Round 5 in numbers

Put that next to round 4 and the mover is White. White scored 50.9% in the Open in round 4 and 55.1% today: 161 wins to 121, where the day before it was 147 to 143. The Women's section went the same way, 52.0% to 55.0%. Draws barely moved, 120 to 124 in the Open and 70 to 75 in the Women's section, so the swing is all in the decisive games. 1.e4 went from 47% of Open games to 54%, and I'll leave it to you whether those two facts are connected.

The checkmate gap held for a fifth day, 59 to 17. One of the 17 was delivered by a knight that had just been a pawn. More on that below.

Germany beat the USA 2½–1½, and it was the quiet boards that did it. Vincent Keymer and Fabiano Caruana, 2764 against 2789, drew in 23 moves by repetition, the highest-rated game of the event so far. Replay Wesley So and Matthias Bluebaum drew in 54, Levon Aronian and Alexander Donchenko in 26. On board 3 Frederik Svane beat Hans Niemann in 40 with White, out of a Ruy Lopez, and that was the match. Replay Germany's four games averaged 98.7% accuracy, the most precise team of the day, and they have now won five matches without losing a single board.

Uzbekistan did the same thing louder. Hungary came in on four wins, every one of them 2½–1½, and left with nothing: Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Richard Rapport with Black in 31, Javokhir Sindarov beat Peter Leko in 58, Nodirbek Yakubboev beat Benjamin Gledura with Black in 35, and Shamsiddin Vokhidov beat Gleb Dudin in 69. Replay Against opponents averaging 2646, the site's formula makes that a team performance of 3046, the highest of the event in either section. Uzbekistan have also not lost a board in five matches.

India beat the Netherlands 3–1. Praggnanandhaa beat Anish Giri in 58 with White, Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin drew, and Gukesh won on board 4 for the second day running, this time against Erwin L'Ami with Black in 53. Replay He played 8...f6, which puts him on the site's Never Play f6 list, declined an en passant capture on move 40, and finished with 53...d1=Q+, the reply to L'Ami queening a pawn of his own. Board 4 suits him.

China, who led going in, drew all four boards with Armenia. Ding Liren and Haik Martirosyan took 43 moves over theirs. The site calls a 2–2 of four draws a Treaty of Samarkand, and it was the only one of the day. Replay Romania and Azerbaijan also split 2–2, with Bogdan-Daniel Deac beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on board 1 and Rauf Mamedov beating David Gavrilescu on board 4. France got past the Czech Republic on Jules Moussard's 26-move win, England got past Georgia on Luke McShane's 65-move one, which had three queens on the board from move 55, and Iran beat Lithuania 3–1. Spain, Türkiye and Ukraine all won 3½–½.

In the Women's section the USA, who led on 15 points out of 16, were held 2–2 by Uzbekistan. Afruza Khamdamova beat Carissa Yip with Black in 67 and Alice Lee beat Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova with Black in 68; the other two boards were drawn. Replay It was the bloodiest match of the section, 97 captures over the four boards, and the one with the most endgame in it.

China lead now, after beating Bulgaria 3–1. Zhu Jiner beat Nurgyul Salimova with Black in 42 in the highest-rated game of the section, and Song Yuxin beat Nadya Toncheva in 35. Replay Beloslava Krasteva gave Lu Miaoyi 11 checks in a row from move 21 and took the draw on move 31, which is the longest king hunt of the round, tied with two others. Replay

Poland beat India 2½–1½ and were the team of the round: Aleksandra Maltsevskaya beat Vaishali in 57, and Oliwia Kiolbasa, Klaudia Kulon and Monika Socko held Humpy Koneru, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal. Replay Kazakhstan beat Germany on Meruert Kamalidenova's 31-move win; Bibisara Assaubayeva and Dinara Wagner drew the cleanest game of the section on board 1, three centipawns a move each, in 31. Replay Azerbaijan beat Serbia 3–1. And Eline Roebers beat Alexandra Kosteniuk in 94 moves for the Netherlands, with Kosteniuk playing 49 of her 93 moves on the a- and h-files, the highest share of the round. The award is called Professional Edger and it is not usually won by a former world champion. Replay

