The Round 5.2 of the FIDE World Cup 2015 witnessed World No. 4 Nakamura and French No. 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave getting knocked-out of the competition. With Nakamura requiring a win on demand against an in-form Eljanov, the former could only manage a draw against Eljanov’s accurate play and as such, had to exit the competition.
Giri – Vachier-Lagrave
The game took off with MVL’s favourite Grunfeld Defence, with the Dutch GM choosing a calm approach against it. In fact, the opening battle ended favourably for Giri as he emerged with a slight advantage. Giri kept on pressurising MVL and the game soon went into a better endgame for White, which was anything but easy to win. However, Giri displayed impeccable technique which led to the French GM breaking under pressure. Giri duly grabbed his chances and rounded up the matters on move 69.
Thus, Giri and Eljanov have advanced to the Semi-Finals of this prestigious event whilst the other two match-ups – Wei Yi-Svidler and Karjakin-Mamedyarov – will be decided today in the Tie-breaks.