The former world champion took a decisive step towards his quest to lift the 3rd Marx Gyorgy International Chess title after scoring a fine victory over defending champion Zoltan Almasi.
PAKS/HUNGARY: Former World junior champion P Harikrishna took a decisive step towards his quest to lift the 3rd Marx Gyorgy International Chess title after scoring a fine victory over defending champion Zoltan Almasi of Hungary in the eighth round.
With his second victory over Almasi inside a week in this double round robin tournament, Harikrishna stretched his lead to a full point over nearest rival Grandmaster Zahar Efimenko of Ukraine, who drew this eighth round game with Grandmaster Ferenc Berkes of Hungary.
As the other game of the 8th round between Wang Yue of China and Peter Acs of Hungary also petered out into a draw, Harikrishna’s game was the only high point of this round of the category-15 event.
Harikrishna has now 5.5 points and is followed by Efimenko on 4.5 while Almasi and Wang Yue are now joint third with 4 points each in their kitty. Berkes stands fifth on 3.5 points while Acs is last on the list with 2.5 points. Just two rounds remain in this annual tournament.
The Indian took the bull by its horns by going for the sharp Marshall gambit once again that netted him his second victory in the tournament - the earlier one coming against Peter Acs in the first-half.
It was a topical variation that Almasi went for with some new idea in mind but his plan was refuted by wily Harikrishna over the board. The Hungarian sacrificed a rook for knight soon after the trade of queens in the early stages of the middle game and apparently had enough compensation in form of his better control in the center.
However, as the game progressed, Harikrishna was in his element in keeping white’s attacking bid at bay. Slowly but steadily, he improved his position on the king side to force some favourable exchanges.
In the endgame Almasi went for an erroneous plan and ended up a piece down after which it was child’s play for Harikishna who wrapped the issue in just 37 moves.
This was Harikrishna’s third victory in the tournament besides five draws and even two draws in the remaining games should now be enough for him to win this title.
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