Shirov Run Continues At Corus
Alexei Shirov can blow hot and cold as a player. He won last year's strong Mtel tournament, but then proceeded to lose the first four games of his next tournament just a few days later!
At Corus 2010, it's the fiery, red-hot Shirov again, with the Latvian born chess star beating Loek Van Wely in round five to go 5/5 and stretch his lead to a full point and a half.
The only other winner of the round in the 'A' Group was Vladimir Kramnik, who finally makes his mark on the event. He surprised the luckless Jan Smeets with the Pirc defence to make it another bad day for the Dutch.
The fifth round also saw the much anticipated clash between Hikaru Nakamura and world #1 Magnus Carlsen. Nakamura surprised Carlsen with an uncharacteristically quiet opening choice, but it still took some accurate defence from Carlsen to secure an eventual draw.
Anish Giri won yet another game in the 'B' Group to re-take the sole lead on an impressive 4/5. Likewise, Ray Robson won again to lead the 'C' Group with an even better 4.5/5.
The full results in round five:
| Group A | ||
| Nakamura, Hikaru | ½-½ | Carlsen, Magnus |
| Tiviakov, Sergei | ½-½ | Karjakin, Sergey |
| Caruana, Fabiano | ½-½ | Dominguez Perez, Leinier |
| Leko, Peter | ½-½ | Anand, Viswanathan |
| Short, Nigel D | ½-½ | Ivanchuk, Vassily |
| Van Wely, Loek | 0-1 | Shirov, Alexei |
| Smeets, Jan | 0-1 | Kramnik, Vladimir |
| Group B | ||
| Giri, Anish | 1-0 | Sutovsky, Emil |
| Howell, David W L | 1-0 | Ni Hua |
| Naiditsch, Arkadij | 1-0 | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter |
| So, Wesley | ½-½ | Harikrishna, P |
| Nyback, Tomi | ½-½ | L'Ami, Erwin |
| Muzychuk, Anna | ½-½ | Reinderman, Dimitri |
| Akobian, Varuzhan | 0-1 | Negi, Parimarjan |
| Group C | ||
| Li Chao | ½-½ | Van Kampen, Robin |
| Vocaturo, Daniele | 1-0 | Grandelius, Nils |
| Peng Zhaoqin | 0-1 | Robson, Ray |
| Kuipers, Stefan | ½-½ | Swinkels, Robin |
| Bok, Benjamin | ½-½ | Gupta, Abhijeet |
| Muzychuk, Mariya | 1-0 | Soumya, Swaminathan |
| Plukkel, Sjoerd | ½-½ | Lie, Kjetil A |
The standings after round five:
| Group A | ||||
| 1 | Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2723 | 5 |
| 2 | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2708 | 3½ |
| 3 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2810 | 3½ |
| 4 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2749 | 3½ |
| 5 | Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2788 | 3 |
| 6 | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2790 | 2½ |
| 7 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2712 | 2½ |
| 8 | Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2720 | 2½ |
| 9 | Tiviakov, Sergei | NED | 2662 | 2 |
| 10 | Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2675 | 2 |
| 11 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2739 | 2 |
| 12 | Short, Nigel D | ENG | 2696 | 1½ |
| 13 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2641 | 1 |
| 14 | Smeets, Jan | NED | 2657 | ½ |
| Group B | ||||
| 1 | Giri, Anish | NED | 2588 | 4 |
| 2 | Howell, David W L | ENG | 2606 | 3½ |
| 3 | Harikrishna, P | IND | 2672 | 3 |
| 4 | Ni Hua | CHN | 2657 | 3 |
| 5 | Negi, Parimarjan | IND | 2621 | 3 |
| 6 | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2615 | 3 |
| 7 | Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | 2687 | 3 |
| 8 | So, Wesley | PHI | 2656 | 2½ |
| 9 | Nyback, Tomi | FIN | 2643 | 2½ |
| 10 | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2681 | 2 |
| 11 | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | 2523 | 2 |
| 12 | Sutovsky, Emil | ISR | 2657 | 1½ |
| 13 | Reinderman, Dimitri | NED | 2573 | 1 |
| 14 | Akobian, Varuzhan | USA | 2628 | 1 |
| Group C | ||||
| 1 | Robson, Ray | USA | 2570 | 4½ |
| 2 | Li Chao | CHN | 2604 | 4 |
| 3 | Vocaturo, Daniele | ITA | 2495 | 3½ |
| 4 | Lie, Kjetil A | NOR | 2547 | 3 |
| 5 | Gupta, Abhijeet | IND | 2577 | 3 |
| 6 | Swinkels, Robin | NED | 2495 | 3 |
| 7 | Peng Zhaoqin | NED | 2402 | 2½ |
| 8 | Van Kampen, Robin | NED | 2456 | 2½ |
| 9 | Kuipers, Stefan | NED | 2340 | 2 |
| 10 | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2322 | 2 |
| 11 | Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | 2447 | 2 |
| 12 | Grandelius, Nils | SWE | 2515 | 1½ |
| 13 | Plukkel, Sjoerd | NED | 2279 | 1 |
| 14 | Soumya, Swaminathan | IND | 2323 | ½ |
Selected games from the official site...
