St. Louis online chess: Harikrishna slips with two losses, Carlsen in lead

Harikrishna lost the fourth round of the Rapid event to Nepomniachtchi, then drew with Armenian Aronian before losing the sixth to Carlsen.

Magnus Carlsen bounced back after a below par opening day to record three victories and jumped to sole lead with nine points.

Indian Grandmaster P. Harikrishna slipped to fifth spot from a share of lead after a winless day at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz online chess tournament, where he lost to Ian Nepomniachtchi and world number one Magnus Carlsen.

Harikrishna, who shared the lead with Lev Aronian after three rounds, lost the fourth round of the Rapid event to Nepomniachtchi, then drew with Armenian Aronian before losing the sixth to Carlsen.

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Meanwhile, Carlsen bounced back after a below par opening day to record three victories and jumped to sole lead with nine points.

The Norwegian outplayed the India No.2 in 31 moves to wrap up a succesful day on which he also defeated Aronian and Leinier Dominiguez (USA).

Harikrishna held Aronian to a draw in 58 moves after a 45-move defeat at the hands of the Russian. Harikrishna now faces Americans Jeffery Xiong, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So in the last three rounds.

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In each rapid game, a win is worth two points while a draw fetches a player one one point.

The ten players are competing for a USD 250,000 prize fund in nine rapid games and eighteen blitz games over five days of play.

The tournament hosted by US-based St Louis Chess Club concludes on September 19.

The results (sixth round): Magnus Carlsen (Nor) bt P. Harikrishna; Hikaru Nakamura (USA) lost to Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus); Wesley So (USA) drew with Alexander Grischuk (Rus); Jeffery Xiong (USA) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm); Leinier Dominguez Perez (USA) bt Alireza Firouzja (FIDE); (fifth round): Aronian drew with Harikrishna; Perez lost to Carlsen; Nepomniachtchi lost to Xiong; Grischuk drew with Nakamura; Firouzja drew with So; (fourth round): Harikrishna lost to Nepomniachtchi; Carlsen bt Aronian;So bt Perez; Nakamura bt Firouzja; Xiong lost to Grischuk.

Standings (after six rounds, points counted as two for a win, one for a draw): 1. Magnus Carlsen (9 points), 2-3. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wesley So (8 each), 4. Levon Aronian (7), 5. Harikrishna (6), 6-8. Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk, Jeffery Xiong (5 each); 9. Leinier Dominguez Perez (4), 10. Alireza Firouzja (3).