A quick draw in 15 moves on board number one between two leaders (Meier (GER)-Inarkiev (RUR), was not a surprise but a kind of so many times «deja vu». On the other hand, a great number of chess fans, those in the tournament hall and others on the internet, was certainly disappointed with such an outcome which follows the well known principle that all the methods are allowed to reach a desired goal. I am afraid that we will see much more of these so called tactical draws on the top of the standing, since there is a calculation based on experience that plus four should be enough to take one of 23 places which qualify for the World Cup next year.
In the group of 11 players with half a point less there was just one decided game (Sjugirov (RUS)-Van Wely (NED 1:0), so Russian GM not only joined the top, but also took the lead by Bucholz which is a criterion number one in such cases. Behind that trio with 4,5 points, there is a group of 23 players with 4,0 points, followed by 40 players with 3,5 points.
Today I had again a very interesting opponent again, this time because he is older than me what happens rather rarely in my age. However, we meet regularly in veteran tournaments as well. A propos, one is allowed to participate in the category of veterans with 60 years on his back. To all of You who fulfill this condition I suggest from all my heart to play these tournaments if You can allow yourself such a luxury in the actual moment of financial crisis all over the world. This year the European championship will be organized in Rogaška Slatina, a well known thermal center in Slovenia, which is just 60 km far away from Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. All the information’s about the tournament can be found on the official sites of either FIDE, or ECU.
Unfortunately, a lot of chess federations don't pay to much attention, or should I say ignore completely the category of veterans. However, when I took last year the medal of bronze on both European and World championship my Federation put this detail very proudly in its annual report in spite of the fact that they didn't invest a single penny in my results.

Let's go back to the tournament. Tomorrow there is a sixth round and the pairings on the top are: Inarkiev (RUS)-Sjugirov (RUS, Cheparinov (BLG)-Meier (GER), Kobalia (RUS)-Naiditsch (GER), Areshchenko (UKR)-Papaioannou (GRE), Fedorchuk (UKR)-Timofeev (RUS), Petrosian (ARM)-Volokitin (UKR), Kotronias (GRE)-Jobava (GEO), Kurnosov (RUS)-Sokolov(NED), Grachev (RUS)-Bartel (POL), Rodshtein (ISR)-Hillarp Person (SWE), Banikas (GRE)-Bocharov (RUS), Shomoev (RUS)-Nyback (FIN) and Nanu (ROU)-Navara (CZE).