Round 5 brings a high stakes clash between Vidit Gujrathi and tournament leader Vincent Keymer.
Both players drew their Round 4 games: Vidit in a long, precise battle against Pranav Venkatesh, and Keymer in a balanced encounter with Anish Giri.
With the event now at its midpoint and every point carrying extra weight, Vidit will be eager to close the gap, while Keymer looks to tighten his grip on the top spot. What will this game bring us?
Vidit prepares to fianchetto his light-squared bishop.
With this pawn push, Keymer directly challenges Vidit’s central pawn.
Vidit interposes his bishop to block the check!
Keymer castles kingside, securing his king.
Facing an attack on his knight, Vidit finds an in-between move that strikes at Keymer’s queen.
Keymer brings his knight to the center, breaking Vidit’s queen’s defense of his knight.
Keymer shifts his rook, unpinning the b-pawn and setting the stage for its advance.
Vidit has just 20 minutes left on the clock, while Keymer enjoys a more comfortable 45 minutes - a crucial factor as the tension rises.
Keymer pushes his pawn, effectively limiting the scope of Vidit’s light-squared bishop.
Vidit exchanges pieces, steering the game into an equal endgame and reducing complexity.
The position has now simplified into a balanced queen endgame, with both sides evenly matched.
Vidit holds a queenside pawn majority and will aim to create a passed pawn.
Keymer effectively blocks Vidit’s attempts to generate activity on the queenside.
It appears the game is heading toward a draw in the near future.
Round 5 saw Vidit Gujrathi and tournament leader Vincent Keymer battle to a solid 40-move draw.
The game opened with a Catalan setup and flowed smoothly through opening, middlegame, and into a queen endgame - balanced and precise from start to finish. Neither player faltered, resulting in a fair split of the point.
Keymer now turns his attention to Round 6 clash against Arjun Erigaisi.