Tata Steel Masters: Harikrishna beats overnight leader Grandelius, shares lead

The emphatic 38-move victory with black pieces saw P. Harikrishna join top seed Magnus Carlsen, second Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri and Nils Grandelius.

P. Harikrishna drew with Russia’s Andrey Esipenko in 47 moves in the second round of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament.

P. Harikrishna ended the winning sequence of overnight leader Sweden’s Nils Grandelius and shared the lead two points after three rounds of Tata Steel Masters chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, in the Netherlands.

The emphatic 38-move victory with black pieces saw Harikrishna join top seed Magnus Carlsen, second Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri and Grandelius.

Playing with black pieces for the first time, Harikrishna gained the upper hand in the middle game. After simplification, he managed to establish a passed-pawn on the queen’s side and that proved decisive.

Caruana could have been the sole lead had he converted his advantageous position against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, but the younger Grandmaster from Poland defended superbly to escape with a draw.

Before Wednesday’s rest day, Harikrishna plays Caruana in the fourth round.  

Third-round results: Nils Grandelius (Swe, 2) lost to P. Harikrishna (2) Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2) drew with Aryan Tari (Nor, 1) Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2) drew with Jan-Krzysztof  Duda (Pol, 1) Anish Giri (Ned, 2) drew with Alexander Donchenko (Ger, 0.5) Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol, 1.5) drew with Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 1.5) Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 1.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) Alireza Firouzja (FIDE, 1.5) bt David Anton Guijar (Esp, 1).