Junior World champion Pendyala Harikrishna drew yet again, this time with Ukrainian champion Andrei Volokitin, and remained in joint lead after the seventh round in the International Invitational Chess tournament in Bermuda.
The day produced just one decisive game and that dashed the hopes of Cuban Lenier Dominiguez, who jointly led the table.
Bartlomiej Macieja of Poland easily crashed through the defences of Dominiguez.
As things stand now in this category-17 double round-robin tournament amongst six players, Harikrishna, Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil and Boris Gelfand of Israel share the lead with four points each from seven games.
With just three rounds remaining, Vescovi is on the toes of the leaders with 3.5 points in his bag while Macieja took his tally to three points and moved to fifth place.
Volokitin is currently at the bottom of the standing list with 2.5 points. No matter how hard he has tried, Harikrishna hasn't been able to press home miniscule advantages in the tournament.
Against Volokitin too, it was a similar story as the Indian emerged with better prospects out of a King's Indian defence but eventually the game petered out to a level endgame.
Playing white, Harikrishna employed the Classical set up and Volokitin was under pressure in the early stages of middle game as Harikrishna gained ground on the kingside.
However, the Ukrainian found some solace after getting the queen's traded on the 20th move and even though Harikrishna still had some advantage, thanks to his better pawn structure, subsequent exchanges ensured that black was not worse in the ensuing minor piece ending. The draw was agreed to after 44 moves.
Macieja scored his second victory in three games. After a dismal start the Pole is certainly showing a lot of promise and his return to form could be ominous to his remaining opponents in rounds to come.
Playing against Dominiguez, Macieja ensured a bloody battle right from the word go as he went for a tactical variation after opting for the English opening.
The Cuban, black, sacrificed a pawn early in the opening and for the major part of the game thereafter, was busy in trying to retrieve it back. Macieja made adequate advances with his pieces and when he eventually gave the pawn back, Dominiguez was already in grave trouble.
Marching his passed queen pawn to the seventh rank, Macieja uncorked an elementary Bishop sacrifice on the 27th move and romped home one move later as Dominiguez had no possible defence. Gelfand is one player in the tournament who has played quite a few quick draws.
And against Vescovi too, the Israeli decided against trying hard. Up against the predictable Sicilian Nazdorf by Gelfand Vescovi showed some intentions of a fight by going for the English opening but was not quite ready to counter Gelfand's response.
After sacrificing a pawn early in the middle game, Vescovi decided against undue risk and proposed the draw after making his 17th move that was accepted.
Results round 7:
P Harikrishna (India, 4) drew with Andrei Volokitin (Ukraine, 2.5); Giovanni Vescovi (Brazil, 4) drew with Boris Gelfand (Israel, 4); Bartlomiej Macieja (Poland, 3) beat Lenier Dominiguez (Cuba, 3.5).
The moves:
P Harikrishna v/s A Volokitin
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Na6 8. Be3 Ng4 9. Bg5 Qe8 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qc1 c6 12. Rd1 f6 13. Bd2 f5 14. h3 Nf6 15. exf5 gxf5 16. Bh6 e4 17. Nh4 Bxh6 18. Qxh6 Qf7 19. Qf4 Qc7 20. Qxc7 Nxc7 21. f3 exf3 22. Bxf3 Be6 23. Rd4 Rad8 24. Rad1 Rxd4 gxf5. Rxd4 Nd7 26. b3 Ne5 27. Bd1 Kf7 28. Bc2 Kf6 29. Ne2 Ng6 30. Nf3 Rf7 31. Ng3 c5 32. Rd6 Ke7 33. Rd1 h6 34. h4 Ne8 35. Kf2 Ng7 36. Rh1 f6 37. Rd1 Rd7 38. Ne2 Rxd1 39. Bxd1 Bd7 40. g3 Ne6 41. Ne1 f4 42. Nd3 fxg3 43. Nxg3 Bc6 44. Bf3 Bxf3 draw agreed.