Harold Wanyama of Uganda won yesterday with an hour and 45 minutes on his clock. Today he played 107 moves against Enrique Allo Collante of Paraguay and lost, and collected more awards on the way than anyone else this event. He took en passant on move 7. He made 50 king moves, the most in the Open this event, which is the Dadbod Shuffler. He promoted to a rook on move 79, 79...f1=R, lost it at once, and then played on for 28 more moves with nothing but his king, also an Open record. That last one is called Bare King Optimist, and he was. Replay

Allo Collante got two of his own from the same board: 70 moves played with under five minutes on the clock, from move 15, and an en passant capture he could have made on move 14 and didn't. Uganda's four games had 67 king moves in them, the most of any team. Fifty were Wanyama's.

Francois Gamba of the Central African Republic delivered checkmate on move 4. 1.e4 e5 2.h3 Bc5 3.h4 Qf6 4.Nc3 Qxf2#. It is the fastest mate of the event in either section, and I have watched it several times. Replay

Ediz Gurel of Türkiye beat Georgijs Germanovs of Latvia with 66...h1=N#: a promotion to a knight, with checkmate, one move after Germanovs had promoted to a queen. That is an underpromotion, a named mate and a Photo Finish in a single move, and the only knight mate of the Open today. Replay

Five underpromotions in all, three of them to a rook. Endrit Uruci of Kosovo, who played 120 moves in round 4, went for a bishop on move 40 and won on move 40. Replay Mahdi Gholami Orimi of Iran had a third queen on the board on move 13, 13...cxb1=Q, the earliest of the round, and won in 64. Replay Thirteen games saw a third queen; Nguyen Mai Chi Phan of Australia and Harriet Hunt of England had four from move 80 in the longest game of the Women's section, 105 moves, which Hunt won. Replay

En passant was played 43 times across both sections and left alone 34 times. The award for leaving it is called Holy Hell, because en passant is forced. Allegedly. Vedant Shetty of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, ten years old, took it on move 23 and won on move 24. Replay

Thirty-three players in each section pushed the f-pawn one square by move 10. The Open ones scored 50%, the Women's ones 38%. See above for the world champion.

Shermel Timothy of Dominica castled long with check on move 9 and won in 26. The site calls that a Shahrukh, after the story that Timur named his son after the king-and-rook move he had just played. It happened three times today, all in the Women's section. Replay Kristina Saric of Croatia set up an Il Vaticano, two bishops on one rank with two enemy pawns between them, on move 19. Replay Gabriella Watson of Jamaica built a Pawn Cube on move 16 and won by checkmate on move 38. Replay

Gilbert Elroy Tarigan of Indonesia has the queen of the tournament. In 62 queen moves it covered 126 squares, in a 116-move draw with Luca Moroni of Italy, and the Sporty Queen record, 108 squares yesterday, is gone. Replay Luitjen Akselsson Apol of the Faroe Islands made 45 of his 66 piece moves with the queen, 68%, and it visited 30 different squares, both the most of the round. Felix Xie of New Zealand kept the evaluation inside a pawn through move 40 and won in 77 anyway, which the site calls the Carlsen Grind. Replay

Jose Pesqueira of Aruba and Darryl Allen of the US Virgin Islands left a white pawn on c4 and a black pawn on d5 staring at each other from move 3 to move 34, 32 moves, the longest anyone has held a tension this event. The award is called Hypertension. Pesqueira won. Replay Temur Kuybokarov of Australia and Rijad Burovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina kept their queens until move 65, the latest trade of the round, and drew in 79. Replay Tansi Tung Wu of Chinese Taipei lifted a rook to h3 on move 6, the earliest of the event, and won in 53 against a player 300 points above her. Replay

Elham Amar of Norway gave 17 checks in a row between moves 74 and 90 against Sumiya Bilguun of Mongolia, which ties the event record, and it was a draw. Replay The longest game of the Open ran 127 moves, Yazid Elhayek of Palestine against Micheal Kaoma of Zambia, 98 of them in the endgame, and Kaoma's king arrived on a central square 12 times. Also a draw. Replay

