FIDE World Cup: Giri, Karjakin, Eljanov, Wei Yi qualify for 5th round

The four pairs of players who tied their round four matches with the classical time control returned to the playing hall at the Fairmont Flame Towers in Baku to settle the scores in the rapid and blitz games.

Official website / Live games with analysis / Live games with chat / Round 1 pairings/ Round 2 tie-break/ Round 3 picturesque report/ Eljanov with six straight wins/ Andreikin defeats Kramnik in Russian derby/ Round 4 started with 4 wins/ Mamedyarov, Nakamura, Svidler, Vachier-Lagrave advance

In the first set of the rapid games Sergey Karjakin eliminated his compatriot and 2013 World Cup finalist Dmitry Andreikin thanks to the win with white pieces in the first game. In the second game Andreikin couldn’t find the desired attack and black even emerged with a winning position.

Anish Giri also made good use of the white pieces and simply crushed Radoslaw Wojtaszek in the first game. In the return game Wojtaszek seized the initiative but he let it slip away, while Giri gradually improved his position and went on to win 2-0.

Pavel Eljanov held a draw with black and scored a fine positional win with white to advance to the next round. Dmitry Jakovenko still has a chance to qualify for the Candidates Tournament, but only if Hikaru Nakamura reaches the World Cup final.

The two Chinese players Ding Liren and Wei Yi drew both games and proceeded to the next batch of rapid with faster time control. After another draw, the second game produced a real thriller when both players pushed for a win in the complex ending with queens and bishops. Wei Yi managed to trade the queens, win a pawn and eventually the game to qualify for the 5th round.

Full set of results and pgn files can be found on http://www.bakuworldcup2015.com/content/27

Photo gallery is available at http://www.bakuworldcup2015.com/product/66

Round 5 pairings:
Giri vs Vachier-Lagrave
Mamedyarov vs Karjakin
Nakamura vs Eljanov
Svidler vs Wei Yi