Harikrishna goes down in Shamkir chess tourney

Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna produced a spirited fight before going down to Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in the fourth round of the 2017 Shamkir Chess tournament here.

The World No. 4 from Russia took 42 moves to finish the game against Harikrishna. The Indian, ranked World No. 14, tried all the tricks up his sleeve but failed to save the game.

With two draws and two losses so far in the tournament, Harikrishna is currently placed in the 10th position with one point.

The Hyderabadi will take on World No. 10 and local favourite Grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the fifth round.

The World No 10 is currently at the pole position with three points.

Earlier, during the third round on Sunday evening, the Indian Grandmaster played an interesting game against Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan.

The Hyderabadi used the Ragozin defence but his opponent surprised him with counter moves. Harikrishna was quick enough to display his meticulous skills and forced a draw in 28 moves to earn half a point.

'It was Ragozin defence I played but my opponent was sly enough to surprise me with interesting plan to counter it and I had to find accurate moves to draw the game,' Harikrishna said after the third round game.

--IANS

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