After a day off, all ten players were energized and every game was decisive.
Volotikin woke up from his sleep in the first four round to soundly defeat Karjakin with the White pieces, his first win of the tournament.
Ponomariov, with the Black pieces, completely outplayed Leon in an even Queen, two minor pieces and symmetrical pawn structure endgame.
Bruzon with the White pieces forgot how to castle against Cheparinov and was severely punished for this. Yes, you have to castle ASAP, even when you are a super GM!
Dominguez soundly gave Nakamura a lesson about good knight versus bad bishop in an endgame. That was painful to watch as Black had little chances for survival even with equal material.
Vallejo Pons on the other hand convincingly pointed out to Felgaer that isolated pawn is usually a very bad idea. Vallejo was rewarded with a tie for first.
After 5 rounds, the standings are:
1-2 3.5 GM Ruslan Ponomariov (22, Ukraine, 2723), GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (23, Spain, 2650)
3-4 3.0 GM Lenier Dominguez (22, Cuba, 2638), GM Hikaru Nakamura (18, USA, 2644)
5-6 2.5 GM Ivan Cheparinov (19, Bulgaria, 2625), GM Sergey Karjakin (16, Ukraine, 2660)
7-8 2.0 GM Lazaro Bruzon (23, Cuba, 2650), GM Andrei Volokitin (19, Ukraine, 2665)
9-10 1.5 GM Ruben Felgaer (24, Argentina, 2607), IM Manuel Leon Hoyos (16, Mexico, 2428)
I have been watching Naka in every game. I was disappointed last night. he had the initiative and missed 27 …. Nxe5. this did not look good but there was a way to make it good. the plan involved Ba4 then Bxc2+ and Bg6 to block the king side. instead of seeing that he paniced and played 27 …. Qc5 then Q back to f8. this protected the g7 pawn but left a terrible position. he never fully recovered. it was a shame because he had the initiative. but then this maneuver was not obvious.
Some people seemed to think this was the first time Naka played the French Defense.
of course I found it using Fritz.