World Junior Champion P Harikrishna went down fighting against top seed Grandmaster Alexander Motylev of Russian in the eigth round of the second Sanjin Hotel Cup Grandmasters chess tournament in China.
Despite the loss Harikrishna maintained a full point lead over Motylev, who took his tally to 5.5 points. However, the Russian has an extra game in hand against Ni Hua of China and in case he wins it, he will be able to catch up with the Indian.
Bu Xiangzhi of China was also on 5.5 points along with Motylev from eight games played so far. Wang Yue of China was another half point adrift of his compatriot while Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine stood fifth on 4.5 points.
Just three rounds remain in this category 15 round robin tournament being played under FIDE's time control.
After some fine performances in the first seven rounds, Harikrishna collapsed against a finely crafted game by Motylev who played the white side of a Berlin defense popularised by Vladimir Kramnik during his Braingames chess match against Garry Kasparov.
Harikrishna apparently was happy having gone threw Motylev's game against Karjakin a few rounds back that had ended in a draw.
But this time Motylev was better prepared as he had an perfect plan up his sleeves that posed ample problems for his rival.
Motylev obtained a clear advantage by the 21st move itself following which Harikrishna lost a pawn and an exchange to go down in 37 moves.
Results round 8: Alexander Motylev (Rus, 5.5/7) beat P Harikrishna (Ind, 6.5); Wang Yue (Chn, 5) beat Tigran Petrosian (Arm, 4); Ni Hua (Chn, 3.5/7) drew with Zhang Zhong (Chn, 3); Bu Xiangzhi (Chn, 5.5) drew with Wang Hao (Chn, 3.5); Sergey Karjakin (Ukr, 4.5) drew with Luke McShane (Eng, 2.5); Zhang Pengxiang (Ch n, 2.5) lost to Zhao Xue (Chn, 1)