Master Report 5

The fifth round of the Master Tournament was the first one without any draws, every game was battled out until the very end. The four tournament leaders all won, widening the gap with the rest of the field. GM Jha Sriram got a big defended passed pawn on e6 early in the game, but Romario Sanches fought back really hard and it seems that with 42...Nc7 Black actually could have drawn the game. This wasn't trivial though and in the end the grandmaster won after all.

IM Luis Lazaro Aguero Jimenez quickly stole the initiative with Black in the Sicilian Sveshnikov against FM Roger Matoewi and won an exchange with a small combination. IM Thomas Willemze used the Scandinavian opening to surprise FM Dewperkash Gajadin and won a smooth counterattacking game. FM Ryan Harper started attacking IM Gerardo Lebredo Zaragoitia in classical fashion with g4-g5 and his creative knight jump to h5 was rewarded with a full point.

WGM Alina L’Ami knew her stuff well in the main line of the King's Indian, and when IM Jose Luis Vilela De Acuna started to become impatient on the queenside, she firmly countered through the centre. With this win L'Ami took over 5th place in the standings.

1st Srefidensi standings after round 5:
1-4 Sriram, Willemze, Aguero Jimenez, Harper (4)
5 L'Ami (3)
6 Vilela De Acuna (2.5)
7 Lebredo Zaragoitia (2)
8 Matoewi (1)
9 Sanches (0.5)
10 Gajadin (0)

IM Merijn van Delft