The fifth round of Cappelle-La-Grande is still going on. The first four boards finished with draws. Chilean GM Mauricio Flores is the only player that might finish this round as sole leader – he is trying to convert his advantage in the endgame against GM Renier Vasquez from Spain.
Mikhail Gurevich and Eric Hansen simplified the position quite quickly to reach an endgame with rooks and knights with very solid pawn structures for both sides. Draw in 25 moves.
Alexander Kovacevic and Maxim Rodshtein also signed a fast draw in 24 moves. However, the final position seems to offer some play – the pawn structures are not that solid and the queens are still on the board.
Yuri Vovk and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan had a longer fight. They signed the scoresheets in a position with K + B vs K. Vovk played actively in the opening and early middlegame, but the young Armenian correctly simplified to an opposite-colored bishops endgame to get the draw.
Mauricio Flores is trying to convert a R + 1 pawn vs K + 2 pawns to reach the sole leader spot.
