Again… all games were decisive. The gem of the round was Bluvshtein-Krush which featured a tremendous see-saw battle and an exciting queen ending. Perelshteyn avenged his World Open loss against Muhammad and takes sole possession of 1st place. All three Grandmasters have +1.

Bluvshtein-Krush, 1-0. This game started at 2:15pm EST instead of the usual 12:30pm time. Krush had classes at New York University and has rescheduled three of her games. This game was definitely worth the wait. Although GM Hikaru Nakamura called this game "sloppy," he praised Bluvshtein's technique in the ending. In fact, this game was exemplary of the spirit of the tournament's theme. The two players could've easily called for a truce in such a difficult ending. 

This game started out as a Richter-Rauzer Attack in which white plays 6.Bg5. This line was all the rage back in the 80s and was the subject of many books although not in the category of the Najdorf or Dragon variations. This game featured the more modern approach for black and was in contrast to the Yudasin-Paschall game, also a Richter-Rauzer. Bluvshtein appeared to go for the jugular with the thrust 13.h4!? and 14.Qg3, but the attack seemed a bit optimistic. However, the young Canadian trudged forward with 25. g5 h5 26. g6 fxg6 27. Rg1. A key position occurred after 28…Rf6 when Bluvshtein played 29.Rxd5?! This temporary exchange sacrifice was criticized by commentator NM Eric Schiller as throwing away any hope of a slight advantage. Schiller's reasoning was that white's knight could hop around and plant itself on weak squares in black's camp. Nevertheless, after 29…exd5 30. Nxd5 Re6 31. Nc7 Rf6 32. Nd5 Re6 33. Nc7 Rf6 34. Nxa8 Qxa8 white had the smallest of advantages.

The game appeared to be headed for a draw when Bluvshtein hatched an original idea. 44.Ka3 brought quizzical comments from spectators at the Internet Chess Club. On second look, it was part of an ingenious plan to create a passed c-pawn which would be hard to stop with black's king on h8. After black's 44…Kh8, white played the star move 45.b4!! and after 45…cxb4+ 46.Ka4! Krush saw the plan and scurried to block the pawn's path. At the ICC, many spectators were puzzled, but GM Nakamura came in and immediately assessed that white was winning.  After 48…Qe7, Nakamura gave 49.c6 h4 Qc4 Kh7 c7 Qe8 Ka5 Qc8 f5 winning. Instead Krush tried 49…Kf8 instead. After 50.Qb6 Qe8, most spectators correctly predicted 51.Ka5! winning. The game ended 51…Ke7 52. Qb7+ Kd6 53. c7 Qg8 (On 53…Qe3 54.c8(N)+!)54. c8=Q Qxa2+ 55. Kb6 Qf2+ 56. Kxa6 1-0. Great technique by the young Canadian IM!

Ehlvest-Christiansen, 1-0. This matchup of Grandmasters started with a bit of intrigue after an irregular line in the Scotch Game occurred after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bb4+ 5. c3 Be7!? (Schiller suggested 5…Bc5 as an attacking line) 6. Nf5!? Bf6 7. Ne3, each moving the same piece several times in the opening. However, the prolific author appears to have misjudged white's opening and was stating that black was clearly better in the opening.  In reality, white held a slight advantage throughout the opening as Ehlvest had a grip on the d5 square and enjoyed tremendous space. Christiansen realized this and sought to free himself with 19…c5?! but ended up yielding control of the central files. In addition, black's a5-pawn was terribly weak and would eventually fall. A pawn down and the inevitable loss of another, Christiansen resigned after 33.Rd8+.

Perelshteyn-Muhammad, 1-0. Perelshteyn remembers the last time he played Muhammad; it was the 2002 World Open, a game ending in complete disaster as Muhammad crushed his King's Indian. Well… this is a new day and Perelshteyn wanted to level the score. The game started out as a Ruy Lopez and the only question these days is which of the many systems would black employ against this popular opening. Muhammad chose the aggressive Arkhangelsk's Defense with 7…Bc5!? As is typical with the Ruy Lopez, pawns are not immediately exchanged, but each side maneuvers to obtain a favorable and flexible position. After it was apparent that Perelshteyn was going for a direct attack after with 18.Qh5 and 19.Rf3, Muhammad attempted to lock the center by sacking a pawn with 19...d5. This worked temporarily as the two players spent some time shuttling their pieces back and forth. White cashed in his grip on the e-file after 36. h5 g5 37. Qf3 Ra7?? (37…Kg7) 38. fxg5 Bxg5 39. Re6! winning the a6-pawn. White's king marched up into a dominating position, played a deflection sacrifice of 55.d6+! to make way for the king's invasion. Muhammad resigned before Perelshteyn was able to gobble all of his queenside pawns.

Yudasin-Paschall, 1-0. This was the shortest game of the round and was indicative of the tough time Paschall has had in this tournament. Having played ambitiously, he has nothing to show for it. In this interesting opening, both players followed main theory and reached typical formations. Paschall may have gone wrong with 16…Rc8 and 17…Rc7 which allowed white to win the h4-pawn. Perhaps 16…h4 would kept a dynamic equality. After white was able to force the queens off the board, Paschall didn't care to play out another 20 moves only to watch the h-pawn scoot up the board for another queen.

Cross Table
Round Five Games (playable and downloadable)
All Games (PGN download)

Standings: Krush, Perelshteyn, 3½;  Bluvshtein, Christiansen, Ehlvest, Yudasin, 3; Simutowe, 2; Akobian, 1½;  Muhammad, 1; Paschall, ½.