World Junior Champion P Harikrishna continued his winning streak by outplaying Woman Grandmaster Zhao Xue of China in the second round to emerge as the sole leader in the second Sanjin Hotel Cup Grandmasters Chess tournament in Taiyuan, China.
With nine rounds still remaining in the category-15 round robin tournament, Harikrishna is the only player with an absolute score. Grandmasters Luke McShane of England and Tigran Petrosian of Armenia are close on the heels of the Indian with 1.5 points to their credit.
China's GM Zhang Zhong, GM Wang Yue, GM Bu Xiangzhi and Wang Hao are next in line on one point each while late arriver top seed GM Alexander Motylev of Russia and GM Ni Hua of China are another half point adrift with 0.5 point with an extra game between them slated to be played on the rest day.
For Harikrishna it turned out be another fine day as he exquisitely dominated Xue. The endgame prowess of the Hyderabadi was on display once again as he played the final part of the game with conviction leading to an easy victory.
Earlier, Harikrishna played the Catalan opening with white pieces and apparently allowed a balanced position to Xue, who went out of control after trading of queens on the 32nd move.
The exchange of pieces at regular intervals thereafter led to a better rook and minor piece endgame for Harikrishna who had an extra pawn and after the exchange of rooks it was all over for Xue. Stripping black of pawns, Harikrishna knocked down another to wrap the issue in 63 moves.
The only other decisive game of the day ended in favour of McShane who was decidedly helped by lady luck. Playing the black side of a Sicilian Sveshnikov against Dubai Open champion Wang Hao, McShane was never in any serious trouble even after losing a pawn in the middle game but his chances of victory were bleak until Hao crumbled while trying to force matters.
As a result, the English won a couple of pawns before going on to win in 67 moves.
World's youngest ever GM Sergey Karyakin of Ukraine regained some composure after a disastrous blunder in round one and held Motylev to an easy draw.
Playing black, Karjakin restored faith in the Berlin defence and a few correct moves in the queen less middle game were enough to net him an easy half point in just 25 moves.
In a game of fluctuating fortunes, Pengxiang drew with Petrosian who played white. The Armenian had a better position for quite some time in the middle game arising out of a Sicilian defencse but he failed to utilise the chance. The Chinese returned the favour after transposing to a superior endgame. The longest game of the event turned out to be a 105 -move affair.
The other two games of the day were drawn without much ado. Wang Yue drew with Zhang Zhong while BU Xiangzhi achieved the same result against Ni Hua.
Results: Round 2: P Harikrishna (Ind, 2) beat Zhao Xue (Chn, 0); Wang Yue (Chn, 1) drew with Zhng Zhong (Chn, 1); Alexander Motylev (Rus, 0.5/1) drew with Sergey Karjakin (Ukr, 0.5); Bu Xiangzhi (Chn, 1) drew with Ni Hua (Chn, 0.5/1); Luke McShane (Eng, 1.5) beat Wang Hao (Chn, 1); Tigran Petrosian (Arm, 1.5) drew with Zhang Pengxiang (Chn, 0.5).