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Harikrishna beats Yifan Hou, in joint lead
January 15, 2008 | Corus 2008, News
Grandmaster P Harikrishna played imaginatively to beat GM Hou Yifan of China and emerged as a joint leader after the conclusion of the second round of the ‘B’ Group of Corus International Chess tournament at Wijk Aan Zee in Holland.
After an eventful draw against his former trainer Nigel Short in the opener, Harikrishna needed to do well against Hou and he came up trumps in a keenly contested game.
With 11 rounds still to come in the category 15 event, SUN-Group sponsored Harikrishna took his tally to 1.5 points in all and now leads the tables along with Dutchmen Jan Smeets and Daniel Stellwagen, Short, Bulgarian Ivan Cheparinov, who is better known as Topalov’s second, and French Etienne Bacrot, who is also a keen poker player.
Playing his second white on the trot, Harikrishna started off with the King’s Indian attack. The middle game was sharp as expected and Harikrishna was in command with his firm control in the central squares. Yifan went for the counter-play on the queenside but found the going tough as Harikrishna came with effective measures. Soon the Chinese was pushed to the wall and ended up losing two minor pieces for a rook. The rest was child’s play for Hari and he wrapped up the issue in 57 moves.
In other group ‘B’ games Short played a fine game to beat Erwin L’Ami and Krasenkow came back into reckoning after cruising past Wouter Spoelman. Humpy played out a hard fought draw with Ian Nepomniachtchi.
In the premier group ‘A’ World Champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Magnus Carlsen yet again showcased his growing positional acumen to beat Pavel Eljanov while Aronian was in top form against Boris Gelfand. Aronian and Carlsen lead this event with an absolute score.
Results round 2 Group ‘A’: Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2) beat Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 0.5);
Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 1) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 1.5); Loek Van Wely (Ned, 1) drew with Judit Polgar (Hun, 1); Peter Lékó (Hun, 1) drew with Michael Adams (Eng, 1); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 0.5) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 1); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 0.5) lost to Levon Aronian (Arm, 2); Viswanthan Anand (Ind, 0.5) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 0.5);
Group ‘B’: Nigel Short (Eng, 1.5) beat Erwin L’Ami (Ned, 0.5); Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 1.5) drew with Daniel Stellwagen (Ned, 1.5); P Harikrishna (Ind, 1.5) beat Yifan Hou (Chn, 0); Ivan Cheparinov (Bul, 1.5) drew with Sergei Movsesian (Svk, 1); Gabriel Sargissian (Arm, 1) drew with Jan Smeets (Ned, 1.5); Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 1) beat Wouter Spoelman (Ned, 0); Koneru Humpy (Ind, 0.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 1)
Group ‘C’: Caruana Fabiano (Ita, 2) beat Mark Van der Werf (Ned, 1); Li Shilong (Chn, 2) beat Anna Ushenina (Ukr, 0); Arik Braun (Ger, 2) beat Parimarjan Negi (Ind, 0; John Van der Wiel (Ned, 2) beat Friso Nijboer (Ned, 0); Pontus Carlsson (Swe, 1.5) drew with Peng Zhaoqin (Ned, 0.5); Efstratios Grivas (Gre, 1) beat Dennis Ruijgrok (Ned, 0); Irush Krush (Usa, 0.5) drew with Dmitri Reinderman (Ned, 1.5).
For tournament pictures, click here