In what turned out to a tale of two debutants, P. Harikrishna slumped to the bottom of the table while Russia’s Vladimir Artemiev rose to the top on the opening day of the $150,000 Chessable Masters on Saturday.
Hari, who started with a loss to Artemiev, let Magnus Carlsen off the hook and lost again. Outplayed by Daniil Dubov in the third round, Hari gathered his wits to hold Hikaru Nakamura and then scored a confidence-building victory over Alexander Grischuk.
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“I can’t complain,” said Harikrishna after the games. About missing a winning continuation against Carlsen, Harikrishna said, “It was disappointing but of course, I was happy to draw against Hikaru. I was completely lost, but it was just lucky.”
He said he was “very happy” to win the last round and added, “after two games, everyone wanted to win against me.”
Artmiev, following victories over Hari and Dubov, took the lead after two rounds and maintained it by holding Nakamura, Grischuk and Carlsen.
Carlsen, extremely lucky to escape with a draw against Hari and Grischuk, lost the fourth round to Dubov. This was the young Russian’s third victory over the World champion in less than a month. He finished a poor day with a draw with Artemiev.
The results:
Group ‘A’
Ffifth round: P. Harikrishna (1.5) bt Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2); Vladimir Artemiev (Rus, 3.5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2.5); Daniil Dubov (Rus, 3) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2.5);
Fourth round: Nakamura drew with Harikrishna; Carlsen lost to Dubov; Grischuk drew with Artemiev;
Third round: Dubov bt Harikrishna; Nakamura drew with Artemiev; Carlsen drew with Grischuk;
Second round: Harikrishna lost to Carlsen; Artemiev bt Dubov; Grischuk drew with Nakamura
First round: Artemiev bt Harikrishna; Nakamura drew
with Carlsen; Dubov drew with Grischuk.
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