Harikrishna holds Vaganian in 1st round of Biel Chess Festival

After finishing runner- up in the Rapid tournament, Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna held Armenian Grand Master Rafael Vaganian to a draw in the first round of the Grand Master tournament here at the 50th Biel Chess Festival.

The World No. 20 Indian, playing with black pieces, started off aggressively and placed a check on his opponent in the 12th move itself.

However, he had his Queen gambit declined as the Armenian realized the danger and had to turn to his defensive best to lead the game towards neutral territory.

"Even though I got into an attacking position in the initial moments of the game, my opponent played an interesting idea on the board and that led to repeating moves so that either of us didn't get into worse positions," the 31-year-old from Guntur said after his first-round encounter.

Harikrishna will look to bounce back from the first-round draw and return to his winning ways as he will take on local lad Nico Georgiadis in his second-round battle in the round- robin tournament.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)