Nakamura Leads In London

Another sensational round in the 2011 London Chess Classic saw Hikaru Nakamura seize the lead with a score of 10 points by beating David Howell.

He takes the lead from Magnus Carlsen, who only just held on for a draw today with Lev Aronian, and from Luke McShane who had a bye in the fifth round.

The other games on the day were no less compelling, with Vladimir Kramnik consigning Mickey Adams to his third straight defeat, and Nigel Short suffering a backlash from the wounded Vishy Anand.

A bad day for the English players, but another great day for the tournament!

Hikaru Nakamura beat David Howell to take the lead

Lev Aronian and Magnus Carlsen drew their game

Vladimir Kramnik made it three defeats in a row for Mickey Adams

Vishy Anand recovered from his loss in round four to beat Nigel Short today

The standings after round five:

The pairings for round six on Friday:

Magnus Carlsen will have a bye. Games start at 14:00 local time (UTC).

The excellent official website has live commentary on all the action. 

The total prize fund is €160,000 (before tax), with the winner receiving €50,000. If there are any ties in the final scores, they will be broken for ranking purposes only (prize money will be shared) in this order:

1. Number of games won
2. Number of games won with black
3. Result of direct encounter
4. Rapid tie-breaks and Armageddon game (first place tie only)

The "Sofia" anti-draw rules are in operation, and the 3-1-0 scoring system.

The time control is 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour, and then 15 minutes to a finish with a 30 second increment.

All photos courtesy of Ray-Morris Hill at the official website.