In the Women's section, Tanvi Prasad of Fiji, who missed a mate in two yesterday, made 33 king moves and then played 21 of them with a bare king from move 57. She was mated on move 77. Replay Rukhshona Saidova of Tajikistan had the travelling queen of the section, 63 squares in 29 moves, and gave 11 checks in a row from move 62. She lost in 76. Replay

Board 4 of USA against Uzbekistan deserves its own line. Nilufarkhon Imomkuzieva played the Greek Gift, 22.Bxh7+, then a knight fork with check on move 24, then 32.Bh7+ again, a real sacrifice this time that Lichess found nothing wrong with. Rose Atwell answered with both rooks on the seventh rank from move 28 to move 39. Drawn in 39. Replay

Jergus Pechac of Slovakia spent 55 minutes on 21...Qxc4, the longest think of the Open this event, and drew in 51. Replay Zainab Rehman of Pakistan spent 46 on 19.Rhd1 and lost in 39. Replay

Time Not So Well Spent, the longest think that ended in a blunder, goes to Zhitian Chea of Cambodia, 31 minutes on 21.Ra1, and Kudzanayi Charinda of Zimbabwe, 37 minutes on 21.Bf6. Both lost. Replay Replay

Felix Jose Ynojosa Aponte of Venezuela won in 52 moves with an hour and 49 minutes left, the most anyone in the Open has finished a win with so far. Replay Kennedi Kangalee of Saint Kitts and Nevis, who is ten, won in 35 with an hour and 37 left. Replay Nana Dzagnidze gained six minutes on the clock after move 40, the most of the round, and lost the game; more on that below. As teams, Nauru finished with 68 minutes left on average, Bhutan's women with 74. Austria's Open team played 38% of their moves with under five minutes on the clock, Belgium's women 47%.

Mahri Agamuradova of Turkmenistan, untitled, was down to 32 seconds after move 34 and beat a WIM. Replay In the Open, Zozek Salah Mohammed of Iraq and Dimitris Alexakis of Greece both got to 32 seconds and both won, so they share it. Hilmir Freyr Heimisson of Iceland lost on time after 57...Kd5, the only Open flag of the day. Replay

Sanker Kim of Cambodia, rated 1583, beat a 2163 in round 3. Today he beat Kodjovi Folly Corazon Doumassi of Togo, rated 1965, in 64 moves: the biggest upset of the Open and Cambodia's only point of the match. Replay The grandmaster scalp went to CM Adib Arkadan of Lebanon, 2148, who beat GM Luis Galego of Portugal, 2400, in 84 moves, after Galego had declined an en passant capture on move 25. Replay

In the Women's section, WIM Diajeng Theresa Singgih of Indonesia, 2280, beat GM Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia, 2478, in 69 moves. Georgia won the match anyway. Replay Camila Mejia of Honduras, 1608, beat a 1949, an expected score of about 12%. Replay Nadezhda Antonova of Tajikistan held Olga Zimina of Italy, 392 points above her, to a draw. Replay

Saudi Arabia beat Wales 2½–1½ while giving up 229 rating points a board, the Slingshot of the Open, and are now 92nd from a seeding of 140th. Chinese Taipei did it to Botswana in the Women's section, 245 points a board, and have climbed from 141st to 75th.

Age, in a line. Renato Frick of Liechtenstein, 74, was the oldest player in the Open and sat across a 54-year gap for the second day running, this time from Faris Rashid Alriyami of Thailand, born 2006. He lost in 23. Replay Mariane Biordi of San Marino, born 1957, lost to Nevissa Dahi of Mauritania, born 2009, across 52 years. Three ten-year-olds played in the Women's section, two of them for Saint Kitts and Nevis: Kangalee, from above, and Isabella Jeetlall, who was stalemated two points down and takes the Houdini. Replay

Jesper Sondergaard Thybo of Denmark played at 99.9% accuracy, one centipawn lost per move, the best of the event. It was a 32-move draw against Reja Neer Manon of Bangladesh, out of a Berlin, so I'd hold the applause a little. Replay The cleaner story is Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage of Sri Lanka and Denis Lazavik of Belarus, 91 moves, one centipawn a move each, drawn. Replay And Joseph Mwale of Malawi and Bomo Lovet Kigigha of Nigeria, both rated 2287, played 101 moves without a single mark from Lichess for either of them, and drew. Replay In the Women's section Katerina Petrovska of North Macedonia and Aleksandra Milovic of Montenegro tied on 99.5%, both in wins under 30 moves.

