World Junior champion Pendyala Harikrishna continued with his top form to outsmart Grandmaster Luke McShane of England and remain in sole lead in the second Sanjin Hotel Cup Grandmasters Chess tournament in Taiyuan, China.
With his third win on the trot, Harikrishna made sure that no one could catch up with him and he remained half a point clear of nearest contender Tigran Petrosian of Armenia, who accounted for tail-ender Woman Grandmaster Zhoa Xhu of China in a one-sided affair.
With eight rounds still remaining in the category-15 round-robin event, the Chinese duo of Dubai Open champion Wang Hao and Bu Xiangzhi, once the youngest GM of the world, are in joint-third spot on 2 points each.
Following them with 1.5 points is former Russian champion Alexander Motylev with an extra game in hand. McShane along with Wang Yue of China is next in line, also on 1.5 points, albeit from three games.
It was a game of academic interest between Mcshane and Harikrishna wherein the former played white. Starting out with the Berlin defense for the second time in the event, Harikrishna was in for a surprise as McShane nonchalantly obtained a superior position soon in the middle game with absolute control of light squares.
It was time to work on the counter active measures for Harikrishna and he executed a fine plan to get some play in the center. McShane could have forced a draw by repetition but the English was obviously not content with a half point after being on top for quite some time.
As McShane starting pressing hard, Harikrishna was quite up to the task too. A flurry of exchanges led to a fairly imbalanced endgame wherein Harikrishna's skills yet again came to fore and he wrapped the issue in 80 moves.
For the second time in the tournament, black pieces reigned supreme with as many as five games ending in the favour of slightly unfaourvable colour in the game.
Petrosian was in his element in defeating former world junior girls' champion Xue, who did not know what hit her soon in the middle game arising out of a Tarrasch defense. With a thematic exchange sacrifice, Petrosian gained a direct attack against the king and romped home in 44 moves.
Wang Hao got the better of his higher rated compatriot Zhang Zhong in a keenly contested game. Playing the black side of a relatively less played variation in the French defense, Hao capitalised on an endgame mistake to register victory in 49 moves.
Chinese Zhang Pengxiang fell victim to some exquisite play by top seed Motylev in a Scotch opening game. Playing black Motylev simply outclassed his rival in the endgame to register his first victory.
The other decisive game of the day was played between Ukrainian Sergey Karjakin and Bu Xiangzhi in which the latter scored in 54 moves while in the lone draw of the day, Ni Hua
failed to impress compatriot Wang Yue.
Results round 3:
Luke McShane (Eng, 1.5) lost to P Harikrishna (Ind, 3); Zhao Xue (Chn, 0) lost to Tigran Petrosian (Arm, 2.5); Zhang Zhong (Chn, 1) lost to Wang Hao (Chn, 2); Zhang Pengxiang
(Chn, 0.5) lost to Alexander Motylev (Rus, 1.5/2); Sergey Karjakin (Ukr, 0.5) lost to Bu Xiangzhi (Chn, 2); Ni Hua (Chn, 1/2) drew with Wang Yue (Chn, 1.5).
The moves:
Luke McShane v/s P Harikrishna
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. d4 Be7 7. d5 Nb8 8. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 9. Re1 Nc5 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Nd2 a5 12. Nb3 Ncd7 13. Be3 c6 14. a4 cxd5 15. exd5 b6 16. f4 Qc8 17. fxe5 dxe5 18. d6 Bd8 19. Qf3 Re8 20. Bf2 Rb8 21. Rad1 Re6 22. Qd3 Qb7 23. Nd2 Rc8 24. Nc4 Nc5 25. Qe2 Nfd7 26. b3 Qc6 27. Nb5 Qa8 28. Ne3 Ne4 29. Nd5 Nxd6 30. Nxb6 Bxb6 31. Nxd6 Rd8 32. Nc4 Bc7 33. Qe4 Qc8 34. Rd2 Nf6 35. Rxd8+ Qxd8 36. Qe2 h6 37. h3 Qa8 38. Qe3 e4 39. Qc5 Qd8 40. Qd4 Qb8 41. Qa7 Qd8 42. Qd4 Qb8 43. Rd1 Nh5 44. Qa7 Qc8 45. Qd4 Nf4 46. Qd7 Qb8 47. Be3 Ne2+ 48. Kf1 Ng3+ 49. Ke1 Nf5 50. Qb5 Nxe3 51. Qxb8+ Bxb8 52. Nxe3 Be5 53. Rd5 g6 54. Ke2 Bc3 55. g4 Rf6 56. Nd1 Rf3 57. Nxc3 Rxc3 58. Kd2 Rxh3 59. Rxa5 Rh2+ 60. Kc3 h5 61. gxh5 Kg7 62. Rd5 Rxh5 63. Rd8 Re5 64. Kd2 f5 65. b4 f4 66. Ke2 e3 67. Rd1 g5 68. Rg1 Kf6 69. a5 Rd5 70. Kf3 Kf5 71. Rg2 Rd1 72. a6 Rf1+ 73. Ke2 Ra1 74. b5 g4 75. Kd3 f3 76. Rh2 f2 77. Kxe3 f1=Q 78. Rf2+ Qxf2+ 79. Kxf2 Kf4 80. Kg2 g3 white resigned.
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