Harikrishna draws but retains lead

Playing black, the 15-year-old Andhra boy drew against GM Petr Kiriakov (2547) of Russia after 32 moves.

The half point swelled his tally to 3.5 points.

Harikrishna did not have do much to get a desirable draw against Kiriakov with the black pieces. India's youngest GM opened with the Slav defence but the game was transposed in to a Queen's gambit exchange variation by the Russian stalwart.

The opening witnessed an early trade of light square Bishops after which it became increasingly difficult for white to press for an advantage.

Playing energetically in the middlegame, Harikrishna opened the queenside and voluntarily opted for an isolated queen pawn to give his pieces a lot of air. Kiriakov could do nothing against the black weak pawn structure and it was more of a shadow boxing that he fougill his 32nd move.

Second-seed GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2569) was also involved in a quick 19-move draw with Mark Hebden (2567) of England.

Playing black, Sasikiran too did not face any difficulties as Hebden side-tracked from the popular variations against the Queen's Gambit accpted. The Englishman, who is yet to score a victory here, kept away from the complexities of a wild middlgame and exchanged the knights in the centre to shield his queen pawn.

The resulting position was just equal and truce was signed in 19 moves.

Sasikiran, Alexei Barsov (2525) of Uzbekistan, Petr Kiriakov (2547) of Russia and Joseph Gallagher (2511) of Switzerland share the second spot with three points each.

Top-seed GM Zhang Zhong of China scored his first victory of the tournament defeating Peter Wells (2517) of England, while Joseph Gallagher beat Irina Krush of the United States.

In the sixth round on Thursday, Harikrishna will play with white against Irina Krush of the United States, while Sasikiran, also with white, will face Peter Well of England.

In the challengers event, being organised simultaneously, 11-year old David Howell from Seaford East Sussex caused huge upset by beating Scottish Grandmaster Colin McNab in 41 moves.

David who plays for Crowborough Chess Club in Sussex and Ashtead Chess Club in Surrey came second in the World under-12 championships in Spain and won a bronze medal in the European U12 championships in Greece.

Top-seed GM Vita Tsheshkovsky of Russia now shares the top place with Zvonko Stanojoski of Germany with 5 points after sixth round.

Tsheshkovsky drew with Daniel Gormally of England, while Stanojoski defeated Sergei Azarov of Belarus to move up.

GM Dibyendu Barua slipped to joint 13th positioon with four points after drawing against IM Simon Williams of England from the white side of a king pawn game.

Woman Grandmaster S Vijayalakshmi and IM P Konguvel remained on 3.5 points going down to IM John Shaw (Scotland) and GM James Plaskett (England) respectively but GM Pravin Thipsay came back in to the reckoning with a convincing victory over English rookie Bert Addison and moved to four points.

Also scoring victories were IMs D V Prasad, Neeraj Kumar Mishra, Lanka Ravi and International Woman Master Aarthie Ramaswamy who all have four points apiece.

The moves (fifth round):
P Kiriakov vs P Harikrishna
Result: 1/2-1/2
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Qc2 g6 8. e3 Bf5 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Nbd7 11. Bh6 Bf8 12. Bf4 Bg7 13. O-O O-O 14. h3 Re8 15. Nd2 a6 16. Qc2 c5 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Rad1 Rc8 19. Qb1 Ne6 20. Be5 Ng5 21. Bd4 Qd7 22. Ne2 Rc6 23. Qd3 Ne6 24. Nf3 Nxd4 25. Nexd4 Rc7 26. Qb3 Rc5 27. Rc1 Rec8 28. Rxc5 Rxc5 29. Rd1 Ne4 30. Qd3 Rc8 31. Qb1 Qc7 32. Qd3

M Hebden vs K Sasikiran
Result: 1/2-1/2
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 7. a4 Nc6 8. Nc3 cxd4 9. exd4 Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bg5 Nb4 12. Qe2 b6 13. Rad1 Ra7 14. Ne5 Nfd5 15. Bd2 Rc7 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. Bb3 Be6 18. Rc1 Bd6 19. h3 a5

Earlier reports:
Harikrishna emerges sole leader
Harikrishna leads at Hastings
Sasikiran seeded No. 2 at Hastings