results in Round 5:
| Karjakin, Sergey | Stellwagen, Daniel | 1-0 | 52 | Sicilian Paulsen |
| Aronian, Levon | Movsesian, Sergei | 1-0 | 58 | Slav Defence |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | Morozevich, Alexander | 1-0 | 36 | Sicilian Najdorf Variation |
| Kamsky, Gata | Wang Yue | ½-½ | 24 | Petroff's Defence |
| Van Wely, Loek | Radjabov, Teimour | 1-0 | 31 | King's Indian Classical |
| Adams, Michael | Smeets, Jan | ½-½ | 39 | Petroff's Defence |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | Carlsen, Magnus | ½-½ | 24 | Ruy Lopez Chigorin |
The standings after round 5:
| 1 | Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2706 | 3½ |
| 2 | Smeets, Jan | NED | 2601 | 3 |
| 3 | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2750 | 3 |
| 4 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2717 | 3 |
| 5 | Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2725 | 3 |
| 6 | Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2761 | 2½ |
| 7 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2625 | 2½ |
| 8 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2776 | 2½ |
| 9 | Movsesian, Sergei | SVK | 2751 | 2½ |
| 10 | Wang Yue | CHN | 2739 | 2 |
| 11 | Adams, Michael | ENG | 2712 | 2 |
| 12 | Stellwagen, Daniel | NED | 2612 | 2 |
| 13 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2779 | 2 |
| 14 | Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 2771 | 1½ |
In the B Group, two of the joint leaders from the previous round, Nigel Short and Fabiano Caruana, lost for the first time in the tournament. Sasikiran got the much needed win against Short and Efimenko beat Caruana in an attractive game. The sole lead now lies with the popular former FIDE World Champion, Rustam Kasimdzhanov.
Group C continues to be full of excitement, with round 5 being an absolute bloodbath, with only one game being drawn! The winners included Wesley So and David Howell, but it is Tiger Hillarp Persson from Sweden who leads on a very impressive 4/5.
The standings in the B and C Groups:
| B Group | ||||
| 1 | Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2687 | 3½ |
| 2 | Navara, David | CZE | 2638 | 3 |
| 3 | Efimenko, Zahar | UKR | 2688 | 3 |
| 4 | Short, Nigel D | ENG | 2663 | 3 |
| 5 | Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2646 | 3 |
| 6 | Volokitin, Andrei | UKR | 2671 | 3 |
| 7 | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | ESP | 2702 | 3 |
| 8 | Motylev, Alexander | RUS | 2676 | 2½ |
| 9 | Reinderman, Dimitri | NED | 2549 | 2½ |
| 10 | Sasikiran, Krishnan | IND | 2711 | 2 |
| 11 | Werle, Jan | NED | 2607 | 2 |
| 12 | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2603 | 2 |
| 13 | Hou Yifan | CHN | 2571 | 1½ |
| 14 | Mecking, Henrique | BRA | 2567 | 1 |
| C Group | ||||
| 1 | Hillarp Persson, Tiger | SWE | 2586 | 4 |
| 2 | So, Wesley | PHI | 2627 | 3½ |
| 3 | Bosboom, Manuel | NED | 2418 | 3 |
| 4 | Howell, David W L | ENG | 2622 | 3 |
| 5 | Gupta, Abhijeet | IND | 2569 | 2½ |
| 6 | Bitalzadeh, Ali | NED | 2400 | 2½ |
| 7 | Iturrizaga, Eduardo | VEN | 2528 | 2½ |
| 8 | Harika, Dronavalli | IND | 2473 | 2 |
| 9 | Romanishin, Oleg M | UKR | 2533 | 2 |
| 10 | Giri, Anish | RUS | 2469 | 2 |
| 11 | Pruijssers, Roeland | NED | 2444 | 2 |
| 12 | Leon Hoyos, Manuel | MEX | 2542 | 2 |
| 13 | Holzke, Frank | GER | 2524 | 1½ |
| 14 | Nijboer, Friso | NED | 2560 | 1½ |
