GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov extended his lead on Sunday at the London Chess Classic’s Elite Tournament to a full point after winning his fourth game in a row, against GM Nikolas Theodorou. GM Alireza Firouzja, who drew with GM Gawain Maroroa Jones, is now a point behind the leader.
GM Nikita Vitiugov scored his first win in the tournament, against GM Sam Shankland. GM Pavel Eljanov vs. GM Michael Adams and GM Abhimanyu Mishra vs. GM Luke McShane ended in draws.
The sixth round starts Monday, December 1, at 11:00 a.m. ET / 17:00 CET / 9:30 p.m. IST.
Round 5 Results
Standings After Round 5
A very special guest at the @xtxmarkets London Chess Classic today! 🎾♟️@andy_murray made the ceremonial first move on Nodirbek Abdusattorov’s board with Tournament Director @TelegraphChess keeping a close eye. pic.twitter.com/USpF3Ab3AO
— London Chess Classic (@london_chess) November 30, 2025
Abdusattorov 1-0 Theodorou
It’s not saying that much over only five games, but it’s still noteworthy: Abdusattorov’s performance rating jumped to 3015 after his fourth consecutive win on Sunday. The Uzbek GM had dropped 19.7 rating points in total after losing his last two games at the FIDE World Cup and making a draw against Maroroa Jones in London, but has already won back 13 points.
“I’m very happy with my performance but today’s game was far from easy and it was very complicated,” Abdusattorov said afterward. It was indeed a rather topsy-turvy game this time and definitely not a complete walk-over as Theodorou played quite well (19…b5! and 21…c5! were particularly strong).
In a position where he was fine, the Greek GM went for a positional queen sacrifice which wasn’t really necessary. “It looks tempting because it has a sound positional perspective but he’s not in time because I create this passed pawn on the a-file,” Abdusattorov noted.
Crazy complications followed, and at some point Theodorou was objectively completely fine again, but then he fell for a trick shortly before the time control. A great fight!
Vitiugov 1-0 Shankland
“It feels good!” was Vitiugov’s natural reaction to his first win, which was also Shankland’s first loss in the event. The game started as an Exchange Caro-Kann and followed Shankland(!)-Liang, St. Louis 2018 for nine moves, something that Vitiugov wasn’t aware of.
This time playing from the black side, Shankland was doing OK out of the opening. After 21.c4, where White allowed himself an isolated queen’s pawn for pressure along the c-file, the position was not easy to play for either side.
Shankland must have missed a tactic when he lost time with his bishop on move 23 and after that White was definitely better. The American GM got another chance to reach (close to) full equality on move 28, but missed it after which White’s pressure became too much.
Maroroa Jones ½-½ Firouzja
After a rough start, Maroroa Jones played a good game against Firouzja, who definitely played for a win but never got close. Also in this game there was some history: an earlier encounter between the same players, nine years ago at the Baku Olympiad. Maroroa Jones hadn’t looked at Black’s 2…a6 closely and when it came on the board, he suddenly remembered that game.
It took a bit longer for Firouzja to realize: “I got deja vu in the middle of the game, everything was like a playback!”
White was initially better, then equal, and at the end it was Black who had some initiative in the endgame perhaps, so it was a fair result for a fairly correct game.
Mishra ½-½ McShane
Mishra said he got a bit tired of the many Italians, so that’s why he went for a Ruy Lopez this time. McShane followed his usual repertoire (a Deferred Steinitz with …g6) and then chose the trendy plan of running with his a-pawn, where active play on the kingside had backfired in an earlier game of his. Mishra kept a slight edge for a while but couldn’t avoid a massive trade at some point.
Eljanov ½-½ Adams
Eljanov is varying his opening quite a bit, and the explanation for his choice for the fifth round made a lot of sense: “In general, the London is part of my repertoire but I decided that when I’m in London, I have to give it a try at least!”
Adams wasn’t happy with his choices around moves 15, 16, saying: “Obviously at some stage I just totally lost the thread.” Eljanov missed his biggest chance on move 28, but also at the end he could have tried a bit more perhaps.
There was a double round on Sunday in the FIDE Open. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was held to a draw a second time, by GM Tamar Fodor, but in the afternoon game he beat IM Eytan Rozen. Pragg now leads with GM Velimir Ivic, and the two will face each other on Monday.
How to review?
The 2025 XTX Markets London Chess Classic is a 10-player round-robin taking place November 26-December 5, 2025, at the Emirates Stadium. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting on move one.
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