The Candidates....

[Dilip Panjwani]

Nepo the Game Fixer. How wonderful for the world of chess.

Pragg will not let that happen!

[Hans Jung]

Rd 5 Good bishop, weak white squares for Black and weak king position. I agree with you Dilip!

[Hans Jung]

Dont know what happened to Praggas better position. Perhaps better was 23.Bxd7 with bishop of opposite colors which must favor White due to black's white square weaknesses.

As played Nepo's knight eventually found good squares and the game petered out to a draw.

[Hans Jung]

Vidit vs Caruana - sharp play both sides and Vidit had to take the perpetual in the end.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 5 Women's all draws

[Hans Jung]

Lei vs Lahno looked like great attacking chances for Lahno but as played nothing came of it.

[Dilip Panjwani]

Dont know what happened to Praggas better position. Perhaps better was 23.Bxd7 with bishop of opposite colors which must favor White due to black's white square weaknesses.

As played Nepo's knight eventually found good squares and the game petered out to a draw.

Anyway, Nepo and Gukesh are both in 1st place now, given Gukesh's 'nail-biting' win, just like Nepo's 'nail-biting' draw! I wish they would have allowed a Canadian to play, given that the tournament is being held here...

[Hans Jung]

I shut down my computer early so I could get a good nights rest and of course missed the best of round 5. But I'm happy! Pragga - Nepo turned out to just be a warmup to the excitement of the round. Four of the players prevailed fighting hard through the endgame and created enough drama and excitement to raise the play in the candidates to a new level. Finally!! They have discovered what Magnus discovered a long time ago. Keep the tension up through the endgame and there are new worlds of amazing chess to discover.

So I'm happy that Firoujza - Nakamura and Gukesh - Abasov have led the way to this new discovery. Im hopeful, hope of course leads to miracles, that the rest of the players wake up to this new possibility and the excitement continues.

[Hans Jung]

I believe Nakamura has now recovered. This fantastic, resourceful win against Firoujza will give him the juice (energy) needed to turn his game around.

[Hans Jung]

After 5 Gukesh is tied for first after his fighting long win in an amazing endgame against Abasov. That is a great reward and I'd like to see it continue.

[Hans Jung]

Going into round six the candidates games are suddenly very exciting!

[Hans Jung]

https://en.chessbase.com/post/candid...t-2024-women-5 The missed chances are large in the womens as well.

[Hans Jung]

https://en.chessbase.com/post/candid...nt-2024-open-5 Highlights of the games.

[Hans Jung]

https://en.chessbase.com/post/grivas-on-pragg-nepo Hah! I was right. 23.Bxd7! was the move! I still have fine instincts and understanding even though I'm not much of a player anymore.

That makes my day! Love the analysis!

[Patrick Kirby]

I'm not sure I agree that Bxd7 is the best move. After this, White is slightly better, but no more than that. Whereas after Rxd5 Black has to find accurate moves to avoid losing immediately. I think Pragg's choice was the better practical option (and indeed it did provoke an immediate mistake by Yan, albeit not exploited by Pragg). Fascinating game.