With the 2025 FIDE World Cup shrinking with every round, the Round 5 playoffs were fairly straightforward. 8 players returned for the first set of 15m+10s games, and two of the matches did not go beyond that. Sam Shankland knocked out Dubov 2-0 , while Esipenko advanced with a 1.5-0.5 win over Grebnev. In that match their were two contrasting games, with Esipenko winning the first game with some very nice attacking play, while in the second, grinding out a draw that went for over 145 moves.
Jose Martinez Alcantara was the next to qualify for round 6 beating Harikrishna 1.5-0.5 in the 10m+10s playoff games (NB there is a suggestion that 10m+5s could be used for the next World Cup at this point). The first game saw Harikrishna try and set up a mating net, but this backfired when his own ended up being trapped. In the 2nd, Alcantara once again found a tactic, which left him in a completely winning position, but needing only a draw, chose to finish the game with a repetition.
Donchenko v Le was the real roller coaster, with both sides taking and missing their chances. Twice Donchenko led the match, only for Le to save himself with a 'must' win. But in the 5m+3s section, a drawn first game made the 2nd game a 'sudden death' style of contest, which Donchenko won with a nice kingside attack.
There are now 8 players left, and I am expecting a quiet start to Round 6. Wei Yi v Arjun is the top game for this round, as they are the highest seeds left in the event, and the winner of this match may well go on to win the whole thing.
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