Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna had to dig deep as he played out a hard-fought draw against Russia’s Dmitry Jakovenko in the final round of the Geneva FIDE Grand Prix on Sunday. With the draw, Harikrishna finished tied fourth in the competition.
Harikrishna, who is ranked World No 22, played with an aggressive approach. However, he had to settle for a draw against Jakovenko who played a superb defensive game. The game lasted for 115 moves and in the end, both the players cancelled out each other.
“I had a few chances to win but my opponent defended really well to prevent the loss and lead the game towards a draw,” said Harikrishna.
After nine rounds, Harikrishna finished tied fourth on the leader board due to six draws, two wins and just one loss against Li Chao of China.
“Had I won, I would have finished tied second. I finished as tied fourth, for which I am happy as my game quality was far better than the previous Grand Prix,” said Harikrishna. “I missed some chances in games against Mamedyarov and Adams, but a good performance overall,” he added. Harikrishna will gain 90 Grand Prix points and will take away 11,000 Euros from the competition.