Round 5 of the FIDE World Championship was played today between the reigning champion, GM Magnus Carlsen and his challenger, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi.

(title image - FIDE / Niki Riga)

Lichess is providing a broadcast of the moves being played in real-time. Additionally, GM Nijat Abasov is providing game annotations and insights on the games daily. Round five’s game annotations can be found below.

Nepomniachtchi had the white pieces today, and used his third White game on the same closed Ruy Lopez variation that he played in the first two. It’s the sort of opening that you might think doesn’t lend itself to long theoretical lines, given the large number of reasonable moves. However, things work differently at the GM level and even more differently in a world Championship that the players have both been preparing for with a giant team of elite chess players and chess machines. Nepomniachtchi arrived to move 18 before he had spent even 10 minutes on his clock.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/RoBvWqfx/PcHkf8wy#0

Magnus chose a not very ambitious line and was on the defensive the whole day. Eventually, the game arrived to an endgame where Nepomniachtchi had the infamous “symbolic advantage.” You can point to Carlsen’s (theoretical) bad bishop, you can point to the engine evaluation fluttering between +0.2 and +0.4 but it usually isn’t enough to give you a decisive game. The unplayed move 20. c4 caught the attention of Stockfish and reporters at the post game press conference, but it only looks like a winning attempt compared to the alternatives. Eventually, Magnus found one active piece, but it didn’t last long. When his rook arrived to the 7th and 8th rank Nepomniachtchi had to decide between not trading it off or agreeing to a draw, he chose the latter. According to Magnus: “Unless you count Ra1/Ra2 at the end, I did not make a single active move”

Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the birth of the United Arab Emirates which is hosting this event. As a result, the various celebrations will be given a rest day and the next game will start on December 3rd at 12:30 UTC.

(GM Nijat Abasov achieved the GM title at just 15. He was Azeri national champion in 2017, also winning the Baku Open the same year. He has played the Tata Steel Challengers and the Grand Swiss (twice), amongst many other tournaments, reaching his all-time peak rating of 2670 in February 2020. He recently represented Azerbaijan at the European Team Championships, winning a board prize with a performance rating of 2760).