Grenke Chess Classic: Harikrishna in contention for honours

India Grandmaster P. Harikrishna outclassed Padmini Rout in the ninth and penultimate round to set up a final round clash with tournament leader Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in the Masters section of Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival here.

In what was a must win situation to keep himself in contention for top honours, Harikrishna gave a pleasing display of attacking chess and scored a chanceless victory over countrymate Rout, who anyway celebrated her maiden Grandmaster norm.

Nakamura was held to a draw by Axel Bachmann of Paraguay at the top of the tables and the American stays in lead on eight points.

David Howell of England defeated Daniel Naroditsky of the United States to emerge as the lone player on 7.5 points and Harikrishna shares the third spot along with women’s world champion Yifan Hou of China, Nikita Vituigov of Russia and Bachmann who all have seven points with just one round remaining.

The stage is set for what could be an exciting finale as Harikrishna meets Nakamura while Yifan will take on Howell in the last round.

Important results: Round 9: Axel Bachmann (Par, 7) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 8); David Howell (Eng, 7.5) bt Daniel Naroditsky (USA, 6.5); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 6.5) drew with Wei Yi (Chn, 6.5); B. Adhiban (6.5) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus, 6.5); Nikita Vitiugov (Rus, 7) bt Sandro Mareco (Arg, 6); Dmitry Jakovenko (Rus, 6.5) drew with Benjamin Bok (Ned, 6.5); Yangyi Yu (Chn, 6.5) drew with Dennis Wagner (Ger, 6.5); P. Harikrishna (7) bt Padmini Rout (6); Hou Yifan (Chn, 7) bt Richard Rapport (Hun, 6); Maxim Rodshtein (Isr, 6) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (6); M.R. Lalith Babu (5.5) lost to Eduardo Iturrizaga (Ven, 6.5); M.R. Venkatesh (5.5) lost to Mateusz Bartel (Pol, 6.5); D. Harika (5.5) drew with Aleksandr Lenderman (USA, 5.5); M. Shyam Sundar (5.5) drew with Michael Roiz (Isr, 5.5); Deep Sengupta (6) bt Irina Krush (USA, 5); V. Vishnu Prasanna (5) lost to Allan Rasmussen (Den, 6); S.P. Sethuraman (5.5) bt Kenny Solomon (RSA, 5); Eesha Karavade (5) drew with Renier Vazquez Igarza (Esp, 5); Nuri Kambez (Sui, 4.5) lost to Debashis Das (5.5); Alan Tate (Sco, 4.5) lost to Arghyadip Das (5.5); Neelotpal Das (5.5) bt Peter Lombaers (Ned, 4.5); Soumya Swaminathan (4.5) drew with German Schneider (Ger, 4.5).