Now the other kind of game. Yoboue Hermann Manan of Côte d'Ivoire was eleven pawns up against Santiago Jose Guevara Ruiz of El Salvador, played 26...h6, and was lost by fourteen. He resigned a move later. It is the biggest blunder of the Open this event, in the wildest game of the round. Replay

Oumar Keita of Mali had a mate in eleven against Ishmael Amnol of Papua New Guinea, played 55.Ke6, and lost from ten pawns up. Swindle, heartbreak and lucky escape, one game. Replay Milaydes Lourdes Moreno Mora of Aruba did the Women's version, letting a mate in four go with 50...Qf3+ against Alshaeby Razan of Jordan, who won from ten pawns down. Replay Aicha Mahamat Bagamla of Chad had a mate in eight, played 28.Bf2, was lost by four and a half, and won on move 80 anyway. Replay

Rachelle Hoareau of the Seychelles, 71 and the oldest player in the Women's section, won a game in which the evaluation crossed from one side to the other eleven times, a record for the section, with three queens on the board from move 33. Replay Luong Phuong Hanh of Vietnam spent 14 moves at least three points down in material and won in 34: Tal's Dark Forest, where you take your opponent somewhere dark and see who finds the way out. Replay

Uzbekistan lead the Open on 10 match points and 17 game points, ahead of India and Germany, also on 10. China, France, Iran, Armenia and England are on 9. In the Women's section China lead on 10 and 17, from Poland, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan on 10; the USA and Uzbekistan are on 9. Three Open teams and four Women's teams have won all five matches.

There were 13 whitewashes in the Open and 20 in the Women's section, and six teams in the Open and seven in the Women's section lost on board 1 and won the match anyway. Yemen and Afghanistan played the longest match, 269 moves over four boards. Niger and Djibouti were done in 112, with 44 captures, the quickest and quietest match of the day in one.

Bhutan had the day of the round. They whitewashed Gabon 4–0 in 91 moves in total, three of the four wins by checkmate on the board, Pema Yangsel Dorji's in 13 moves the quickest decisive game of the section and Asha huang Limboo's mate on move 18 the fastest, tied with two others. They finished with 74 minutes on the clock on average. Replay The Faroe Islands gave 41 checks over four Open games, the most of any team, and lost 3½–½; Vanuatu's women made 71 king moves.

Lichess analyses every finished broadcast game on its own servers, and by the evening 99.7% of Open moves and 99.8% of Women's moves had an evaluation, so the accuracy and blunder numbers are Lichess's, not mine. Relay clocks are chaos, so the script looks for the jump where the 30-minute bonus actually lands instead of trusting move 40. Forfeits and unfinished games never count for move stats, ties are shown instead of broken, and every award links to the exact move.

One thing worth knowing this round: 40 players in the Open and 103 in the Women's section have no FIDE rating at all. Their games count for every statistic and every award except the rating ones (the upsets, David vs Goliath, Clash of Titans), which need a number on both sides of the board. So Ishmael Amnol's swindle above counts in full, but whether it was also an upset, nobody can say. Two results were corrected from chess-results tonight, both in the Women's section, and two games' moves stay out of the statistics because the relay did not record them faithfully; their results count, their moves don't.

Round 6 tomorrow, then Tuesday is the rest day. The pairings are out: Uzbekistan play India and China play Germany at the top of the Open, and in the Women's section Poland play China and India play the USA. Every round gets its own page, there are team standings with the official tie-breaks, and an overview of the whole event tracks the records as they fall; nineteen of them fell today. The site is unofficial and not affiliated with FIDE, the organisers or Lichess.

Got an idea for an award? Lichess comments and the r/chess round thread both reach me. One from the round 1 comments already made it in.

And thanks again to the Lichess broadcast team. Without the relay, none of this exists.