Pendyala Harikrishna emerged joint-winner in the International Invitational chess tournament in Bermuda after clinching his last round match against Grandmaster Bartlomiej Macieja of Poland.
Harikrishna shared the title, in this category-17 double round-robin tournament, with Boris Gelfand of Israel as both the players ended with six points each out of a possible 10.
Ukrainian champion Andrei Volokitin and Lenier Dominguez of Cuba tied for the third spot, a full point behind the joint-winners while Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil finished fifth on 4.5 points.
Macieja, who suffered a string of defeats, finished at the bottom of the table with just 3.5 points.
The victory for Harikrishna, close on the heels of his triumph in the World Juniors late last year, gave him as many as 14 Elo points from the tournament and the Indian will edge up to 2646 now, just four shy of coveted 2650 mark an important milestone for Grandmasters.
Harikrishna also became richer by USD 1750 after sharing the first prize with Gelfand.
While Gelfand remained the only unbeaten player in the event, with two victories and eight draws, Harikrishna made his presence felt with three victories, a lone loss to Gelfand and six draws.
Seeded fifth, it was a commendable performance by the Hyderabad-based player, as he had to win the last two rounds to catch up an almost out-of-bounds Gelfand.
In an exciting clash against Macieja in the final board, Harikrishna, who had defeated the player earlier in the tournament, played uncompromising chess from the beginning with black against the Guico Piano and was suitably rewarded for his effort as his rival went astray under time pressure.
"He took a lot of time in the middle game. I feel his 17th move was inaccurate as I got a free game thereon," Harikrishna said after the game.
It was not only the clock that troubled Macieja thereafter as Harikrishna launched a powerful attack all over the board and the Pole found some temporary solace in sacrificing two pieces for a rook.
However, with some very good manoeuvres, Harikrishna managed to turn the tide decisively in his favour. Macieja lost his rook for Bishop before resigning after 40 moves.
"It was very complicated right from the middle game and though I feel I was not worse, he could have done better," Harikrishna said.
Gelfand had little trouble in securing the draw he wanted against Dominguez.
Playing the black side of a Petroff defence, Gelfand traded both his knights in one of the popular variation of the set up and subsequent exchanges of heavy pieces led to a queen and minor piece endgame which was just level.
Dominguez signed peace after opting of perpetual checks.
Volokitin ended his campaign on a positive note, crashing through the defences of Vescovi in a Sicilian Scheveningen defence game where the former played white.
Vescovi did not want to take any risk against deep opening preparation in the main variation but his ploy, to opt for a side line, failed miserably as Volokitin threw everything at the King of the Brazilian once the game entered the middle game phase.
A Bishop sacrifice on the 20th move by Volokitin left enough holes in Vescovi's position and an energetic display by the Ukrainian in the next few moves ensured that a checkmating net was weaved. The game lasted just 25 moves.
Results final round:
Bartlomiej Macieja (Pol, 3.5) lost to P Harikrishna (Ind, 6); Lenier Dominguez (Cub, 5) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr, 6); Andrei Volokitin (Ukr, 5) beat Giovanni Vescovi (Bra, 4.5).
The moves
Bartlomiej Macieja v/s P Harikrishna
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. b4 Bb6 6. d3 d6 7. O-O O-O 8. a4 a5 9. b5 Ne7 10. Bg5 Ng6 11. Nh4 Nxh4 12. Bxh4 h6 13. Na3 g5 14. Bg3 h5 15. Qd2 Nh7 16. h3 Qf6 17. Kh1 Qg7 18. Ba2 Kh8 19. Nc4 Bc5 20. Rad1 f5 21. exf5 Bxf5 22. d4 exd4 23. cxd4 Bb4 24. Qb2 Nf6 25. Ne3 Bg6 26. f3 c 6 27. bxc6 bxc6 28. Bb1 Rae8 29. Nc4 Bxb1 30. Rxb1 Re6 31. Be1 Nd5 32. Nxa5 Rxe1 33. Rfxe1 Bxa5 34. Rec1 g4 35. fxg4 hxg4 36. Qe2 Nc3 37. Qe1 Nxb1 38. Qxa5 Qh7 39. Qe1 gxh3 40. g3 Qd3 white resigned.
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