Harikrishna takes sole lead

Harikrishna crushed Irina Krush of the United States in 29 moves to take his points tally to 4.5 points.

It was a Queen's Gambit accepted, theen a Krush's pet with black pieces. The game took shape in one of the popular variations of the system and Harikrishna sacrificed a pawn early in the opening to develop his pieces rapidly and exert pressure in the centre.

Not happy with her dismal performance so far in the championship, Krush wanted to equalise quickly and that cast the die in Harikrishna's favour. By returning the extra pawn too soon, Krush did not realise that Harikrishna's rooks would create havoc on the open files on the queenside and had to pay dearly for this mishap.

Second-seed GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2569) also won his match against Peter Wells (2517) of England to move into the second place with four points.

Rest all the matches of the sxith round ended in draw leaving Alexei Barsov (2525) of Uzbekistan, Petr Kiriakov (2547) of Russia and Joseph Gallagher (2511) of Switzerland share the third spot with 3.5 points each.

Top-seed GM Zhang Zhong of China lies at fourth place along with Nicholas Pert (2451) of England with three points.

In the seventh round on Friday, Harikrishna will play with black against Nicholas Pert of England, while Sasikiran, also with black, will face Joseph Gallagher of Switzerland.

In the Challengers tournament, organised simultaneously, six players, veteran GM and top seed Vitaly Tsheshkovsky, IM Alexander Cherniave (both Russia), IM Zvonko Stanojoski of Macedoina, GM Glenn Flear (England), IM Amon Simutowe (Zambia) and IM John Shaw (Scotland) share the lead with 5.5 points after seven rounds.

GM's Dibyendu Barua and Pravin Thipsay and IM D V Prasad were among eight players on the heels of the leader with 5 points each after scoring convincing victories over IM Alexander Wohl of Australia, IM Peter Marusenko of Ukraine and IM Vladimir Poley of Belarus respectively.

Woman Grandmaster S Vijayalakshmi got past Vitali Braun of Germany to move to 4.5 points.

Among other Indian women, all IWMs, Bhagyashree Thipsay and Swati Ghate won their games while Nisha Mohota and S Meenakashi were held to draws.

IM Neeraj Kumar Mishra suffered a defeat at the hands of IM Mas Hafizulhelmi of Malaysia while Aarthie Ramaswamy went down to IM Sergei Azarov of Belarus to remain on 4 points.

IM P Konguvel was shocked by Bjorn Thorfinnsson of Iceland and IM Lanka Ravi had to be content with a draw against IM Simon Williams of England.

The moves (sixth round):
P Harikrishna vs Irina Krush
Result: 1-0
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 a6 6. O-O b5 7. Bb3 c5 8. a4 b4 9. e4 cxd4 10. e5 Ne4 11. Nxd4 Nc5 12. Bc4 Bb7 13. a5 Qc7 14. Nd2 Qxe5 15. N2f3 Qd6 16. Bd2 Be7 17. Bxb4 Nc6 18. Nxc6 Qxc6 19. Rc1 Rc8 20. Be2 Qa4 21. Qxa4+ Nxa4 22. Rxc8+ Bxc8 23. Rc1 Bd7 24. Bxe7 Kxe7 25. b3 Nb2 26. Rc2 Rc8 27. Rxb2 Rc1+ 28. Bf1 Bb5 29. Nd2

K Sasikiran vs Peter Wells
Result: 1-0
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e3 a6 6. a4 c5 7. Bxc4 Nc6 8. O-O Be7 9. Qe2 cxd4 10. Rd1 e5 11. exd4 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qe3 O-O 14. Rxd4 Qc7 15. Qe2 Bd6 16. g3 Re8 17. Qf1 Be5 18. Bf4 Qc5 19. Bxe5 Qxe5 20. Rad1 Bg4 21. f3 Be6 22. Kg2 Bxc4 23. Qxc4 Rac8 24. Qb4 h5 25. R1d2 Qe1 26. Rd1 Qe5 27. R4d2 Qc7 28. Rd6 Rcd8 29. Qd4 Rxd6 30. Qxd6 Qc4 31. Qd4 Qc6 32. h3 b5 33. axb5 axb5 34. g4 h4 35. g5 Nh7 36. Qxh4 Qg6 37. Rd5 b4 38. Ne4 f5 39. Ng3 Qc6 40. Rd2 Qc1 41. Nf1 Nf8 42. Qxb4 Ng6 43. h4 f4 44. Qb3+ Kh8 45. Qd3 Nxh4+ 46. Kh3 Nf5 47. Kg4 g6 48. Rh2+ Kg7 49. Qd7+ Re7 50. Qd8 Qxf1 51. Qh8+ Kf7 52. Qf6+ Ke8 53. Qxg6+ Rf7 54. Qc6+ Kf8 55. Rh8+ Kg7 56. Qc3+ Kg6 57. Rg8+ Ng7 58. Qc2+ Rf5 59. Qxf5#

Earlier reports:
Harikrishna draws but retains lead
Harikrishna emerges sole leader
Harikrishna leads at Hastings
Sasikiran seeded No. 2 at Hastings