Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna played out a draw against the local Grand Master, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov late on Tuesday night here at the round five of the Shamkir Chess tournament 2017.
The World No. 14 playing with white pieces started off aggressively but found himself in a difficult position, to which he defended tactfully to lead the game into neutral territory.
“My opponent had an upper hand after the initial moves, I had to defend accurately in order to save the game,” the Hyderabadi lad said after a long and hard fought encounter.
“I found good defensive moves and my opponent could not improve his position and we had to settle for a draw,” Harikrishna added.
After playing out three draws and suffering two losses in the tournament, Harikrishna is currently placed tenth on the leaderboard with one and a half points.
After a day’s break today, Harikrishna will take on World No. 10 English Grand Master Michael Adams tomorrow.