Aronian moves to the semifinals with a round to spare at the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022

Round 5 of the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 ended with Aronian winning against Keymer in Group C, and moving to the semifinals with a round to spare. Nakamura and So remain the sole leaders of Groups A and D respectively, while Wojtaszek and Fedoseev being the co-leaders of Group B.

Round 5 started with the President of the German Chess Federation, Ullrich Krause, proudly making the first move for the 17-year-old German GM Vincent Keymer who was facing Group C leader, Levon Aronian.

Their game was quite fascinating with both GMs finding all the amazing computer suggestions and getting into a sharp middlegame.

This incredible game by Keymer was suddenly decided by a blunder, and Aronian eventually won the game and ended Round 5 with 4/5. In Group C though, the Dubov-Vidit game ended in a crucial draw, so Aronian moved to the semifinals with a round to spare!

The first result of Round 5 was Wojtaszek-Fedoseev. The Polish GM was surprised by his opponent’s opening choice, but the game went smoothly and ended in a draw. The two GMs are still tied and leading Group B with 3/5, after Rapport drew against Oparin and missed this vital point to co-lead.

In Group A, the Grischuk-Nakamura game started with the King’s Indian Defense and the Russian GM spending an unusual amount of time after Nakamura’s 6.Be3. After almost 2 hours into Round 5, Nakamura had more than an hour on his clock, while Grischuk had only 17 minutes!

The American GM and streamer chose his moves accurately and won the game to finish Round 5 with 3.5/5, while Esipenko is only half a point away after his win against Bacrot.

Lastly in Group D, Shirov and So played the Berlin, a game which was peacefully led to an equal endgame and ended in a draw. “It’s #timetosayBerlin and #timetoplayendgames! I’m almost 50 years old after all, so why play aggressively!” Shirov jokingly said afterward.

The Harikrishna-Dominguez game was not so tranquil with the Indian GM making a lot of mistakes. Dominguez was basically “gifted” that point and the chance to claim his position at the semifinals, with only half a point away from So.

Join our live stream with GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko and WIM Jesse February and watch the games.