Airthings Masters: Harikrishna holds Aronian for eighth draw in nine rounds

P. Harikrishna played out his eighth draw against Levon Aronian on Monday and now needs to climb two spots from as many rounds to reach the quarterfinals.

Having drawn with Alexander Grischuk, leader Hikaru Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi in the previous three rounds, Harikrishna is placed 10th with four points.

P. Harikrishna came up with a flawless defensive plan to thwart Levon Aronian’s designs for an eighth draw from nine rounds of the $200,000 Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament on Monday.

Having drawn with Alexander Grischuk, leader Hikaru Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi in the previous three rounds, Harikrishna is placed 10th with four points. With two rounds remaining to find to quarterfinalists, Harikrishna needs to climb two spots.

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The results:

Round nine: Levon Aronian (Arm, 5) drew with P. Harikrishna (4); Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 4.5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 5); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 5.5) bt David Anton Guijar (Esp, 3); Wesley So (USA, 5) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 5); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 5) bt Daniil Dubov (Rus, 4.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 4) bt Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3.5).

Round eight: Harikrishna drew with Nepomniachtchi; Carlsen drew with Giri; Dubov drew with Nakamura; Radjabov drew with Aronian; Radjabov drew with Aronian; Vachier drew with So.

Round seven: Nakamura drew with Harikrishna; Carlsen drew with Vachier; Aronian drew with So; Nepomniachtchi drew with Radjabov; Grischuk drew with Dubov; Giri drew with Anton.

Round six: Harikrishna drew with Grischuk; Anton drew with Carlsen; Dubov bt Giri; Vachier drew with Aronian; So drew with Nepomniachtchi; Radjabov drew with Nakamura.