P. Harikrishna suffered his first loss in the $200,000 Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament and with it, gave Anish Giri a chance to bounce back from the two first-day defeats.
After finishing the first day winless but undefeated, much like his fourth-round rival Magnus Carlsen, Harikrishna was involved in a tactical battle in a complex middle-game of the fifth round.
Calculating better, Giri foxed Harikrishna and emerged with an extra knight after 26 moves. Giri pressed home the advantage in 40 moves.
By beating Daniil Dubov for his first victory, Carlsen joined four other leaders at three points.
The results:
Round Five: Anish Giri (Ned, 2) bt P. Harikrishna (2); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 3) drew with Wesley So (USA, 3); Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2.5) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 3); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 3) bt Daniil Dubov (Rus, 2.5); David Anton Guijar (Esp, 1.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 2) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 3).
Round Four: Harikrishna drew with Carlsen; Aronian drew with Nakamura; Dubov bt Anton; Radjabov drew with Giri; So drew with Grischuk; Vachier lost to Nepomniachtchi.
Round Three: Anton drew with Harikrishna; Grischuk drew with Aronian; Giri lost to So; Dubov drew with Vachier; Nakamura drew with Nepomniachtchi; Carlsen drew with Radjabov.
Round Two: Harikrishna drew with Dubov; Aronian bt Giri; Radjabov bt Anton; Nepomniachtchi lost to Grischuk; Vachier drew with Nakamura; So drew with Carlsen.
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