The only match that ended without a play-off was between Firouzja and Nepomniachtchi. After a draw in the first game, Firouzja found himself in great difficulty from Black in a Caro-Kann. Nepomniachtchi could have simplified to a pawn endgame, but chose to keep his pieces and play against the king. After 21…e5!however, it was his own king who ended up in the line of fire.
Carlsen won a crushing first game, but the resilient Vachier-Lagrave recovered and won the second to force a play-off. Carlsen found himself down a pawn in the last game, but miraculously built a fortress that could not be breached. In the following position, there is no way for White to safely push his pawn onto the c6 square, a clear square.
“He already beat me twice before, so it wasn’t easy,” said a visibly disappointed Carlsen, even though he now led the tournament with a perfect score of 4/4. He continued: “Today I was just annoyed because I got beat once in a position I should never have, and the third game was really bad.”
Tournament co-leader Lazavik took the field against an Aronian who we saw struggling the day before, but who managed to win his first match of the event on Wednesday. After losing the first game and recovering in the second, Aronian won the match after a serious mistake made by the 18-year-old GM in the rooks endgame, when both players had about five seconds, 74. Send 2??which allows an enfilade.
In all honesty, the position was even and Aronian would have won the game even if they had drawn.
Finally, Keymer lost the first game, but completed the comeback by winning the second and drawing the armageddon from Black. In this second game, So had some clever ways to find perpetual chess, but Keymer won a piece thanks to the weak cross rear.
Round 5: Firouzja ends Carlsen’s winning streak
Firouzja ruined Carlsen’s perfect score, while Aronian earned his second consecutive match victory by winning two more games in a row. Vachier-Lagrave won easily against Keymer and Nepomniachtchi won armageddon against Lazavik.
The most crushing victory of the round was the 2-0 of an Aronian reborn from its ashes against Wesley So; the second game lasted just 20 moves.
Vachier-Lagrave earned his first match victory of the day against Keymer, winning a rook endgame with an extra pawn in the first game and drawing the second.
The two armageddons remain. Firstly, the three matches between Carlsen and Firouzja ended in draws, despite being very close. Since Firouzja had the black pieces in the armageddon, he was the first player to defeat Carlsen in a match in these CCT Finals.
Nepomniachtchi won the first match, lost the second, but overcame the armageddon to win the match against Lazavik. He found the winning move, 41. Xg7!instantly.
At this point, Carlsen was still leading with four points, followed closely by Firouzja, Lazavik and Nepomniachtchi one point behind.
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