World Junior champion Pendyala Harikrishna played an easy draw against Grandmaster Lenier Dominiguez of Cuba but a sensational defeat of overnight sole leader Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil helped him move into the joint lead at the end of the fifth round in the International Invitational tournament in Bermuda.
In a major upset of the day, tail-ender Bartlomiej Macieja struck form to beat Vescovi while the other game of the day between Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine and Boris Gelfand of Israel also ended in a draw.
At the half-way stage in this Category-17 double round-robin tournament between six players, Harikrishna, Vescovi and Gelfand share the lead with three points apiece while Dominiguez is on their toes with 2.5 in his bag.
Another half a point adrift is Volokitin while Macieja, despite his fantastic victory, remains at the bottom of the table on 1.5 points.
Harikrishna is playing just too solidly in his first major all-play-all event abroad.
Playing his third black in five games so far, Harikrishna played tough and did not give any chances to Dominiguez, who employed the Ruy Lopez.
Playing one of the well-analysed variations, Harikrishna maintained the dynamic equilibrium in the middle game with timely manoeuvres leading to balanced ending.
Quite interestingly, not a single pawn was exchanged in the first 16 moves but once the trading began, the pieces flew off the board as if in a heap and the players found themselves in a rook and opposite coloured Bishop endgame. The draw was a just result in 33 moves.
The day belonged to Macieja, who went all out against Vescovi and caught him off guard in wild tactics.
Starting off with the Reti opening as white, Macieja transposed to a reverse Benoni set up where Vescovi found himself at sea.
The Polish first sacrificed a piece and followed it up with an exchange that gave him control over vital squares.
Vescovi had to part with a piece to remain in the game but more tactics in the latter part of the game followed to unsettle him completely.
By the time the dust settle, Macieja had three minor pieces and two pawns against Vescovi's queen and the resulting position was child's play. Vescovi resigned on the 52nd move.
Gelfand-Volokitin was a Sicilian defence game where the former played black. Volokitin embarked on a less trodden paths in the opening and as a result obtained an unclear position after sacrificing a pawn.
Sensing some danger around his king, Gelfand liquidated to an endgame where only he had chances to press for advantage.
However, the Ukrainian champion was quite up to the task in finding right defensive manoeuvres and soon the players arrived at a rook and pawn ending with equal pawns where the peace was signed in 43 moves.
Today is the only rest day in the event and the last five rounds will resume tomorrow.
Results:
Lenier Dominiguez (Cub, 2.5) drew with P Harikrishna (Ind, 3); Andrei Volokitin (Ukr, 2) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr, 3); Bartlomiej Macieja (Pol, 1.5) beat Giovanni Vescovi (Bra, 3).
