Steve Giddins reports on round 5 of the 2007 Staunton Memorial tournament.

The fifth round saw several more topsy-turvey games, including the longest game of the event so far. The games Speelman-L'Ami and McNab-Wells were both drawn fairly quickly. Wells looked to be a little uncomfortable early on, but found an accurate defensive idea and simplified to a drawn endgame, whilst Speelman complained of being "unable to get my brain in gear".

Jovanka Houska faced her toughest test of the whole tournament, with the grim prospect of the black pieces against top seed Mickey Adams. She chose her favourite Caro-Kann, and gave her recently-published book on the opening some more good publicity, by securing a fairly solid position.

In this position, despite the uncastled king, the pressure against the white queenside should give Black reasonable counterchances. Play continued 24...Bxe5? The knight is powerful on e5, but it still looks wrong to open the f-file for White. The computer suggests 24...Kg8, which looks better. 25.fxe5 Ke7 26.Rf1 Now, already quite short of time, Jovanka spotted a nice tactical idea, but sadly, it proved to have been based on a miscalculation. 26...Rxc3? 27.Bxc3 Nxc3 28.Qc1 Nxe4 29.Qc7+ Ke8 30.Qc8+ 30 Qxf7+? Kd8 leaves White with no follow-up. 30...Ke7 Jovanka's idea was that White cannot take on h8, because of 31...Qxd4+, winning for Black, and so it looks as though there is nothing better than giving perpetual check. However, as is the wont of 2700+ players, Adams had seen one move further. 31.Qb7+! An unpleasant surprise for Black, and the refutation of the whole idea beginning 26...Rxc3? White picks up the knight on e4, at the same time forcing the black king to a bad square. 31...Ke8 32.Qxe4 Now White really is threatening to win the h8-rook, as well as mating the black king. There is no defence. 32...Qa5 33.Qc6+ 1–0 33...Ke7 34.Qb7+ Ke8 35.Rc1 wins.

Houska, about to serve up 1...c6 to Adams

Meetings between van Wely and Timman are always exceptionally tense and hard-fought, and their game today was no exception.

Timman's adventurous early play had led to the diagram position. White has two extra pawns, but the rather unstable position of the knight on c4 allows Black now to repeat moves. 26...Na2 27.Rc2 Nb4 28.Rc1 Na2 29.Rc2 Nb4 Most of the Saturday afternoon crowd were now expecting a quick handshake, but Loek is made of sterner stuff, and sacrificed the exchange with 30.e4! Nxc2 31.Qxc2 With his two extra pawns and powerful centre, White should have excellent chances, but the rather exposed position of his king complicates his task considerably. Play continues 31...Bc8 32.Qd3 Bxh3 33.Kxh3, and now, with time-trouble approaching, Timman sacrificed another pawn, to break up the enemy centre and expose his king further. 33...f5!? 34.exf5 Rd5 35.Ne3 Rd7 36.Nc4 g6 37.fxg6 Qe6+ 38.Kg2 hxg6 39.f4 Rc8 40.Ne5 Bxe5 41.fxe5 Qxe5 42.Qxg6+ Rg7 43.dxe5 Rxg6 The result of the complications is an endgame, in which White has three pawns for the exchange. Timman wriggles as much as possible, but the black position proves indefensible. 44.Re1 Re8 45.Re4 Rc6 46.Nd6 Rf8 Not 46...Rxd6? 47 Rg4+! 47.Kh3 Kh7 48.h5 Kh6 49.Kg4 Rg8+ 50.Kh4 Rc1 51.Nf7+ Kg7 52.Ng5 Rh1+ 53.Nh3 Kf7 54.g4 Ke7 55.h6 Kf7 56.g5 Kg6 57.Kg4 1–0

Timman and van Wely settle down to another of their epic battles

The other decisive game was between Jones and Werle, and might perhaps be summed up under the title "Sir Gawain and the White Knights". The former tried the offbeat line 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5, which he has played many times before. However, Werle responded in vigorous fashion, reaching the diagram position:

White has traded both bishops for knights, hoping to find some good central outposts for his cavalry. However, Werle continued to play in dynamic style, and it was his bishops which triumphed. 17...g4! Initiating a kingside pawn push, which eventually has devastating consequences for the white king. 18.Nge2 Qg5 19.Qc1 Qxc1 20.Raxc1 Ke7 21.Nf4 Rh6 22.Nd1 exf5 23.exf5 Kd7 24.Nc3 Bd4+ 25.Kh1 h4 26.Ncd5 h3! Crunch! In this position, even the most diehard anti-cleric would prefer the bishop pair. After 27.g3 Bxb2 28.Rce1 Be5, White was a pawn down, with a ghastly king position. Gawain showed considerable resourcefulness in managing to stay on the board until move 49, but could not save the game. As a result, the Dutch move further ahead in the team contest.

Jan Werle, whose bishops did the damage

The longest game of the day was a marathon battle between Sokolov and Smeets, which finished only a few minutes before 9pm, a full seven hours after the start. After a dour fight, the following endgame was reached:

With his queenside pawns indefensible, and his knight out of play, White looks to be lost here, and Sokolov played the only hope 55.b5! axb5 56.a6, when his own passed pawn offers some counterplay. Play continued 56...b4 57.a7 e5 58.Bxe5 Be3+ 59.Kf1 Bxa7 60.g4!, ensuring the emergence of the knight. 60...hxg4 61.fxg4 Kg5 It is not entirely clear if Black can win this ending, and the players were still analysing when I left the building last night. White's drawing chances all revolve around the possibility of reaching a bishop + wrong RP position. 62.Bb2 Bc4+ 63.Ke1 Be3 64.Nf5 Bf4 65.Kf2 Bd3 66.Ne3 Be4 67.Ng2 Bd2 68.Kg3 Bxg2 69.h4+! An important zwischenzug, forcing the Black king back, and avoiding having his pawns blockaded by a later Kh4. 69...g6 70.Kxg2 Be1 71.h5+ Kf7 With 71...Kh7, followed by Bc3, Black could force White to give up the bishop for the passed b-pawn, but the resulting ending is a draw, thanks to the "wrong RP". 72.Bc1 b3 73.Kf3 Bd2 74.Ba3 Ke6 75.Ke4 Bc3 76.Kd3 b2 77.Kc2 Kf6 78.Bxb2 ½–½ A titanic struggle.

Saved by the wrong rook's pawn - Ivan Sokolov

The scores after 5 rounds show Adams and van Wely leading with 4 points. The Dutch lead the team competition by 3 points.