Harikrishna held by Vachier in Tata Steel Masters chess

P. Harikrishna missed out on a possible win against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the first round of Tata Steel Masters chess tournament in the Dutch town of De Moriaan.

Harikrishna looked better off in the better part but Vachier defended well and forced a draw in 64 moves.

P. Harikrishna missed out on a possible win against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the first round of Tata Steel Masters chess tournament in the Dutch town of De Moriaan on Saturday.

Harikrishna, a late entry following a few withdrawals, looked better off in the better part but Vachier defended well and forced a draw in 64 moves.

Among the day’s three winners, Magnus Carlen took his chances against Alireza Firouzja and escaped to an exciting victory.

First-round results: P. Harikrishna drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra); Magnus Carlsen (Nor) bt Alireza Firouzja (FIDE); Fabiano Caruana (USA) drew with Jorden Van Foreest (Ned); Anish Giri (Ned) bt Aryan Tari (Nor); Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol) drew with David Anton Guijarro (Esp); Andrey Esipenko (Rus) drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol). Nils Grandelius (Swe) bt Alexander Donchenko (Ger).